Awards Season Recap: Monsters University

This awards season, unfortunately, has been a rather disappointing one for Pixar, as their brilliant but underrated feature Monsters University has been largely ignored by most notable award organizations. The film was downright snubbed by the Golden Globes and the Oscars this year, who for some reason preferred arguably weaker films like Despicable Me 2 and The Croods.

The Monsters prequel has, however, received some recognition from less-known organizations, and it did win a couple awards at the Annies, where it had a total of 10 nominations and ended up taking home the awards for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production and Editorial in an Animated Feature Production. It was nominated for, but ended up losing, the following Annie Awards:

• Best Animated Feature
• Animated Effects in an Animated Production
• Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production
• Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
• Music in an Animated Feature Production
• Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
• Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski)
• Writing in an Animated Feature Production
• Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Way back in October, the film also won a Hollywood Animation Award at the 17th Hollywood Film Awards. Unfortunately, it hasn't won anything outside of that and the Annies, but it has at least been nominated for several other awards including:

• Best Edited Animated Feature Film - American Cinema Editors
• Best Animated Film - British Academy Film Awards
• Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures (Animated) - Cinema Audio Society Awards
• Best Animated Feature - Critics' Choice Movie Award
• Best Animated Feature Film - Denver Film Critics Society
• Best Animated Film - International Cinephile Society
• Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures (Kori Rae) - Producers Guild of America Award
• Best Animated Feature - San Francisco Film Critics Circle
• Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media - Satellite Awards
• Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture and Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture - Visual Effects Society Awards
• Best Animated Feature - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association

Awards are marvelous things, it's never a bad thing to give recognition to a filmmaker, actor, artist, or studio for their outstanding work. However, let's not forget that a film's (or a director's, actor's, etc.) greatness is not really determined by the number of accolades it earns. Films are meant to entertain, so shouldn't their greatness instead be determined by the joy they bring to people across the world? As the wise Doc Hudson would say, an award is "just an empty cup".

Congratulations to Dan Scanlon and the entire cast and crew for crafting a truly remarkable film with an exceptional message, a film that I hope will gain more recognition as it ages.

Today's the Big Day...

With the Oscars just a couple of hours away, I thought it was a good time to have a look back at all the accolades that have been awarded to Pixar's thirteenth feature film, Brave, this awards season. The film is nominated for Best Animated Feature tonight, although it's got some pretty intense competition, including Disney's astounding Wreck-It Ralph, directed by Rich Moore.

Brave took home the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature earlier in the season, beating out Wreck-It Ralph, Frankenweenie, Rise of the Guardians, and Hotel Transylvania. Heaven knows why Hotel T was nominated and Laika's fantastic stop-motion flick ParaNorman wasn't. Last year was the first time that a Pixar film didn't win the BAF prize at the Globes, with Cars 2 having been beat by The Adventures of Tintin.

Pixar's 13th was also nominated for a grand total of 8 Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature, although that award ended up going to Wreck-It Ralph. On the up side, the film was awarded honors for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production and Editorial in an Animated Feature Production, so Pixar did not go home empty handed that night.

At the BAFTAs, Brave once again took home a Best Animated Feature award, beating Frankenweenie and ParaNorman.

Brave has also claimed several other prizes, including honors for Outstanding Animation, Outstanding Animated Character, Outstanding Created Environment and Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation from the Visual Effects Society. Merida, Queen Elinor and the pesky Witch also granted the film an award for Best Animated Females from the Women Film Critics Circle.

Other awards the film has won include:

• Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing from the Cinema Audio Society
• Best Edited Animated Feature Film from the American Cinema Editors
• Best Animated Female (Merida, voiced by Kelly Macdonald) from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists

Pixar's had quite the award season this year, and I'd be very pleased to see Brave win the studio a 7th Oscar for Best Animated Feature tonight. But even if it doesn't win, that won't change the fact that Pixar produced a beautiful film, with wonderful characters, gorgeous music, breathtaking visuals, and an amazing story, so I give my sincere congratulations to the talented crew behind Brave.

