Animated Golden Globe Nominees
Ratatouille, Bee Movie and Simpsons Movie Up for HFPA Award
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced the three Golden Globe nominees for Best Animated Feature Film. Guess who's not on the list?
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominees for the Golden Globes earlier today, and three animated films made the final list for Best Animated Feature Film.
Like the Oscars, which will be handed out on February 24th, the HFPA decided there weren't enough animated films released in 2007 to warrant a full slate of five nominees. However, the list was still surprising for which animated films *weren't* nominated, rather than who were.
The Golden Globe Nominees for Best Animated Feature Film
- Bee Movie (DreamWorks Animation. dir: Steve Hickner, Simon J. Smith)
- The Simpsons Movie (Gracie Films; Twentieth Century Fox. dir: David Silverman)
- Ratatouille (Pixar Animation; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Distribution. dir: Brad Bird)
At least three films were distinguished by their absence. Paramount's Beowulf didn't make it to the final three. It may not have gone the distance due to the controversy over motion capture, but more likely it was because the film simply didn't make the box office splash that the other three contenders have.
That same fate awaited Sony's Surf's Up. Despite mostly positive reviews, that film simply didn't do all that well in theatres, especially when compared to the three final nominees.
DreamWorks' Shrek the Third suffered from the opposite problem. While it made nearly $800 million worldwide, most reviewers either panned the flick, or gave it tepid notices.
However, another film, which was considered a heavyweight contender for Best Animated Feature Film, wasn't nominated in the category.
Where's Persepolis?
In a surprising twist, Persepolis was not nominated in the Animated Feature Film category, but received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, along with live-action contenders 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (from Romania), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France and USA), The Kite Runner (USA) and Lust, Caution (Taiwan).
Persepolis now goes from being an acknowledged favourite in the animated category to being caught in the foreign-language ghetto, where The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Kite Runner have just as high a profile. Persepolis' Cannes win will help get the flick votes, as will the free publicity it received from the Iranian government, but Persepolis' chances of winning something are a lot slimmer for not being in the animated category.
As for Enchanted, Alan Menken's "That's How You Know" was nominated for Best Original Song, while star Amy Adams is up for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.
Who Will Win for Best Animated Feature Film?
At first glance, this looks like a romp for Ratatouille. That movie had the biggest box office of the three films nominated (a greater influence than these award groups would like to acknowledge), it comes from CGI powerhouse Pixar, and it had by far the best reviews of the three films nominated.
The biggest challenge for Ratatouille could come from Fox's The Simpsons Movie. The Simpsons television series has been a longtime presence on the Emmy podium, and the HFPA might want to reward Matt Groening's animated show for making the successful jump to movies. There is also the perception that Pixar's awards case is already full, and perhaps other studios should get some lovin' too.
However, Ratatouille was simply the better animated film. While The Simpsons Movie successfully translated its 2-D look to the big screen, Ratatouille was a lovingly rendered flick that hearkened back to the classic Disney films of the 1940's. In terms of artistic achievement, that gives Pixar the edge.
Then there's the simple matter of dollars and cents: The Simpsons Movie made $525.3 million worldwide, while Ratatouille made $608.9 million. That's another edge for Disney/Pixar.
The Golden Globes will be handed out on January 13, 2008. You can check out the full list of nominees by clicking here.
