Oscars 2018 Category Breakdown: Best Animated Short
So what we do here each year as a warm up for the Oscars is, I break down each of the 24 categories. The idea is to both familiarize everyone with the category and its history. I look at what the major trends are throughout the past bunch of years, how the precursors tend to go, whether they matter or not, that sort of stuff. I look at how the category came to be this year, and just anything else that seems totally pertinent about it. Then I rank each of the nominees and tell you what their likelihood (at this particular moment in time) of winning is.
This is all prelude to my giant Oscar ballot that I’m gonna give you. But I figure, if you have these as the warmup, it’s not as intimidating. You’ll have seen a lot of the pertinent trends here and we’ll all be able to reference these as a sort of cheat sheet. Plus it shows you where my head is at for how I think each of the categories are gonna go, and you can see me working my way up to all the bad decisions I usually make while guessing. Pretty much, with this, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how the category is gonna turn out.
Today is Best Animated Short. Truly one of my favorite categories this year, because just about everything in it is great and worth seeing.
Year | Best Animated Film Winners | Other Nominees |
1931-1932 | Flowers and Trees | Mickey’s Orphans
It’s Got Me Again! |
1932-1933 | Three Little Pigs | Building a Building
The Merry Old Soul |
1934 | The Tortoise and the Hare | Holiday Land
Jolly Little Elves |
1935 | Three Orphan Kittens | The Calico Dragon
Who Killed Cock Robin? |
1936 | The Country Cousin | Old Mill Pond
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor |
1937 | The Old Mill | Educated Fish
The Little Match Girl |
1938 | Ferdinand the Bull | Brave Little Tailor
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood Good Scots Hunky and Spunky |
1939 | The Ugly Duckling | Detouring America
Peace on Earth The Pointer |
1940 | The Milky Way | Puss Gets the Boot
A Wild Hare |
1941 | Lend a Paw | Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B
Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt How War Came The Night Before Christmas Rhapsody in Rivets The Rookie Bear Rhythm in the Ranks Superman Truant Officer Donald |
1942 | Der Fuehrer’s Face | All Out for “V”
Blitz Wolf Juke Box Jamboree Pigs in a Polka Tulips Shall Grow |
1943 | The Yankee Doodle Mouse | The Dizzy Acrobat
Five Hundred Hats of Batholomew Cubbins Greetings Bait Imagination Reason and Emotion |
1944 | Mouse Trouble | And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street
Dog, Cat and Canary Fish Fry How to Play Football My Boy, Johnny Swooner Crooner |
1945 | Quiet Please! | Donald’s Crime
Jasper and the Beanstalk Life with Feathers Mighty Mouse in Gypsy Life The Poet and Peasant Rippling Romance |
1946 | The Cat Concerto | Musical Moments from Chopin
John Henry and the Inky-Poo Squatter’s Rights Walky Talky Hawky |
1947 | Tweetie Pie | Chip an’ Dale
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse Pluto’s Blue Note Tubby the Tuba |
1948 | The Little Orphan | Mickey and the Seal
Mouse Wreckers Robin Hoodlum Tea for Two Hundred |
1949 | For Scent-imental Reasons | Hatch Up Your Troubles
Magic Fluke Toy Tinkers |
1950 | Gerald McBoing-Boing | Jerry’s Cousin
Trouble Indemnity |
1951 | The Two Mouseketeers | Lambert the Sheepish Lion
Rooty Toot Toot |
1952 | Johann Mouse | Little Johnny Jet
Madeline Pink and Blue Blues The Romance of Transportation in Canada |
1953 | Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom | Christopher Crumpet
From A to Z-Z-Z-Z Fugged Bear The Tell-Tale Heart |
1954 | When Magoo Flew | Crazy Mixed Up Pup
Pigs Is Pigs Sandy Claws Touché, Pussy Cat! |
1955 | Speedy Gonzales | Good Will to Men
The Legend of Rockabye Point No Hunting |
1956 | Magoo’s Puddle Jumper | Gerald McBoing-Boing on Planet Moo
The Jaywalker |
1957 | Birds Anonymous | One Droopy Knight
Tabasco Road Trees and Jamaica Daddy The Truth About Mother Goose |
1958 | Knighty Knight Bugs | Paul Bunyan
Sidney’s Family Tree |
1959 | Moonbird | Mexicali Shmoes
Noah’s Ark The Violinist |
1960 | Munro | Goliath II
High Note Mouse and Garden A Place in the Sun |
1961 | Ersatz (The Substitute) | Aquamania
Beep Prepared Nelly’s Folly The Pied Piper of Guadalupe |
1962 | The Hole | Icarus Montgolfier Wright
Now Hear This Self Defense… for Cowards Symposium on Popular Songs |
1963 | The Critic | Automania 2000
The Game My Financial Career Pianissimo |
