The Oscar Project
Last week, I kicked off a few preview posts about the Oscar nominated and winning films that will be part of the Disney+ offerings when that service launches next month. I started off with a lengthy list of live action films either currently owned by Disney (though not necessarily original releases by Disney). Today I'm taking a look at the animated films that have been nominated for or won Oscars over the years. I did decide to include honorary Academy Awards here simply because that let's me write about films like Fantasia which didn't win any awards outright (it used all existing music) but is still a fantastic film that should be revisited when you get the chance. Disney Animated FilmsPerhaps the thing that Walt Disney studios is best known for is the animated films it has produced over the last 80+ years. That combined with the innovation they have been involved with had led the films to be continuously nominated for Oscars, with many of them winning over the years. The films often take home awards related to music including Best Original Score and Best Original Song while things like Best Sound have been mainstays as well. More recently, it is very rare for a Disney animated film to be kept out of the Best Animated Feature category since its creation in 2001. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) - The original Disney animated feature was groundbreaking for its time. Everything that Disney did in animation since that time has built on what they did to bring the princess dreaming of her prince and the seven little men that help he to the big screen. Keep in mind that most films at this time were still released in black and white. Color was only just beginning to appear on the big screen. On top of that, sound films had only been around in a big way for less than a decade at this point. Now consider that Snow White combined both of these innovations and imagine the awe that audiences would have, seeing these relatively realistic human characters coming to life on the screen, and then singing and dancing to boot! It will come as no surprise that Walt Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar to recognize the film as a "significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field. The film also received an Oscar nomination for Best Scoring (Walt Disney Studio Music Department), a tribute to the enduring music of the film. Pinocchio (1940) - Not one to sit on his laurels, Disney followed up the groundbreaking innovation of Snow White with another classic a few years later. Pinocchio arrived, not with a princess, but with a wooden puppet who comes to life, but still dreams of being a real boy. This time we move away from castles and dragons, but still get some huge set pieces including the whale, and the performance of "I've Got No Strings," and of course the beautiful rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" which has long served as the musical icon for Disney, its parks, and even the cruise line! Despite being an initial box office flop, the film did win two Oscars, for Best Music, Original Score (Leigh Harline, Paul Smith, and Ned Washington) and Best Music, Original Song ("When You Wish Upon a Star" by Harline and Washington). Fantasia (1940) - This has long been one of my favorite Disney animated films, if for no other reason than it relies almost entirely on music and visuals to tell the stories contained in the eight short segments that make up the film. One of the most famous of these pieces is "The Nutcracker Suite" which features the famed dancing mushrooms scene along with flowers as ballet dancers. There is also the classic "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," which was a bit of a comeback tour for Mickey Mouse and the whimsical "Dance of the Hours," which features the dancing hippos and crocodiles. My favorite will always remain the finale, "Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria." I was terrified of the monster that appears in this segment when I was little, but it has become my favorite over time. As I mentioned in the opening, the film was not nominated for any Academy Awards, but did receive two honorary awards in 1942. The first was presented to Disney himself, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins, and the CA Manufacturing Company for "outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures." The second was given to Leopold Stokowski who conducted the music for the film. Dumbo (1941) - The studio had begun to crank out films at this point and Dumbo was the next big feature to be fully animated. I recall this film as the first one that I would watch as a child, over and over again, much to the chagrin of my parents and older siblings. The copy we had was a tape recording from when the film was shown as part of The Wonderful World of Disney and was preceded by two shorts, "Mickey and the Beanstalk" and "Lambert." The story is the simple one of a boy taken from his mother who tries desperately to return to her and save her from imprisonment. Of course the boy and his mother are elephants, the boy himself can fly, and he has a best friend who happens to be a mouse. As with Pinocchio, Dumbo won the Oscar for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace) and was also nominated for Best Original Song ("Baby Mine" by Churchill and Ned Washington). Bambi (1942) - Keeping with the animal films with five letter names, next up came Bambi, this time about a young deer who loses his mother to a hunter and mus find his way in the wild without her. (What's with taking kids away from their parents in these films?) As with many of the early Disney films, Bambi clocks in at only 70 minutes and keeps the narrative rather tight. The film's villain ("Man") is often cited as one of the best film villains of all time and is a cautionary tale of what can happen to the world around us if we don't try to take care of it. Despite nominations for Best Sound Recording (Sam Slyfield), Best Original Song ("Love Is a Song" by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey), and