'Brave' Brings Home the Golden Globe

The awards season progresses, and yesterday night Pixar's Brave won its first major award at the 70th Golden Globe Awards. Director Mark Andrews and producer Katherine Sarafian came up to receive the award for Best Animated Feature Film. Watch Mark's acceptance speech below:

I'm very happy to see that Brave won, it was a gorgeous film in terms of both animation and story, and should be enough to prove to the world that the acclaimed Emeryville-based animation studio has indeed not lost its touch and can still make films meant to be treasured by audiences in their hearts for years to come.

Congratulations to Brenda Chapman, Mark Andrews, Katherine Sarafian and the entire team at Pixar for their Golden Globe win and for creating such an incredible work of art.

'Brave' Receives Oscar Nomination

The Awards Season. One of the most exhilarating times of the year for moviegoers across the globe. Our hearts race as we cross our fingers, hoping and praying that our favorite films, actors, and filmmakers will be recognized and nominated for some sort of award - particularly at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars. Ladies and gentlemen, here are this year's nominees for Best Animated Feature Film...

• Frankenweenie - Tim Burton
• ParaNorman - Sam Fell & Chris Butler
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits - Peter Lord
• Wreck-It Ralph - Rich Moore
• Brave - Mark Andrews & Brenda Chapmam

All I can say is...wow. What a great year 2012 was for animation. There's not a film that was nominated that doesn't deserve to win, and it's so great to see the Academy recognize stop-motion animation, as it really is quite an underrated art form.

It's fantastic to see Brave up there after Pixar not being nominated for the first time ever last year with Cars 2. I would love, love, love to see Brave take the shiny golden man home this year, but let's face it - it's got some pretty tough competition, primarily with Disney's Wreck-It Ralph. Over the course of the past few years, Disney Animation have been upping their game after a few years of delivering so-so films (see Kyle's Animated World for some great in-depth articles on Disney's ups and downs throughout the ages), and Ralph was just a huge leap forward, and was pretty much as good as a Pixar film. I would be equally delighted to see Disney bring home their first ever Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

I was a bit disappointed that Brave didn't get a Best Original Song nomination for "Touch the Sky", "Learn Me Right", or "Into the Open Air". The film had some gorgeous music, so it's quite a shame that it wasn't recognized in this year's Oscars. On the bright side, the film does have a nomination for Best Music at the Annies, so hopefully it wins there. 

Who are you hoping takes home home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature this year? Who do you think will win? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Let The Awards Season Begin!

A year is a surprisingly short amount of time, when you think about it. Just yesterday we were laying eyes upon the first "For Your Consideration" ads for Cars 2, and counting down the days to Brave. Here we are once again, anticipating the approaching awards season and hoping Pixar's latest feature film may be honored with some recognition and bring home some shiny statuettes.

Pixar have released their first FYC poster for Brave, and it is, not surprisingly, stunningly beautiful. The image in the poster is taken from the river scene in the film, which for me was one of the highlights of the movie.

Unfortunately, Pixar went home empty handed this past February at the Oscars; the marvelous La Luna was beat out in the Best Animated Short Film category by the equally dazzling Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, and Cars 2 failed to earn a nomination for Best Animated Film. This year, however, I hope will see better results for the studio at the Academy Awards; Brave was nothing short of spectacular, though I feel it is an extremely underrated film. It does have some pretty heavy competition for the Best Animated Film category though, with other brilliant masterpieces like Disney's Wreck-It Ralph and Laika's ParaNorman also standing with a fighting chance. If the award ends up going to another film, though, Brave has a more than strong chance at winning the awards for both Best Original Song ("Touch the Sky", anyone?) and Best Original Score.

One thing is certain; whether it wins anything or not, Brave is an incredible motion picture and it doesn't need an award to prove it.

La Luna Still a Winner!

La Luna, unfortunately, did not take home the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film tonight. This may sound a bit disappointing, but, as I've said before, receiving a nomination from the Academy is a prize all on its own.

Congratulations to director Enrico Casarosa, the La Luna crew, and all of Pixar for being nominated, and, judging from what I've heard, creating such a beautiful short film that will be forever cherished! I cannot wait to see La Luna this summer!

First 'Cars 2' FYC Posters

The awards season is getting started. Pixar has released their first two 'For Your Consideration' posters for their contendant this year, Cars 2.