1964 | The Pink Phink | Christmas Cracker
How to Avoid Friendship Nudnik No. 2 |
1965 | The Dot and the Line | Clay or the Origin of Species
The Thieving Magpie |
1966 | A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature | The Drag
The Pink Blueprint |
1967 | The Box | Hypothese Beta
What on Earth! |
1968 | Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day | The House that Jack Built
The Magic Pear Tree Windy Day |
1969 | It’s Tough to Be a Bird | Of Men and Demons
Walking |
1970 | Is It Always Right to Be Right? | The Further Adventures of Uncle Sam: Part Two
The Shepherd |
1971 | The Crunch Bird | Evolution
The Selfish Giant |
1972 | A Christmas Carol | Kama Sutra Rides Again
Tup Tup |
1973 | Frank Film | The Legend of John Henry
Pulcinella |
1974 | Closed Mondays | The Family That Dwelt Apart
Hunger Voyage to Next Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! |
1975 | Great | Kick Me
Monsieur Pointu Sisyphus |
1976 | Leisure | Dedalo
The Street |
1977 | The Sand Castle | Bead Game
A Doonesbury Special Jimmy the C |
1978 | Special Delivery | Oh My Darling
Rip Van Winkle |
1979 | Every Child | Dream Doll
It’s so Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House |
1980 | The Fly | All or Nothing
History of the World in Three Minutes Flat |
1981 | Crac | The Creation
The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin |
1982 | Tango | The Great Cognito
The Snowman |
1983 | Sundae in New York | Mickey’s Christmas Carol
Sound of Sunshine – Sound of Rain |
1984 | Charade | Doctor DeSoto
Paradise |
1985 | Anna & Bella | The Big Snit
Second Class Mail |
1986 | A Greek Tragedy | The Frog, The Dog and The Devil
Luxo, Jr. |
1987 | The Man Who Planted Trees | George and Rosemary
Your Face |
1988 | Tin Toy | The Cat Came Back
Technological Threat |
1989 | Balance | The Cow
The Hill Farm |
1990 | Creature Comforts | A Grand Day Out
Grasshoppers |
1991 | Manipulation | Blackfly
Strings |
1992 | Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase | Adam
Reci, Reci Reci… The Sandman Screen Play |
1993 | The Wrong Trousers | Blindscape
The Mighty River Small Talk The Village |
1994 | Bob’s Birthday | The Big Story
The Janitor The Monk and the Fish Triangle |
1995 | A Close Shave | The Chicken from Outer Space
The End Gagarian Runaway Brain |
1996 | Quest | Canhead
La Salla Wat’s Pig |
1997 | Geri’s Game | Famous Fred
Mermaid Redux Riding Hood La Vieille dame et les pigeons |
1998 | Bunny | The Canterbury Tales
Jolly Roger More When Life Departs |
1999 | The Old Man and the Sea | 3 Misses
Humdrum My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts When the Day Breaks |
2000 | Father and Daughter | Periwig Maker
Rejected |
2001 | For the Birds | Fifty Percent Grey
Give Up Yer Aul Sins Strange Invadors Stubble Trouble |
2002 | The ChubbChubbs! | Katedra
Mike’s New Car Mt. Head Das Rad |
2003 | Harvie Krumpet | Boundin’
Gone Nutty Nibbles Destino |
2004 | Ryan | Birthday Boy
Gopher Broke Guard Dog Lorenzo |
2005 | The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation | Badgered
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jaspar Morello 9 One Man Band |
2006 | The Danish Poet | Lifted
The Little Matchgirl Maestro No Time for Nuts |
2007 | Peter & the Wolf | Even Pigeons Go To Heaven
I Met the Walrus Madame Tutli-Putli My Love |
2008 | La Maison en petits cubes | Lavatory – Lovestory
Oktapodi – Gobelins L’Ecole de L’Image Presto This Way Up |
2009 | Logorama | Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
French Roast The Lady and the Reaper A Matter of Loaf and Death |
2010 | The Lost Thing | Day & Night
The Gruffalo Let’s Pollute Madagascar, A Journey Diary |
2011 | The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore | Dimanche
La Luna A Morning Stroll Wild Life |
2012 | Paperman | Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole Head Over Heels The Longest Daycare |
2013 | Mr. Hublot | Feral
Get a Horse! Possessions Room on the Broom |
2014 | Feast | The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper Me and My Moulton A Single Life |
2015 | Bear Story | Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team We Can’t Live Without Cosmos World of Tomorrow |
2016 | Piper | Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time Pear Cider and Cigarettes Pearl |
2017 | Dear Basketball | Garden Party
Lou Negative Space Revolting Rhymes |
All the shorts categories are specific to their year. They really don’t have any outside influences outside of, “Which one is Pixar?” So we just look at what we have and go from there.