Best Music Score of a Dramatic of Comedy Picture (Churchill and Edward Plumb), Bambi failed to win an Oscar. Cinderella (1950) - After Dumbo and Bambi, it was several years before Disney would be back in the big time with an Oscar nominated animated film. Keep in mind that Bambi was released in August of 1942, less than a year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War II. The country had other things on its mind and Disney moved to making compilations of short subject films instead of the feature length projects. This was also the successor to Snow White in the princess movie department and immediately brought the studio back to life after floundering a bit financially through the latter part of the 1940s. The princess here is again thinking about her prince charming, and gets some help from a fairy godmother and friendly woodland creatures. As always there is an evil older woman in the picture trying to thwart her efforts at happiness, but the good girl prevails in the end. Cinderella did not win any Oscars, but was nominated for Best Sound Recording (C. O. Slyfield), Best Original Song ("Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston), and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (Oliver Wallace and Paul J. Smith). Alice in Wonderland (1951) - Proving yet again that Disney was a bit ahead of his time, Alice in Wonderland arrived in the early 1950s, when it ended up being much more successful in the psychedelic era of the 1960s and 1970s. Now, I've never been one to dabble in the types of drugs that were popular at that time, but watching the film now, I can understand why people might enjoy it while on various drugs. As with other Disney films, Alice gives us plenty of musical classics including "I'm Late," "The Unbirthday Song," and of course "Painting the Roses Red." The music alone is a reason to watch this film, even if the narrative is a little jumping, much like Alice's dream we are inhabiting. Seeing a little drop off in nominations, Alice in Wonderland was only nominated for one Oscar, for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (Oliver Wallace), losing out to An American in Paris. Sleeping Beauty (1959) - It is relevant here to note that you can currently see Princess Aurora in live action on the big screen in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, sequel to the 2014 film Maleficent. While played there by Elle Fanning, Aurora was originally seen in Sleeping Beauty, slumbering away after pricking her finger on a spinning wheel 60 years ago. This film was also the last of the fairy tale genre and one of the last animated films Walt Disney had any involvement in before his death. The film was nominated for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (George Burns), losing out to Porgy and Bess. The Sword in the Stone (1963) - I guess this could be termed a fairy tale, but it's a different style of story from the princess in need of rescuing we saw in the previous films listed above. The animated films began to be more spread out throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s so the Oscar nominations were less frequent as well. This film tells the familiar story of King Arthur as he learns from the wizard Merlin when he is a young boy. Eventually, as always happens in the legend, Arthur attempts to remove the famous sword (not called Excalibur in this version) from the stone, thereby claiming the throne of England and saving the kingdom. It was nominated for Best Scoring of Music - Adaptation of Treatment (George Burns) but lost to Irma la Douce. The Jungle Book (1967) - This is another one of my favorite from my childhood and I'm so glad it will be available on the streaming service. This adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's novel of the same name brings us to the heart of the jungle where we follow the young boy Mowgli who is raised by wolves and has a panther and bear as his best friends. I remember this as one of the liveliest Disney films which includes singable songs like "I Wan'na Be Like You," "Trust in Me," and "The Bare Necessities." Continuing the trend of nominations without wins, The Jungle Book was nominated for Best Song ("The Bare Necessities" by Terry Gilkyson) but lost to "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle. Interestingly, just like Disney is remaking many of their animated classics as live action films today, Doctor Dolittle is getting a remake of its own starring Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. Robin Hood (1973) - After the trip to the jungle, we return to England for the story of Robin Hood, this time told with animals inhabiting the characters including as fox as the title character and a bear (with a striking resemblance to Baloo) as his friend Little John. The story is the one we all know from countless adaptations of this source material but Disney does it with a little more color, silliness, and of course the required song and dance numbers. The film received a nomination for Best Song ("Love" by George Burns and Floyd Huddleston), losing to "The Way we Were" from the film of the same name. The Rescuers (1977) - In a world that was introduced to Star Wars, Disney was still putting out films that were getting nominated for Oscars, albeit still for the music. It may be blasphemy, but I have to admit that I've never seen this film in its entirety. I don't even think I could give you the overall story without looking it up. Fortunately, I'll have my chance to make up for that soon when Disney+ arrives. Nominated only for Best Original Song ("Someone's Waiting for You" by Sammy Fain, Carol Connors, and Ayn Robbins), the film lost out to "You Light Up My Life" from the film of the same name. The Little Mermaid (1989) - After over a decade of missing out on Oscars for its animated features, this adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story of the same name brought the studio back to prominence in the animation world and also returned it to the Academy Awards where it has remained ever since. Ariel is a strong