Animated Feature Film

Barely past half way through the year and we have already have seen a handful of impressive animated feature films. Despite stiff competition, it is hard to look past “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” as the clear frontrunner. The first instalment in the animated series won this award in 2019 and the latest release from Sony has surpassed it’s predecessor at the box-office and even matched it’s critical acclaim.

One release that did not perform quite as well however, is “Elemental” from Walt Disney. The animated tale of romance and equality hugely disappointed at the box-office and received luke warm reviews from critics, making it one of the worst received Pixar movies to date. Disney will be putting all their eggs in one basket with the campaign this year, as they will shift their focus on their second release of the year, “Wish”.

Speaking of eggs, Netflix will be pushing the long awaited sequel to the brilliant stop-motion “Chicken Run”, produced by Academy favourites – Aardman Animations. When released back in 2000, there was no Academy Award for Animation, so Chicken Run had nothing to show for it’s critical acclaim. After winning for “Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit” in 2006, Aardman and Netflix will be hoping for a strong campaign this year too. If “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” fails to live up to the high standards of the original, Netflix still have the charming animated fantasy “Nimona” to campaign instead.

There has also been strong showings from Japan this year, with the disaster-ridden romance “Suzume” and basketball flick “The First Slam Dunk” gaining traction in recent months. Japan also have their heavy hitter yet to come. Legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has come out of a retirement for his swan song “The Boy and the Heron”. Miyazaki is the man behind many Studio Ghibli classics such as “Princess Mononoke”, “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Spirited Away”, the latter of which is the only film to win in this category which is not in the English language. The latest by the master of anime, is described as a “big fantastical film” and will have it’s premiere at Toronto International Film Festival on 7th September. If reviews are as strong as all his previous bodies of work, I expect this to push Spider-Man all the way to the Oscar ceremony in March.

Here are my predictions as of 31st July 2023:

Strong Contenders

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures)
2. The Boy and the Heron (GKIDS)
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount)
4. Wish (Walt Disney)
5. Nimona (Netflix)

Possible Contenders

1. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (Netflix)
2. Suzume (Crunchyroll)
3. The First Slam Dunk (GKIDS)
4. Elemental (Walt Disney)
5. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Warner Bros.)

Outsiders

1. Robot Dreams (Neon)
2. The Monkey King (Netflix)
3. The Peasants (BreakThru)
4. Leo (Netflix)
5. Trolls Band Together (Universal)