The Oscars and Animation

Congratulations to Nick Park and Steve Box for their Oscar win last night. As most expected, Wallace and Gromit grabbed the award for "Best Animated Feature." I'm sure you're all aware that this was a fantastic movie. Let's not forget about Corpse Bride which turned out to be a great movie and Howl's Moving Castle which I have yet to see (unfortunately).

It's weird, though, that none of the nominees were computer-animated movies. Two stop-motion films and a traditionally (mostly) animated movie? Crazy! Robots, Madagascar, Valiant, Chicken Little...all were contenders for a nomination, but none attracted the Academy.

Consider also that the winner of the Best Animated Short was The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation by director, animator, and all-around cool guy John Canemaker. That's another traditionally animated short. What are we to make of this? A rise in non-computer animation? We can certainly hope so. With this and the recent Pixar-Disney where many have pointed out John Lasseter's desire to start up Disney's traditional animation again, I think there's a chance for some more classic cartoon movies. Curious George was a generally well-reviewed movie animated with traditional techniques, so there's definitely interest.

Think about that, friends. Think about it hard