female lead who knows what she wants and goes out to get it, rather than waiting for it to come to her. The soundtrack was an instant hit with songs like "Under the Sea," "Part of Your World," and Ursula's star turn in "Poor Unfortunate Souls." This last song is the spiritual predecessor for songs to come in films like Aladdin and The Lion King. Along with returning to the nominations, The Little Mermaid was also the first Disney animated film to win an Oscar in over 40 years. It won the awards for Best Original Score (Alan Menken) and Best Original Song ("Under the Sea" by Menken and Howard Ashman), and was also nominated a second time in the Best Original Song category for "Kiss the Girl." Beauty and the Beast (1991) - Building on the success of The Little Mermaid, Disney began to once again push the envelope with their animation techniques. As computer technology became more common, Beauty and the Beast arrived with several marquee moments that relied heavily on technology to produce them, most famously the long sweeping shot in the ballroom when Belle and the Beast dance for the first time. As with Ariel, Belle is a strong woman. She does need the help of her princely savior, but also knows what she wants. She is also fiercely loyal to her kindly father and is willing to sacrifice her own freedom in exchange for his. If three nominations over two categories was good a few years before, Beauty and the Beast went even farther, capturing six nominations over four categories. The Alan Menken and Howard Ashman were nominated three times in the Best Original Song category, for "Be Our Guest," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Belle," with "Beauty and the Beast" taking home the prize. It also won for Best Original Score (Menken), was nominated for Best Sound (Terry Porter, Mel Metcalfe, David J. Hudson, and Doc Kane), and even captured a Best Picture nomination. Aladdin (1992) - The following year, Aladdin arrived on the scene, this time with a young man and his monkey sidekick appearing as the stars. Add in the crazy antics of Robin Williams as the lovable blue Genie, and another hit was born. Set as a rags to riches story based on the Arabic folktale from One Thousand and One Nights, Aladdin gives the goods once again in terms of visual appeal and memorable musical moments. I was at the prime age for these films and I remember practicing "A Whole New World" on the piano for hours when this film came out. Aladdin continued the trend of multiple nominations and wins. It won the awards for Best Original Score (Alan Menken) and Best Original Song ("A Whole New World" by Menken and Tim Rice) while also receiving nominations for Best Sound Effects Editing (Mark Mangini), Best Sound (Terry Porter, Mel Metcalfe, David J. Hudson, and Doc Kane) and a second nomination for Best Original Song ("Friend Like Me" by Menken and Howard Ashman) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - Not your traditional Disney animated film by any means, this film was not released through the typical Buena Vista Pictures, but instead came out through Touchstone Pictures. Directed by Tim Burton and considered by some to be the standard bearer for stop motion animation in the modern era, the story of Jack Skellington has become a favorite over the years and can regularly be seen during the lead up to Halloween. This is another classic that I was never able to make it through the entire thing in the past, but I will surely make time to sit down and watch it on Disney+ when it comes around. The film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Visual Effects (Pete Kozachik, Eric Leighton, Ariel Velasco Shaw, and Gordon Baker) and may well have won if not for a little film called Jurassic Park which completely broke new ground in computer graphics that same year. The fact such an old animation technique could even garner a nomination against Spielberg's dinosaurs speaks volumes to the quality of this film. The Lion King (1994) - You could definitely feel the love for this film when it was released. Carrying on the recent tradition of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, The Lion King arrived to much fanfare and didn't disappoint from note one. This is where the voice casting started to really take off when Disney landed names such as James Earl Jones, Matthew Broderick, Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, and Jeremy Irons. Combine that with songs co-written by Tim Rice and Elton John, and this was destined to be a hit from the very beginning. The film walked away with the Oscars for Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer) and Best Original Song ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Rice and John) with two additional nominations in that category ("Circle of Life" and "Hakuna Matata"). On a side note, if you love the music of Hans Zimmer, I strongly urge you to check out his concert film that is available on Netflix, Hans Zimmer: Live in Prague. There is a Lion King medley along with music from Gladiator, Interstellar, The Da Vinci Code, and many more Zimmer favorites. Pocahontas (1995) - Disney continued its trend of branching out to classic stories from around the world, this time landing in the new world with the story of Pocahontas and John Smith. Intended as a romantic drama in the vein of Beauty and the Beast, the studio was hoping for some more Oscar buzz than some of the in between films. There were not quote as many big names here as with The Lion King, but Mel Gibson appeared as the voice of John Smith while Christian Bale appeared as his friend Thomas. Bale wasn't the household name he is now, but has certainly turned into an A-list Hollywood actor. Despite the push for a Best Picture nomination, none came. The film did win the Oscars for Best Original Song ("Colors of the Wind" by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz) and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (Menken and Schwartz). James and the Giant Peach (1996) - Perhaps one of my favorite books growing up was the one on which this film was