Despite all the negative reception it got, I don't see why Cars 2 can't be nominated or even win an award at the Oscars this year. The animation was top-notch, and the sound was absolutely breathtaking. I quite enjoyed the characters as well, both old and new; they were a blast. Above all that, Cars 2 came with a valuable message about friendship. Sure, it wasn't as emotionally heavy as Up or Toy Story 3, but it did pack an important life lesson.

That said, I'm looking forward to the Oscars, and all the other awards this year. There were a ton of stupendous films this year, both animated and live action, and some of them are not even out yet! Rango was one of my personal favorites..

It's going to be an exciting awards season this year!

Cool Pixar Pic: Homecoming

One week ago, Toy Story 3 took home the awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song at the 83rd Academy Awards. Lee Unkrich posted this picture on Twitter. That big, big crowd of Pixar workers was waiting for him at the studio when he returned. That looks like it must have been a really awesome moment, and not just for Lee, but for everybody at Pixar. Not everyone knows how difficult it is to make an animated movie as good as Toy Story 3, so I think it's great that these people's talents are recognized by winning an Oscar. Again, congratulations Pixar.

Also, Lee tweeted this other cool picture, related to his Oscar win. "Safety first." Funny.

Note: I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep up with my Cars 2 Character Profiles. I will begin catching up this week starting with Shu Todoroki.

Toy Story 3's Award Summary

Well, now that the award season has finally ended, I have decided to do a quick summary of all the awards Toy Story 3 won.

• 37th People's Choice Awards: Favourite Family Movie


• Satellite Awards 2011: Best Motion Picture (Animated or Mixed)


• 2011 Grammy Awards: Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media


• 82nd National Board of Review Awards: Best Animated Film and Top Ten Films


• 9th Washington Area Film Critics Association: Best Animated Feature


• 16th Annual BFCA Critics Choice Awards: Best Animated Feature


• Golden Tomato Awards (Rotten Tomatoes): Best Rating Feature in 2010 (Wide Release) and Best Reviewed Animated Film (Animation)


• 68th Golden Globe Awards: Best Animated Feature Film


• 64th BAFTA Awards: Best Animated Feature


• 83rd Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song ("We Belong Together" by Randy Newman)

Now isn't that a lot of awards? I think the film definitely deserved all those prizes, as it made many people laugh out loud, amazed them with spectacular animation and many action-packed scenes, and touched the hearts of millions. Congratulations Pixar, for creating another classic, that will remain in the hearts and minds of many forever.

The 83rd Academy Awards (UPDATED LIVE)

The night began as Anne Hathaway and James Franco gave a brief introduction to the 83rd Academy Awards. Tom Hanks, voice of Woody, presented the awards of Best Art Direction (which went to Disney's Alice and Wonderland), and Cinematography (which Inception won).

Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis presented the awards for Best Animated Short AND Best Animated Feature. Day & Night unfortunately lost to The Lost Thing. But, it is already a victory to be nominated. Congrats to Teddy Newton! The Best Animated Feature Film award went to...

TOY STORY 3!!!!!!!!!!

Director Lee Unkrich came up to recieve the award, and thanked everyone at Pixar, and stated that Pixar is the 'most AWESOME place on the planet to make movies!!!", and I totally agree with him!

Best Adapted Screenplay went to The Social Network, but congratulations to TS3 and Pixar for being nominated!

Best Sound Editing was one of the other awards for which TS3 was nominated, and did not win, but as I have stated, it's already a victory to be nominated. The award went to Inception.

Randy Newman did an AMAZING job performing his song from Toy Story 3, 'We Belong Together'!

Billy Crystal, voice of Mike Wasowski from Monsters, Inc., came up to talk for a few minutes.

Randy Newman won the the award for Best Original Song for his amazing song from TS3, 'We Belong Together'! Congratulations!

And the winner for Best Motion Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards is...

The King's Speech

Today was not the day that an animated film won the big one at the Oscars, but, as all the films which were nominated for an Oscar this year, Toy Story 3 was truely a masterpiece. The night concludes with a lovely performance by the PS22 Chorus. Good night everybody, and congratulations to Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson, John Lasseter, Randy Newman, everyone else at Pixar, and all the other great people who were nominated for an Oscar.

Big Oscar Picture...Find the Pixarians!

