Oscar's Animated Shorts. Who Will Prevail?
Thursday, February 25, 2016 at 5:11PM In Part 1 we looked at the nominees from Best Live Action Short and Best Documentary Short one of which was animated. Here's Part 2 where all the animated films usually go.
Best Animated Short
Sanjay’s Super Team features a young Indian boy whose love of Western television and superheroes frustrates his traditional Hindu father. The film comes under the Disney/Pixar imprimatur and looks just like every short you see before a new Pixar full-length release. It has a sweet personal touch from the director, but it’s standard-issue short-form Pixar.
Pro: Pixar. Con: None.
four more films after the jump...
World of Tomorrow takes a small girl on a journey into her future by a cloned version of herself. By far the most ideologically ambitious piece, it covers the Big Profound Stuff like Death Is Inevitable and Why Are We Alive, and quite frankly it kind of blew my mind. But it has the crudest animation (literally, stick figures) and demands the most of the viewer.
Pro: Stays with you. Con: the child-like animation won't appeal to everyone.
Bear Story follows a bear who takes his extravagant diorama out to the street corner every day to show to young bear children. The story within that diorama is heartwarming, in the best sense. The animation is sumptuous and you can’t be mad at any movie that features a bear wearing trousers with a custom-made hole for his tail to stick out.
Pro: Ursine joyousness. Con: None.
We Can’t Live Without Cosmos details the friendship of two young Russian cosmonauts in training. The animation lives in a similar visual world to The Simpsons, and it has its own brand of subtle comedy in its wordless universe. The film is fast on its feet and surprisingly transporting in its final moments.
Pro: Funniest of the five. Con: Too light?
Prologue comes with a warning of “violence and nudity” before its screening, which is something you don’t see every day (but should?) in the animated world. The film is a ravishingly beautiful-looking battle between four warriors in the Spartan-Athenian wars. It’s an all-style-little-substance piece, but what style! Plus it is the only film in the category with animated balls, startling real animated balls, which goes a long way in my book.
Pro: Blood, balls. Con: Blood, balls.
Will win: Sanjay’s Super Team. It’s the weakest of the five, but the most mainstream, and it could be hard for any of the other titles to overcome that Pixar power.
Look out for: Bear Story. It looks like a million dollars and animated bears are irresistible.
The short films are playing through March 3rd at the IFC Center in New York. Which film are you rooting for?
Reader Comments (20)
Will Win: Bear Story
Watch Out for: World of Tomorrow. (The sheer scope of what it demands (and actually winding up on the top 10 lists of some critics), might win through.)
Probably Doomed by Outside Factor: Sanjay's Super Team. (Though it was almost certainly better than the movie it was attached to and definitely better than (ugh) Lava, this is still, technically, an Oscar for The Good Dinosaur. I'd only fully buy into this if the two shorts were on the opposing films.)
So "Bear Story" was *beautifully* animated, but I found myself wondering: did the happy reunion really happen, or was it just the bear's fantasy happy ending? (heck, was any of his story real)?
Overall this year's crop, apart from the Pixar entry, seemed a lot darker than usual. Yes, "Cosmos" is funny, but it's also rather sad (depending on how you interpret the ending). Same goes for "World of Tomorrow." And "Prologue," well, you said it. Visually impressive but really not much there other than blood & balls.
I'd vote for "Bear Story," myself.
World of Tomorrow or bust!
Rooting for Cosmos (was it just a friendship or perhaps something a little more?). Sanjay's was cute with some beautiful (Pixarian) animation/sound design, and Tomorrow was insane in a good way. Bear Story had stunning use of animation but I definitely felt like it was overly manipulative (especially with that score). I still much preferred it to Prologue, which had absolutely nothing of interest to say and felt like some masturbatory animation school project.
1. We Can't Live Without Cosmos
2. World of Tomorrow
3. Bear Story
4. Sanjay's Super Team
5. Prologue
While conventional I loved Sanjay's Super Team. I'll have to check out the other 4 to make my judgments on them.
