Best Animated Film: 10 Years Before the Category

In 2001, the Academy introduced the Best Animated Feature category into the Oscars race and since then a multitude of films have won and been nominated every year, from the classic Shrek to the stop motion Netflix film, Pinocchio. But what would this category have looked like for the ten years previous to its creation? This week we take a look back to see what it would look like. 

The nineties were a golden age for Disney animation and so they would probably have dominated in this category, but each year gives way to other competitors that could have been definite challengers. 

The main Disney animation films in the year 2000 were Dinosaur, The Emperor’s New Groove, and The Tigger Movie which definitely all could have ended up on the nomination list, but none of them were a true standout. Emperor’s New Groove has become a classic but at the time it was considered way too ahead of its time so it probably would not have grabbed the win. 

The Road to El Dorado could have been the nomination for Dreamworks and Titan AE came from Fox animation but was considered a bit off center and probably would not have gotten the attention of the Academy. The real winner this year would have been Chicken Run, a very popular claymation movie which is the kind of animation that the Academy loves to reward in this category. 

Pixar was still in its infancy in 1999 and was not considered the dynamo that it would have been but Toy Story 2 was one of the best reviewed movies of the year and the franchise was one of the most popular at that time. Doug’s First Movie is another Disney movie that may have grabbed a nomination as the classic character finally got a film. The King and I had an animated adaptation this year which is a classic story that could have easily grabbed a nomination. The Iron Giant is the stand out in quality but was a box office failure and may not have been popular enough for a nomination and yet its quality could have brought it there. 

The most interesting nomination in 1999 would have been for South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut and on one hand this film would easily have been considered too crass for the Oscars, but on the other hand got a nomination for it’s song “Blame Canada” so it probably would have been given a nomination. The winner could have been Toy Story 2, but the win probably would have gone to Tarzan which was a classic Disney animated film and also won the coveted Best Original Song award, and while that is not a one to one prediction, it definitely would have captured quite a bit of momentum. 

1998 would have been the battle of the bugs, in this category with Antz versus A Bug’s Life and would have continued the battle between Dreamworks and Pixar with both having animation that was quite revolutionary at the time. The Dreamworks versus Disney battle would have continued with two dimensional animation in Mulan and The Prince of Egypt. In terms of the fifth nomination,  Nickelodeon is no stranger to nominations in this category and so The Rugrats Movie could have ended up on this nomination list as well. But Pokemon: The First Movie would be another pop culture phenomenon which would have had enough popularity to grab a surprise nomination. In terms of winning, this really could have been anyone’s race as Mulan, The Prince of Egypt, A Bug’s Life, and Antz were all very popular at the time and all resemble other winners. 

From 1997 on, the amount of theatrical animated films was surprisingly light and therefore most of these years probably would have had only three nominations which is not unheard of. There is the chance that the existence of this category would have led to more animated films going for a theatrical release and there could have possibly been more of a combination. 

1997 had the Disney hit Hercules that would probably be the standout and the winner. However, Cats Don’t Dance was a beloved Warner Bros animated film and Anastasia was the 20th Century Fox animated film which was huge this year as well. Prince Mononoke also came out this year and Hayao Miyazaki did eventually win his Oscar for Spirited Away, but this film probably would have at least gotten a nomination. 

1996 had its annual Disney film with The Hunchback of Notre Dame which would have easily taken the top prize, but this category often goes to more unconventional animation and so James and the Giant Peach could have been a solid challenger. A portion of a film being live action did not stop Marcel the Shell with Shoes On from getting a nomination this year and therefore Space Jam could have gotten a nomination this year. Beavis and Butthead Do America was probably far too strange to receive a nomination form the Academy, but this category frequently sees those strange nominations and this would have been one. 

Toy Story was iconic in 1995 as it released a whole new type of animation and animation studio with it also receiving its own special achievement award and a nomination for Best Original Screenplay, it would be difficult to ignore this film for the win. However, Pocahontas was the two dimensional animated film from Disney this year and it also won two Oscars for Score and Song beating out Toy Story. A Goofy Movie and The Pebble and the Penguin would have grabbed the third nomination but would not have been as prevalent and would have been lost in the shuffle of the other two films. 

1994 is easily the clearest winner in The Lion King, with it receiving four nominations and two wins for its music and no other clear competitor released this year. Two other animated films were The Pagemaster and Thumbelina which would have received nominations, but they would not pose any true threat to the Disney classic. 

There were no Disney animated films released in 1993, but there was still an easy standout that would have won the Oscar and that would be The Nightmare Before Christmas as the Academy loves stop motion animated films in this category. Two other films that probably would have grabbed nominations were We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Story and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, which had a cult following but nothing compared to Nightmare. 

1992 and 1991 did not have many animated films released in theaters but it would not have mattered because Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast would have easily won respectively especially with the latter being the first animated film ever to be nominated for Best Picture and both of them winning for Best Original Song. 

This was an interesting exercise and it would have been fascinating to see if Disney really would dominate the nineties the way most would think or would favor moving in another direction based on certain cultural momentums.  

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