Best Animated Short
Animal Behaviour
Bao
Late Afternoon
One Small Step
Weekends
This was the first year all ten shorts were available online before nominations. Many have since been pulled, because apparently they don’t understand the internet is pretty much the only way the public gets to see most of these, but I think at least two of these are still available (the best two, anyway).
I think, of the other shortlisted films, I’m surprised Lost & Found didn’t make it, since it was beautifully animated and stop-motion, but otherwise nothing was too much of a shocker to me. Animal Behaviour was the only short I didn’t really care for, so of course they nominated it. Grandpa Walrus was one that was just kind of okay. Bird Karma looked nice but didn’t amount to much. Bilby was nice, but I’m glad they didn’t nominate it just because it felt kind of standard CGI animation, whereas most of these are at least hand-drawn. And Age of Sail I really liked but also didn’t think they needed to nominate. I don’t think it did as much, narratively, as Pearl did a few years ago, even though this one did have more of a structured narrative. Personally, I think Lost & Found should have made it on instead of Animal Behaviour, but outside of that, I think we got the best version of this category that we could have gotten, and I rarely feel like I can say that. So I’m very happy with how this turned out.
That said… Pixar is pretty much running away with this one again, aren’t they?
Rankings:
5. Animal Behaviour — I don’t think this is gonna resonate with voters. Look at the last bunch of winners. If it wasn’t Pixar, Disney or Kobe Bryant (i.e., something with a lot of exposure), it was the one that told the most emotional story. And this ain’t that. So I have to consider it the fifth choice. Where’s the emotion here? It’s mostly just cute. Animals in therapy and their natural behaviors become their major issues. I don’t see this having any support in the way of a vote. You have to figure how many people are even gonna watch all five shorts and vote, and then figure how many of them are gonna vote for this one specifically. Can’t see it.
4. Late Afternoon — It’s really well done, and the animation is gorgeous. It might get some votes. Not sure it’ll have the legs to win. Feels like a fourth choice. This is a category where I can’t really support my feelings with any concrete evidence. You guys have all the evidence I do, though maybe you all haven’t seen the nominees as I have. Still, I think you can diagnose this one just on looking at what you have, and I think most of us would have this at #3 or #4 in this race. Doesn’t feel like a winner.
3. Weekends — This one has won some bigger festivals and just won the Annie Award for Best Short. Which is not insignificant. Since 2010, the Annie Short category is 4/8. Granted, the four times the winner didn’t win the Oscar, the Oscar winner in this category wasn’t nominated, and this was the only Oscar nominee up at the Annies, but it’s something. It at least means the animators saw it and liked it and that’s a measure of support that I will take in a category like this. That said… it’s not Disney or Pixar, so I can only go so far in my support. Can this win? Sure. Do I think I can call this a favorite at the moment? Not a chance. It doesn’t have what all previous winners had, which is the studio pedigree or the emotional story core. There’s emotion there, but it’s not what usually wins. Anyone who sees this knows that immediately. I think it’s a contender, but I’m not looking at this as a major player for the win just yet.
2. One Small Step — The only thing that is putting this over Weekends for me is the fact that you watch it and it has that emotional core that tends to do really well in this category. And the fact that this was openly on the internet from like September. So it gave more people a chance to just come across it along the way. At this point, I’m looking for anything that can beat Pixar, which has the total package this year in a way that I haven’t seen them have in a while. Lou didn’t have it. Piper didn’t have it. Sanjay’s Super Team didn’t have it. La Luna… ehh. Day & Night was technical, but didn’t have it. It’s been a while. So yeah, this is the second choice. But this is my personal favorite short in the category and it absolutely destroyed me when I saw it for the first time. And I think that will be the case for a lot of people who see it. It’s a very uplifting, life-affirming kind of a short, and is exactly what voters in this category respond to. So I think if you’re looking to what can possibly take down Pixar in this category, it’s this or Weekends.
1. Bao — The rule is that if Pixar is nominated in this category, it’s automatically the frontrunner until it loses. That’s just how that works. And this is the most complete Pixar short I’ve seen in a while. Last year, Lou wasn’t anything special. Piper looked great but was just kind of ehh, even though it managed a win. Sanjay’s Super Team I wasn’t a huge fan of. Lava — no thank you. The Blue Umbrella looked incredible, and probably came close, but they didn’t nominate it. La Luna looked nice, but otherwise didn’t have the total package. Day & Night had no narrative really, but looked spectacular, and could have won it on that alone (but didn’t). It’s been a while since Pixar had a short that was truly emotionally resonant. And this one should walk away with the category really easily. They look for what the most emotionally affecting shorts are in this category, and it’s hard to say this isn’t the one. I think it’s an easy winner and will be your frontrunner until it loses.
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Doesn’t Pixar usually lose this category?
February 8, 2019 at 3:12 pm