I'm pulling for World of Tomorrow. It would be on my Top 10 for 2015 if I didn't limit myself to features.
I really *LOVED* both Cosmos & World of Tomorrow so i'd be thrilled if either of those won. Bear Story's animation is really something... but I don't really get why the other two are nominated. Both are very slight.. It would have been nice had the shorts program in theaters included all the finalists or a few of the longlisters instead of just random shorts to pad the running time.
I love love WORLD OF TOMORROW. Rooting for it hard.
Huh, I don't see SANJAY coming close to a win at all. Besides Pixar have never won animated feature and short in the same year, I believe. I predict Bear Story, with the potential for a World of Tomorrow win if meagre name recognition (it's the only nominee to get stand alone reviews in major publications) can get it across the line.
this seems like a pretty open and shut case for world of tomorrow to me, since it has the highest profile and most ardent fanbase of any of the nominees by a mile and half, but who knows
Hindu* not Hindi.
Hindi's the language
Hindu is the religion
What are the chances of these ending up on YouTube in the near future?
"It’s the weakest of the five, but the most mainstream, and it could be hard for any of the other titles to overcome that Pixar power"
I don't know about that, Pixar usually does pretty bad in this category, they haven't actually won since 2001 despite competing in more years than not. I killed it in many an Oscar pool by betting against them in the short categories while everyone else ran off that cliff.
I'm predicting BEAR STORY myself but am hoping for WORLD OF TOMORROW or COSMOS
I was disappointed with "World of Tomorrow" but that might be partly in relation to the hype around it. I rolled my eyes super hard when they decided to tell us people were looking at screens too much, and the end philosophy of "live now, enjoy life while you have it" feels like a banal yearbook quote.
"Sanjay's Super Team" is the Jennifer Lawrence of this category. I'm tired of the "oh, it's Pixar, so it will win" line. It's lazy and, as mentioned above, not very true in this category of late. And just because a short was attached to a major theatrical release doesn't automatically mean a win either. "Get a Horse!" was paired with "Frozen" ("FROZEN"!) and it still didn't win.
"Bear Story": I'm pretty sure the "happy ending" family reunion was a fantasy. He does wake up in his house alone.
I loved the gay cosmonauts one, but "World of Tomorrow" is the one to beat. You can stream it on Netflix.
I think The World of Tomorrow will win, but I'd be happy with that or Sanjay's Super Team, which I absolutely adored.
World of Tomorrow is easily the best, although Bear Story was gorgeous to look at (which counts for a lot in an animated movie). The gay subtext of World of Tomorrow makes it interesting, especially coming from Russia
Prologue was pretty, bloody and pointless and pretty bloody pointless. Sanjay's Super Team had all the virtues money can buy and none of the ones it can't.
A few of the films are available online for those that don't have time to go to a showing of the shorts (shame on you):
Bear Story
We Can't Live Without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow (on Demand, but also on Netflix)
Sanjay's Super Team is on home releases of The Good Dinosaur. Prologue is still nowhere to be found.
Anyways, it's clear to me (but maybe I'm biased) that World of Tomorrow is the best of the bunch. However, that doesn't mean it's going to win. There has been a lot of momentum towards Bear Story, and I could see why. It was easily the most popular film at the showing I went to. And it's a beautifully made allegory. The one thing that bothered me was (spoilers ahead) that if the bear is living in the same place he was living before, how is the government going to leave him alone long enough for him to make that automaton?
Nobody needs to see Prologue.
Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I actually think World of Tomorrow will win. Sanjay's and Prologue are such trifles, Bear Story is silent and not as powerful as the synopsis would have one think, and Cosmos isn't *that* funny. So I think people will react to the ideas of WoT and give it the win.
A few years ago, when you had to verify you'd seen all the nominees, Bear Story would have been a real contender. They love that hyperrealistic digital animation stuff (see: Mr. Hublot). But now, after removing that requirement and with WoT being on Netflix, I think that will really help WoT's chances.