based. Written by author Roald Dahl, the film was a combination of live action and stop-motion and brought in the voice talent of Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon. Straying from Alan Menken, the score for this film was written by Randy Newman who would go on to pen the scores for many Pixar films including all four Toy Story films, Monster, Inc., and A Bug's Life. This didn't stop the film from getting a nomination for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (Newman). The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) - Moving back to the traditional animation realm brings us to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, released the same year as James and the Giant Peach. One of the darker animated films Disney has ever released, there is plenty here for parents to discuss with their children as they watch this film. Menken was unavailable for James and the Giant Peach as he was working on the score for this film, and of course it also received a nomination for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score. Both the Disney releases in that category fell to the score for Emma. Hercules (1997) - Disney brightened things up a bit in 1997 with the arrival of Hercules. Yes, Hades features prominently in this film, but the overall look and feel of the film and the tone is one of fun and adventure, not squalor. The voice cast here was not as big as The Lion King a few years before, but again, it does include Danny DeVito, James Woods, and Rip Torn. The soundtrack also got some help from a pop music icon in Michael Bolton. That song ("Go the Distance" by Menken and David Zippel) landed the film a nomination for Best Original Song but it lost to "My Heart Will Go On" from James Cameron's blockbuster Titanic. Mulan (1998) - As we neared the turn of the century and the millennium, Disney continued to push out excellently crafted films and Mulan was no exception. Giving us yet another strong female figure, this time we saw her go undercover as a man to fight for her native China against the invading huns so that her aging father could stay home. Probably the biggest names for a voice cast since The Lion King, Mulan featured Eddie Murphy, Pat Morita, George Takei, and future Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Ming-Na Wen in the title role. The film also featured a rousing song in "I'll Make a Man Out of You," performed by Donny Osmond, and the beautiful "Reflection," sung by Lea Salonga. Nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (Matthew Wilder, David Zippel, and Jerry Goldsmith), the film lost out to Shakespeare in Love. The Emperor's New Groove (2000) - What happens when you turn the young emperor of the Incan empire into a llama and force him to find his way home? I guess you get this film. I honestly have never seen this one as it was past the point where I was paying much attention to the new animated films hitting theaters. The cast looks strong with voices from David Spade, John Goodman, and Patrick Warburton, but I have never had the time for this one. Maybe I'll check it out when Disney+ starts up and it's readily available. The film was nominated for Best Original Song ("My Funny Friend and Me" by Sting and David Hartley) but lost out to "Things Have Changed" from Wonder Boys. Lilo & Stitch (2002) - This is another one I've never seen, falling in that time from when I was a adolescent/teenager and before I started having a family of my own. I've heard it's a good one though with the little alien Stitch. This is the first Disney animated film to be nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar which was introduced the year before. And before you get too crazy about Monsters, Inc. getting nominated the first time around, I'm making a separate post for Pixar films. Brother Bear (2003) - In the first animal focused film since The Lion King, the story follows an Inuit boy who tracks down and kills a bear that killed his older brother. Angered by the senseless killing, the Spirits turn the boy into a bear and he must go on a quest in order to become human again, learning the true meaning of brotherhood as he is guided by a bear cub. Phil Collins joined the parade of popular music stars to lend their voices to songs for Disney films with the song "Welcome" while Joaquin Phoenix played the lead role with support from Rick Moranis, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Greg Proops. Also nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, the film lost to Finding Nemo. Bolt (2008) - Now we're back in the realm of films that I've seen. Bolt arrived with a completely different look at what the animated feature could do and brought the heavyweight name of John Travolta, along with the Disney star Miley Cyrus to the stage. This is probably the most "meta" film that Disney has produced and they don't hold back taking shots at themselves and the mass-market appeal of their various properties. The film has a direct lineage to the classic Inspector Gadget series of the 1980s, a perfect connection for kids who grew up watching that series and were starting families of their own. Cyrus's character share the same name as her Gadget counterpart and while Bolt's television show character is a little stronger than Gadget's Brain, they are strikingly similar. The film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, again losing to a Pixar film, this time WALL-E. The Princess and the Frog (2009) - In what is the last of the traditionally animated films produced by the studio (to this point), The Princess and the Frog brings us a story of class division set in New Orleans in the early 20th century. I've seen this one, but it has been a while. I know it also brought back some of the traditional elements of the musical films of the 1990s that were so successful. I really wish the studio would return to these types of films, as they did such a good job with them for so long. It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, which is lost to Up, another Pixar film. It also had two songs nominated for