Best Animated Short - 2024

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since the Oscar nominations were announced, and while most people have been trying to work up the courage to sit through Emilia Perez to complete their viewing of Best Picture nominees, I've been on the hunt for the Best Animated Short nominees, just as I have been every year since I started focusing on this category all the way back in 2007. Besides the two that I found before the Oscar nominations were even announced I managed to come across Beautiful Men and Beurk! through Vimeo on Demand. Unfortunately I had not had the same success with Magic Candies which means I had to go to a showing to complete the set. 

But now that it's happened, I'm ready to work on my review. Which to be honest is something I'm a bit hesitant to do. These reviews have become quite time-consuming and labor-intense. It's not like my reviews from over a dozen years ago looking back at old studio films or shorter independent shorts. With these reviews I often try to get into the filmmaker's mindset before offering my own interpretation, and that often means a lot of research into interviews done with the creators. And with the films becoming much more intricate (a phenomenon referenced in an editorial on Cartoon Brew), it becomes a lot harder to get all of my thoughts organized. And with operating on a time crunch it means by the end I often feel that what I'm writing is incoherent, as I did with last year's review. 

But alas, I have seen and reviewed every single nominated film in this category dating back to 1932 (with the obvious exception of Rippling Romance). And so I must soldier on and provide my thoughts on the five newest addition to the Oscar nominated animated short lineup, a number that now totals 398!

Best Animated Short - 2024: The Nominees

Well it's been over a month since I drove back to my parents' in Virginia, and over a month since the shortlist for the upcoming Oscars were revealed. It's been so long that I've gone and completed the AMPS trio in my other blog. The Oscar nominees were supposed to have already been announced but were delayed due to the terrible California wildfires. But the day has finally arrived where we find out what the new addition to the Best Animated Short lineup will be. And as you might have already been able to tell from the header, the films are:

Beautiful Men
Beurk! (Yuck!)
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Magic Candies
Wander to Wonder

Best Animated Short - 2024: The Shortlist

It's that time of year again, huh? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the shortlist for selected categories on December 17, and we have a new list of 15 titles that still have a chance to receive the coveted honor of being named the Best Animated Short of the year at the Oscars. Normally I'd write about these shortlisted films as soon as possible after the shortlist's release, but for the third straight year I had to do some traveling after the shortlist's reveal, and didn't have time to put in the research necessary to write about the films because once again I didn't pay attention to any festivals or anything so I knew very little about the titles. Two years ago I neglected to even write about the shortlist but I figure nowadays I ignore this blog in between awards season so I figure I should write something.

According to the press release there were 88 films that achieved eligibility through festivals or theatrical releases. I don't think the Academy released the full list of films that have been eligible although sites like Cartoon Brew has certainly tried to compile lists of potential competitors, and some lists of eligible films have been leaked. As such, I have no idea what are considered snubs. But taking a look at these titles it does appear that the Academy has continued their recent habit of avoiding populist titles such as Once Upon a Studio last year. But what did make the cut, in the fourth straight year that the Academy has expanded the shortlist to 15? I'm not going to do an in-depth analysis of each of these films because the majority of them are only available as trailers but I do hope I will write enough for a basic understanding of what each film is like.

War is Over! Wins Best Animated Short

 

Well, the Oscars are tonight, and I can't watch it because I'm busy working my day job. However, I did see that Best Animated Short is one of the first categories being presented. And of course it went to War is Over!, the anti-war short film inspired by the music if John and Yoko. It's not too surprising, as it coalesced into the favorite over the past few weeks from its star-powered beginning and its noble message, and its connections to Pixar through director Dave Mullins. I've seen some really scathing reviews of this film and its over-simplified message. I even saw a list that ranked War is Over! as the 53rd best film nominated for an Oscar...out of 53...yeah, they really hated it.

I didn't hate War is Over! as much some of those other reviewers, but I do feel that it would be one of the weaker winners in this category. The anti-war message is delivered with very little subtlety and is extremely shallow. Especially when compared to some of the other nominees. Also I'm very annoyed that there is no way to get the film online, which means my digital collection of Oscar nominated animated shorts is missing an important entry. Alas, I have come to accept the inevitability of War is Over! winning, which it naturally did. 

But then Hayao Miyazaki won Best Animated Feature for Kimi-tachi wa dou Ikiru ka? (That's The Boy and the Heron for you non-weeaboos) and maybe things aren't so bad after all. Anyways, I'll give an overview of the rest of the ceremony once it's done.

Best Animated Short - 2023

It's been over a month since the release of the nomination list for the 2023 Oscars (because I have always believed that the Oscars year should refer to the year the films being celebrated were released), and I have been waiting to see if two of the five Best Animated Short nominees were ever going to appear online. I mean there was the Animation Showcase website that an anonymous commenter mentioned that had Our Uniform, but when I went to sign up the website said it was for industry professionals which kind of made me spooked, because I am definitely not in the animation industry. I am more of a freelance writer if anything. 

So it was down to searching constantly for Our Uniform or War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko. Of course, those searches have always been fruitless, so it came down to having to do something that I hadn't done since the 2018 Oscars, which is going to a showing of the animation shorts. While there were more theaters doing showings than there were five years ago, I was dismayed to find that the showings wouldn't open wide until February 16. I waited around but when the 16th rolled around I was dealing with some car issues that further delayed my being able to watch the films.

But finally my car problems were behind me, and I was able to find some time in my schedule to do not just one but two viewings of the Oscar nominated animated shorts. And at long last I can finally start my review of the 92nd set of nominees for the Best Animated Short category, growing ever closer to that milestone 100th year.

Best Animated Short - 2023: Nominees

It's been over a month since the Best Animated Short shortlist was released. Heck, it's been a month since I posted about the films on the shortlist, and that went up a few days after the release of the shortlist. The films have all been screened, and the votes have been cast, and today the Oscar nominations were announced. Normally I have to wake up at ungodly hours just to catch the nominees, but now that I work overnights I can just stay up after my shift and watch the nomination announcement. Which still kind of sucks, but going to bed later than usual is better than waking up earlier than usual. Anyways, between the Oscar nominations in the morning and the Baseball Hall of Fame announcements in the evening it's going to be quite a busy day.

I will say I am encouraged by how my shortlist post had a couple of comments. It's good to know some people would care enough to post even though I don't post very often. I have been trying to find the shortlisted films, but with varying effect. I haven't had the guts to request access to the Animation Showcase, because I don't actually work in animation. I do this on the side, and not very well at that. But now we shall see if any of the films that I was able to track down would get the nomination.

And the nominees are:

Letter to a Pig
Ninety Five Senses
Our Uniform
Pachyderme
War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko

Best Animated Short - 2023: The Shortlist

It's that time of year again, when I dust off this blog and force myself to write about the films that can potential win the Oscar for Best Animated Short. Of course I haven't really paid attention to the race beforehand, not like Cartoon Brew who have kept track of animated shorts that qualified by winning festivals, then interviewing their directors. Of course, yesterday marked the day when I can no longer ignore the race, since it was the day that the Academy released the shortlist for several categories, including Best Animated Short. 

Ideally I'd write about the shortlisted films the day the shortlist was released, but I was driving to Pittsburgh on no sleep and went to watch a Pittsburgh Penguins game, so I really didn't have a chance to watch the trailers for each of the shortlist or learned a little more about these films. But now that I'm back home there's no excuse for me to delay. Of course I'm not going to be reviewing the films, since that's not the point (and also because I've seen barely any of them). Which makes me wonder why anybody would read this post.