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