Sunday, February 2, 2025

Ranking the 2025 Best Animated Feature Nominees

I haven't done a back to front assessment of the Animated Feature nominees since 2015, but for this 10th anniversary, I'm bringing it back.

During that initial walkthrough of the category, I listed three themes that I derived from examining the thirteen year prior history of the category back then.  These themes are:

  1. A nominee should be widely seen.  Niche critical darlings rarely fare well.
  2. Innovation helps.  Many winners make significant strides in technical advances that help improve storytelling.
  3. Story matters.  The best animated features are often the ones that, if shot as live action (along with any necessary visual effects) would still have significant merit as a film.  Saying that doesn't give the recent spate of live action adaptations of Disney animated classics any more reason to exist (because they don't have any other than to make more money for their corporate masters), but the fact that Disney was able to make actual functioning live action films from these animated features gives an indication of the quality of their stories.
With that context, let's walk through my rankings of this year's nominees.

5. Memoir of a Snail


Memoir of a Snail
is an interesting film that tells an engaging story, but doesn't tell it in the most engaging way.  I found my mind wandering a number of times, and I couldn't help but think that this would have done much better if it were shortened and tightened, then released for the Animated Short category.  This seems draconian, as it would require shrinking the run time from 94 minutes to 40.  But there were just too many elements that weren't critical to the central plot or theme of the film, so that kind of extreme editing could be a realistic possibility.

The film follows Grace as she loses both her parents, gets separated from her twin brother, goes through two foster homes, goes through a relationship that has its extreme ups and downs, and loses her final parental figure, all while dealing with the isolation caused by her shyness and depression.  The story is interesting, but a little decompressed.  In addition, the film at times tells rather than shows, which always bothers me.  Still, I appreciated the 90 minutes I spent with the film, even if I came away with thoughts on how to potentially edit it.  It deserves its nomination, but also deserves its fifth place standing on my list.

4. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl


I love Wallace & Gromit.  They are a jewel of modern animation, and come from a pantheon-level animation house.  Vengeance Most Fowl is a fun, engaging film that gives all the usual gags and character quirks of both protagonists while building off of The Wrong Trousers, an animated classic.  What's not to like?

The problem is there's nothing particularly special or novel about this particular entry in the Wallace & Gromit library.     Feathers McGraw was a memorable villain in The Wrong Trousers, but here he just comes off as a lazy Lex Luthor.  His criminal plot is based on Wallace having programmed an evil mode into his helper robots (if the robots have that, what about the rest of his inventions? Could the toaster turn evil?) and assumes a number of key events just happen.  There's nothing really fresh or noteworthy here.

3. The Wild Robot


I had The Wild Robot really built up for me by people who had seen it before me, and I have to say, it was underwhelming.  Never tell me a film is easily the best of its kind this year, because when it turns out to not be true, I'm going to take it personally. It's a perfectly fine animated movie, but it reminds me more of Over the Hedge than it does, say, Rango.  

The story itself is quite good, though not without its holes (for example, Roz conveniently knows little about life outside modern human helping to serve up easy comedy yet knows about nature just enough to keep the plot going.  Later, Roz leaves to take action to protect her adopted island home, yet months later appears to have not done anything).  But it is presented in a pedestrian way, with the usual animated dialogue and out loud moralizing.  I can't help but think the film would have been better served by taking a page from the next film on this list, keeping the animals nonverbal and letting expressions and actions carry the storytelling.   That would have been a much more profound experience without changing the plot whatsoever.

2. Flow


Flow
is a pretty amazing film.  The first animated feature to be completely rendered in Blender, it's a great piece of film making.  The animal characters are very expressive without the use of dialogue (The Wild Robot film makers, take note) and it feels like a living, breathing world.  The animals largely felt like animals (though see below), and the terrain they cross has a real feel of foreboding mystery.

It's not perfect, however.  While the animals largely behave like the animals they are, it's odd that everyone knows instinctively how to pilot a boat. I don't mind them exhibiting a surprising amount of collaboration because it seems central to the themes of the film, but the boat expertise pulled  me out of the story frequently if briefly.  The appearance of a UFO was similarly jarring, and I think the film would have benefitted keeping its plot more grounded than that.  And I'm somewhat disappointed that the film never explains where all the people have gone or why the flooding occurs or where the waters run off to.  These flaws are slight compared to its achievements, putting it just below my number one pick on this list.

1. Inside Out 2


It is meant as a compliment when I say that immediately after finishing my viewing of Inside Out 2, I looked to see if Pete Docter wrote and/or directed this installment.  I looked because Docter is responsible for some of the finest films Pixar has put out, and Inside Out 2 belongs in that pantheon, sitting beside its predecessor.  But no, it was the result of first time feature director Kelsey Mann and incredible writer Meg LeFauve.  LeFauve brings that lineage from those other fine Pixar films and, based on this first foray into feature directing, Mann is someone to watch.

Following up a masterpiece is a difficult task.  You have to develop a story that can stand on its own and not be too repetitive while remaining faithful to the core ethos of the original.  Inside Out 2 does a stellar job of doing just that.  The complexity of emotions that puberty so frequently brings on is the perfect setting for this second film.  The realization that just maintaining the simpler set of emotions from youth is not a winning proposition for growing up and the struggle one experiences if allowing anxiety to rule over all are fantastic themes to explore, and the script executes this with great precision.  The acting, as usual, is at a high level, and overall, it left me highly satisfied and looking forward to a potential third film that explores the more adult emotions that arise when one gets out on their own.  It's a great job done by all involved, and deserving of any and all kudos it receives from the various award giving organizations.

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