Why isn't Ratatouille up for Best Picture?

The AP has a great story up today about why Pixar's "Ratatouille" was excluded from the best picture category.



If not for the best animated feature category, it's safe to say "Ratatouille" would have been strongly considered for best picture. Brad Lewis, the film's producer, is quick to point out that he has no sour grapes with the academy _ and that he's ecstatic about the five widespread nominations.

Still, he has to wonder.

"Ultimately, it makes it perhaps too convenient for people to look at an animated film from an isolated perspective," said Lewis. "Somebody can say, `You know what? We have a place for that, so we don't necessarily have to give it broader consideration.'"

It's an interesting read and worth your time. I can understand the arguement on both sides, but I don't see why a film that's been reviewed so well shouldn't have a shot at the whole ball of cheese.

Ratatouille Best Picture Article via CNN Money

Brad Bird Interview On Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes sat down for a quick interview with Mr. Brad Bird.



The first half of the interview is really just them begging him to validate their Golden Tomato award, which Brad almost painfully does. However it really picks up steam when he starts to talk about the next wave in blurring in animation.

Oh yeah... it's that good.

Brad Bird Interview On Rotten Tomatoes

Animation Oscar Nominees Announced

The list of nominees for this year's Academy Awards have been announced, including the pictures up for Best Animated Feature Film.



The nominees for Best Animated Feature Film are
- Sony’s Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
- Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille - Brad Bird
- Sony’s Surf’s Up - Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

While I think everyone expected "Ratatouille" to make the list (and most likely win), I was really pleased to see "Surf's Up!" make the cut, as I think the picture, and the team responsible for it, are both very worthy. Maybe this will spur a few more people to check the film out, in turn helping drive DVD sales and maybe persuading Sony to continue making animated features. "Open Season" and "Surf's Up!" are two of my most favorite animated films, and I can't wait to see what the group at Sony comes up with next.

As for Persepolis, I haven't seen it, and probably won't see it. That's not to say that it isn't worthy of the nomination, it just isn't my cup of tea. My cup of tea is a 32oz mug filled with Coke and Rum, with a crazy straw in it.

That's how I roll.

Annie Award Nominees

The nominees for the 2007 Annie Awards have been announced, and based on the banner below, it looks as though whoever is behind the awards is quite full of themselves.



2007 ANNIE AWARD NOMINATIONS BY CATEGORY

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature
Bee Movie – DreamWorks Animation
Persepolis – Sony Pictures Classics
Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
The Simpsons Movie – Twentieth Century Fox

Best Home Entertainment Production
Doctor Strange – MLG Productions
Futurama “Bender’s Big Score” – The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Television

Best Animated Short Subject
Everything Will Be OK – Bitter Films
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater – Walt Disney Feature Animation
Shorty McShorts’ Shorts “Mascot Prep” – Walt Disney Television Animation
The Chestnut Tree – Picnic Pictures
Your Friend the Rat – Pixar Animation Studios

Best Animated Television Commercial
CVS Watering Can – Acme Filmworks
Esurance “Homeowners” – Wild Brain
Idaho Lottery: Twister – Acme Filmworks
Oregon Lottery “Alaska” – Laika/house
Power Shares Escape Average – Acme Filmworks

Best Animated Television Production
Jane and the Dragon – Weta Productions Limited & Nelvana Limited
Creative Comforts America – Aardman Animations
Moral Orel – ShadowMachine
Robot Chicken Star Wars- ShadowMachine
Kim Possible – Walt Disney Television Animation

Best Animated Television Production for Children
Chowder – Cartoon Network Studios
El Tigre – Nickelodeon
Little Einsteins – Disney Channel
Peep and the Big Wide World – Discovery Kids
The Backyardigans – Nickelodeon

Best Animated Video Game
Avatar: The Last Airbender “The Burning Earth” – THQ, Inc.
Bee Movie Game – Activision
Ratatouille – THQ, Inc.
Transformers: The Game – Blur Studios

I'm pretty happy with the nominations for Best Animated Feature, and don't think I would have made any different choice as far as that's concerned, but I think the hands down winner has to be "Ratatouille." As far as the other categories, I'll keep my mouth shut (for once) because I frankly don't know a lot of the pieces that are listed well enough to comment on.

Click the image above for even more nominees.

Complete list of Annie Award Nominees

Academy Award Nominees

EDIT: As Jason was kind enough to point out in the comments, this list is not the actual nominees, but the "short list" of hopefuls looking to be included in final nominations. So I'm an idiot. That being said, the post still stands, as frankly I don't think the films that I refer to below even belong on a "long list," let alone a "short list."

That Sesame Street song comes to mind and I begin to sing "Which one of these is not like the other ones, not like the other ones, not like the other ones..."



While I never like to directly bag on the hard work of artists, regardless of what they may need to do to pay the bills, it's pretty obvious that certain films in this year's list of hopefuls were submitted simply because they were animated, and not because they deserve the award.

Listen... I like hotdogs as much as I like a good $60 steak, given the right circumstances, but I wouldn't expect my Oscar Meyer cheese-stuffed wieners to compete for a food award with a steak I can cut with my own hand. In the same manner, while some of the films in the list may be great for college kids sucking on a bong and eating Cheetos, or a Mom or Dad to bring their kids to see, they really can't compare on a pure filmmaking level to some of the other nominees.

To put it a different way, you don't go into a diamond store and find a couple of cat turds in the case next to the tennis bracelets and earrings.

All this being said, one of those turds will probably wind up winning and then I'll look like an (even bigger) idiot.

Oh... and if you're wondering, here is the list of nominees:

Alvin and the Chipmunks
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters
Bee Movie
Beowulf
Meet the Robinsons
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Shrek the Third
The Simpsons Movie
Surf’s Up
Tekkonkinkreet
TMNT

I'm off to eat now... suddenly I've got a craving for a hotdog.