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.