The Oscars are quickly approaching and, as always, we have the annual picture with all the nominees, taken at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' annual luncheon. Of course, many people from Pixar can be found in this picture. Test yourself and see how many Pixarians you can find! I'm warning you though, it WILL be hard! So far I've been able to locate Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Randy Newman.

Here is a list of all the Pixarians present:

• Lee Unkrich


• Darla K. Anderson


• John Lasseter


• Randy Newman


• Andrew Stanton


• Michael Arndt


• Teddy Newton


• Tom Myers


• Michael Silvers
  

See how many you can find!

Oscar Nominations!!!

Yesterday, nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards were finally announced! Of course, Pixar's masterpiece from 2010, Toy Story 3, recieved several nominations! Five of them actually. I am super excited to see TS3 recieve so many nominations, and I am sure it will win at least one.

Toy Story 3 was nominated for the following:

- Best Picture (Darla K Anderson)
- Best Animated Feature (Lee Unkrich)
- Best Adapted Screenplay (Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich)
- Best Sound Editing (Tom Myers and Michael Silvers)
- Best Original Song ("We Belong Together" by Randy Newman)

Also, Pixar recieved a nomination for their spectacular short, Day & Night, directed by Teddy Newton.

Conratulations to everyone at Pixar for getting nominated for several Academy Awards for yet another year! Good luck to Lee Unkrich, Darla Anderson, Teddy Newton, Randy Newman, Michael Arndt, Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, and everyone else at Pixar when February 27 comes! Let's hope TS3 becomes the first animated film in history to ever win the Almighty Oscar.

Toy Story 3 Wins Golden Globe!

Last night, the Golden Globes were held, and of course, Toy Story 3 and the geniuses at Pixar behind making all that movie magic were honored with the Best Animated Feature Film award! Pixar's 11th went up against:

-Despicable Me

-How To Train Your Dragon

-The Illusionist

-Tangled

But in the end, of course, TS3 went on to win. Congrats to Lee Unkrich (director), Darla Anderson (producer), John Lasseter (executive producer), and everyone else who helped bring this masterpiece to the big screen!

Photo credit: MSN

Pixar News Bundle!

Since I have been very busy lately, unfortunately I have not been able to update my blog. In the past week, there has been some cool news popping up, so this post is just catching up with all the news I missed.

First up, details and a cover image (seen below) for the Blu-ray release of The Incredibles have been released! Pixar's hit from 2004 will make its way onto high-definition Blu-ray on April 12 this year, and some of the new bonus features included will be:
-The Incredibles Revisited (Filmmakers Roundtable)
-Paths to Pixar: Story Artists
-Studio Stories: Gary’s Birthday
-Ending With A Bang: Making The End Credits
-Interactive “New Nomanison Island” Top Secret Redevelopment Plan
This Blu-ray will include an admission to Cars 2, which hits theaters two months later. Also, The Incredibles Blu-ray is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

Also on April 12, a new edition of Cars will be released on Blu-ray. It is likely to also include new bonus material, and will also come with an admission to Cars 2.

Two awesome new 'For Your Consideration' posters for TS3's campaign were revealed at Awards Daily. Looks like they're also going for the Best Director Award. In my opinion, Lee Unkrich does deserve that award, for all the effort he put into directing the third installment of the Toy Story films. Also, I absolutely love the poster with Woody and Buzz shaking hands, it has been my favorite one out of all the posters that have been released.

Everyone knows Rotten Tomatoes, the site that has all the information you need on actors, critics, and of course, movies. Each year, Rotten Tomatoes gives an award called the Golden Tomato to the best film of that year, in their opinion. This year, the winner for that award is none other than Pixar's latest hit, Toy Story 3!! Congratulations to everyone at Pixar for winning the award for the 4th year in a row!

That's pretty much all the excitement that's happened in the last week, but also, a few new Cars 2 things came out, but to me, this was so exciting, that it deserved its own post, so that will be the next post you see here on Pixar Corner!

More Toy Story 3 'FYC' Posters!

Recently on Disney's Awards Website, a whole lot of new TS3 'For Your Consideration' posters were revealed! Before this new bunch, we had seen other cool posters (click here and here) for Toy Story 3's campaign. Since there are so many, I have not posted the new 'FYC' ads here on the blog, because there are a lot, but you can view them all here, and once you're there, click on where you see 'Campaign'. I hope you check these out, they're really fun posters!