Best Original Song, "Almost There" and "Down in New Orleans," both written by Randy Newman. Tangled (2009) - Probably my favorite of the modern animated films from Disney it Tangled. The story tells of Rapunzel who was kidnapped from her royal parents when she was a baby, so that the evil woman in the story could stay young forever with the girl's magic hair. The story of a child taken from her parents arrived in my life at a special time, when my wife and lost our first child two years before and were just welcoming the birth of our second child, making this a very personal film for us and one that we immediately connected to. It was not nominated for Best Animated Feature Film but did receive a nomination for Best Original Song ("I See the Light" by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater) which lost to "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3. Wreck-It Ralph (2012) - If you're a big fan of video games, especially the type that populated arcades back in the 1970s and 1980s, then this is the film for you. I brings a number of classic games to life and explores what happens in the arcade at night whenever all the kids are gone and the game characters have nothing to do in their games. We see things like a villains support group, excitement over a new game getting plugged in, and of course, the destitute characters whose games have been unplugged and are forced to live inside the surge protector which is modeled after Grand Central Station. Wreck-It Ralph received a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film, ultimately losing out to Pixar's Brave. Frozen (2013) - Unless you've been living under a rock for the last six years, you've heard of Frozen and know the worldwide phenomenon it became. This film has a special place in my heart as it was the first film we took my daughter to see in the theater. She was enthralled with it from beginning to end and we got to see her prance around the house as Elsa for months afterward, even dressing up as Elsa the following Halloween. The thing I love about this film is that it's a true love story, but not in the traditional sense. Yes, we get the child who loses their parents within the first 5-10 minutes of the film as seems to happen so often in Disney films. But this time, there are two kids, and while they grow apart because of Elsa's secret powers, it is the love between sisters that finally wins the day and defeats the bad guy in the end. This film put the Disney Animation side of things back on track with a win for Best Animated Feature Film along with a win for Best Original Song ("Let It Go" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez). If you want to learn more about these composers, check out an excellent interview they did on The Soundtrack Show (Part 1/Part 2) Big Hero 6 (2014) - This one is so much fun and we've watched it as a family probably 2-3 dozen times over the last few years. We again have a pair of siblings (brothers this time) dealing with the death of their parents, but this time we are set in a near future city that is a blend of San Francisco and Tokyo (called San Fransokyo). The film is an adaptation of a Marvel comic but it does not tie in directly with anything that was happening with the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the time. This is its own world. We are also introduced to the lovable Baymax, a healthcare robot developed by the older brother, Tadashi, before his death in a fire. Younger brother Hiro must come to terms with the death of his brother and initially turns Baymax into more of an attack robot to try and find the person responsible. This film also won the award for Best Animated Feature Film. Zootopia (2016) - Skip forward a few years and the next pair of animated features from Disney Animation arrived in theaters. Both created fantastic worlds for us to explore, but one gave a little more substance in terms of plot and storyline. Zootopia features a world where animals live in harmony with one another, wearing clothes, and working in jobs that we have as humans. Judy Hopps is a young rabbit aspiring to be a police officer in the big city and make a difference. On her first day on the job she meets Nick Wild, a shifty fox who makes his way in the world hustling frozen treats. I wrote a piece a few years back about why this is the better film from 2016 than Moana (below) but the short version is this. Zootopia could work as a live action film with no animals whatsoever. You probably wouldn't have to change the names at all, even though most of the names are animal related. The story is strong and it's a good buddy cop film in the vein of Lethal Weapon or Rush Hour. As it should have, this film also won the award for Best Animated Feature Film. Moana (2016) - This one is fresh in my mind right now because my two-year-old is in love with it and has been watching it non-stop over the last two weeks or so. We are treated to a new film by the directors of Aladdin and this hearkens back to the days in the early 1990s when the animated films had a series of catchy songs that were singable as you left the theater. Here you get Dwayne Johnson singing the bouncy "You're Welcome," and the upbeat "Where You Are." One of my favorites on the soundtrack is "We Know the Way" when Moana discovers that her ancestors were voyagers who traveled across the sea rather than staying safe at home as her father wants her to believe. This is a coming of age story and one of learning to be who you are meant to be, not necessarily what everyone else thinks you should be. For that I appreciate it and enjoy the film. Moana was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film but lost to Zootopia. It was also nominated for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" by Lin-Manuel Miranda) but lost there to "City of Stars" from La La Land.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm just a film buff who wants to watch great movies. Where else to find the best, than the list of those nominated by the Academy each year? Archives
May 2023
Categories
All
|