Sure it’s catchy, smart, and witty original song, “Everything is Awesome” was nominated for an award, but the excellent screenplay and overall achievement in, not just animation, but all of filmmaking that The Lego Movie brought this year was grossly overlooked this morning as the nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced. If you’ve heard great things about this movie but still haven’t taken the time to watch. Please do, you will be pleasantly surprised. I admit it’s about 15 min too long (lots of toy explosions account for that) but it’s as original as any of the other out-of-the-box films that were nominated for big awards this morning – The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman, and Boyhood being prime examples.
I may have to call this the biggest Oscar snub of the 21st century. The Lego Movie achieved a rarity in
Hollywood, it was a complete box office hit and a critic favorite with a 96% tomato rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The animation was also groundbreaking, because unlike all other CGI animation, I’m still not certain if the film was shot using stop-motion animation or if it was completely computer generated (it’s all CGI). And then there is the plot and theme of the movie. Let’s just say, everything really isn’t awesome when everyone is the same. Oh well, at least The Tale of the Princess Kaguya was nominated, for I’m sure we’ll get a review from our Queen of Animation, Mellinda Hensley about this film soon enough.
In the meantime, what do you think were the biggest snubs in Oscar nomination history? Singing in the Rain, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, Full Metal Jacket, or almost all of Hitchcock’s best films North by Northwest, Rear Window, Psycho and Vertigo were all left off the Best Picture nomination roster.
Come to think, of it maybe being snubbed isn’t such a bad thing. See, everything is awesome.