New TS3 'For Your Consideration' Poster

Adding to the series of Toy Story 3 'For Your Consideration' posters is this marvelous still of the toys holding hands, facing their fate together at the incinerator. Of course, only to be rescued by none other than 'The Claaaaw!"

Nominations for the Oscars will be announced on January 25, 2011. Then at last, we will know if TS3 got nominated for the Oscar of the Oscars. But only until February 27, will we know if it will win. Keep your fingers crossed!

My Thoughts On TS3 Winning Best Picture

A lot of people say that just because a movie is animated, it means it's for 'babies', or 'little kids'. I have always disagreed with that. Animated movies are made to be enjoyed by all audiences, from toddlers to young kids, preteens to teens, adults, and elders. Especially at Pixar, people work hard to make movies that are appealing to the whole family.

Now some people who avoid animated movies because they think they are too 'childish' are getting in the way of Toy Story 3 winning the almighty Best Picture Award at the Oscars. These people really got on my nerves, because TS3 has undoubtedly been one of the best (if not the best) film of 2010. It has grossed over 1 billion dollars worldwide at the box office, it has gotten great reviews from critics, and even got a rating of 99% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. So, in my opinion, Pixar's latest hit is bound to at least get nominated for the great award.

Toy Story 3 has been the highest grossing film of 2010, the best reviewed film of 2010, and, if I'm not mistaking, has gotten the highest rating on Rotten Tomatoes this year. So how many more reasons are there for this astounding animated movie to win Best Picture.

These are some of the reasons I think TS3 should win:

- It has everything a great movie needs: action, heart, and humor

- It is appealing to anyone who gives it a chance; it's appealing to people of all ages and of both genders

- As I have stated, it has been the highest grossing movie of 2010, the best reviewed, and has gotten the highest ranking on Rotten Tomatoes

I will admit, there has been a lot of other spectacular movies this year, Inception, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and of course other awesome animated movies, like Tangled, but I think it's time that animated movies get a chance to get the best award there is. Only two animated movies have ever been nominated for the Best Picture Award (Beauty and the Beast, Up), but when will one win? We will at last find out on February 27, 2011.

Toy Story 3: Nominations and More!

It looks like Toy Story 3 is on its way to winning lots of awards! NBR (National Board of Review of Motion Pictures) has just given it the title of Best Animated Feature of 2010, and the spectacular blockbuster film just earned a Grammy Nomination! TS3 recieved the Best Score Soundtrack Album Grammy Nomination, which is not a surprise, because in my opinion, Toy Story 3's music by the brilliant Randy Newman was just astounding. But still everyone is wondering: Will TS3 be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars? Find out February 27, 2011.

Toy Story 3 "For Your Consideration" Posters

It's already been 22 days since TS3 came out on home video, and three "For Your Consideration" posters have already been released. The first one features Buzz in a heroic pose, another features Mr. Pricklepants performing on a stage, and the last one features Woody, Buzz, and Jessie running away from a stampede of monkeys. So let's hope the third installment of the Toy Story saga does well at the Academy Awards (and of course all the other award ceremonies)! Looks like Disney and Pixar are going for the "Best Animated Feature" and "Best Picture" awards. I wish them luck!

Toy Story 3 Highest Grossing Animated Film Ever!

Last week, the critically acclaimed Toy Story 3 set an all new record for highest grossing animated film ever. Looks like Dreamworks' Shrek 2, which held the record for six years, has finally been out grossed. TS3 grossed about $940 million globally at the box office last week when it broke the record, has grossed $941,580,518 so far, and may very well be on its way to one billion! It is the 9th highest grossing film of ALL TIME and has already passed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Last week it was in 14th place. Can it make it to at least fifth place? Also, it has made it to 10th place on the domestic grosses list, beating Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. Toy Story 3 has broken many other records, which it has been doing ever since it hit theaters in June. This movie is going to do very good at the Grammys, the Golden Globes, the Emmys, and the Oscars. It has already won a Teen Choice Award for Best Animated Movie. We'll see what other awards TS3 wins along the way. Only time will tell if it will be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Good luck Toy Story 3!