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.
