Will “The Wild Robot” Break The Academy’s Bias Against Animation?

 For a while, original animated films, especially non-sequels, seemed to be losing their charm at the box office in the aftermath of the pandemic. However, “The Wild Robot” changed that with its solid $35 million domestic opening weekend (and continued strong holds due to the impressive word of mouth), surpassing all other non-sequel animated movies released after March 2020. Now, all eyes are on this DreamWorks Animation sleeper hit, which has garnered rave reviews since its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. With its unique blend of critical acclaim and an awards-friendly fall release date, “The Wild Robot” is sparking discussions as a potential candidate to become only the fourth-ever animated Best Picture Oscar nominee in history.

The Best Picture category has been rough on animated cinema for decades. So far, only three animated features (“Beauty and the Beast”, “Up,” and “Toy Story 3”) have ever secured Best Picture Oscar nominations. The absence of such titles since 2010 speaks to the Academy’s ambivalence toward animated features. It suggests that “Up” and “Toy Story 3” undoubtedly benefited from being released in the first two years of the Academy, expanding the Best Picture category from past five nominees to a straight ten. In the years since, even 2020’s “Soul” couldn’t score a Best Picture nomination in a year upended by COVID with very little competition (though, back then, the Academy was also allowing anywhere between 5-10 nominees for Best Picture as opposed to a straight ten).

Not that other animated features haven’t tried to break through this stigma. The 2020s have seen a slew of animated motion pictures try with all their might to secure the kind of Best Picture Oscar nomination that’s so often eluded worthy titles in this medium. Most notably, “Flee,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio,” and both “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” were bequeathed with costly For Your Consideration campaigns that urged voters to recognize these titles for Best Picture. None of them came to fruition, though “Flee” did make history as the first film to secure simultaneous nominations for Best Documentary, International Feature Film, and Animated Feature categories. Still, a Best Picture Oscar nomination was M.I.A.

Frankly, if the adult-skewing “Flee” or a movie directed by a Best Director Oscar winner like “Pinocchio” couldn’t get into Best Picture, then the Universal awards strategists in charge of “The Wild Robot” have their work cut out for them. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a pathway for the Academy to recognize the beloved title still. For one thing, “The Wild Robot” really does have a special kind of critical acclaim that very few other movies seem to receive, one of genuine passion that makes people want to root for it as an underdog. It also boasts some groundbreaking animation from the renowned animation studio. This isn’t just an animated family film given effusive praise for not being “The Emoji Movie” 2.0. Regardless of its medium or target audience, it’s a truly adored motion picture benefiting from tremendous word of mouth. That kind of acclaim doesn’t come around every day, and Universal knows this and is looking to capitalize on it as best as it can this awards season.

Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation hasn’t received an Oscar win in decades at this point. The last time the studio scored a Best Animated Feature win for a non-Aardman movie was “Shrek” over two decades ago when the category was first introduced. Since then, the various awards strategists between DreamWorks Animation titles have given heavy Best Animated Feature campaign pushes for “Kung Fu Panda” and especially “How to Train Your Dragon 2.” However, no further Oscar wins have ever been bestowed upon a DreamWorks production. This year marks the 30th anniversary of DreamWorks SKG, and in that time, the studio has given us many acclaimed and well-respected films ranging from “The Prince of Egypt” to “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.” What better time to celebrate the legacy of the studio and its artists than giving “The Wild Robot” some awards love this Oscar season, which may result in the company’s only second Best Animated Feature Oscar win and additional nominations outside of Best Animated Feature including Best Original Score (Kris Bowers) and Best Original Song (“Kiss The Sky” by Maren Morris).

Even more importantly, “The Wild Robot” could be a prime opportunity to give director/writer Chris Sanders his overdue awards recognition. Believe it or not, all three of the previous animated films Sanders directed (“Lilo & Stitch,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” and “The Croods”) have all been nominated for Best Animated Feature, and all of them lost. Sanders’s films have consistently earned acclaim and have been box-office successes. “The Wild Robot” is his first solo directorial effort and has become one of his most beloved projects yet, which is pretty amazing considering how many fans there are for “How To Train Your Dragon.” Scoring only the fourth Best Picture Oscar nomination in history for an animated movie would be a fitting achievement for such an esteemed filmmaker. Still, if that bar is too high, at the very least, he deserves to finally be recognized with a Best Animated Feature Oscar win.

Unfortunately, a Best Picture nomination may be hopeless in the face of the Academy’s consistent devaluing of animated features. Even as late as last year, something as universally beloved as “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” failed to score any Oscar nominations besides Best Animated Feature. Other critically acclaimed animated titles like “Flee,” “The Boy And The Heron,” and “Persepolis” never had a chance at Best Picture nominations despite pushes from within the industry to give animation its due. The perception that animated features are innately “kid’s stuff” has been challenging to overcome, but it’s not impossible.

It’s not like the works of geniuses like Satoshi Kon need Oscar nominations to be valued or have artistic merit. However, having animated cinema more consistently recognized in a wide array of Oscar categories would reaffirm the broader film industry’s view that this medium is as worthy of respect as any other form of cinematic storytelling. Alas, the absence of animated Best Picture nominees reflects the harsh reality that animated movies still have a long way to go in the Academy’s view, but despite not placing in the top 3 for the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, Universal Pictures is not giving up on “The Wild Robot,” nor should they.

“The Wild Robot” has the best chance of any 2024 animated movie to secure a Best Picture nomination, even more than the $1.693 billion grossing behemoth that is “Inside Out 2.” Even if it doesn’t, the film’s artistic merits will continue to shine and receive praise from critics and audiences alike. The Universal Pictures awards campaigners will undoubtedly concentrate their energy on getting “The Wild Robot” a Best Animated Feature Oscar win and additional nominations for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. If the film fails to make it into this year’s crop of Best Picture nominees or score any additional nominations outside of Best Animated Feature, it will be another egregious example of the challenges animated cinema continues to face in gaining Oscar recognition. However, it will also serve as a reminder of the potential for an animated feature to hopefully receive a Best Picture nomination once again, a reality we may be getting closer to than you think.

Source：Lisa Laman/BNP