2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Animated Feature

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Animated Feature!

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

There are lots of things present here I never thought I would see depicted in an adaptation of Pinocchio, primarily among them the blatant atrocities of war and an unfiltered look at the brutality of early 20th-century fascism. Even though this is a family film, it’s about what I expected from a del Toro-led adaptation of this story — the man has a penchant for telling dark tales, and this is about as restrained as he can be. The film incorporates elements of the classic story that Disney-fied versions never would, like religion and war, and it only further elucidates the metaphors on display here. The story of Pinocchio has never been more cogent and captivating than it is here.

Read my review of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio here.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

On the way home from the theater, my friend pointed out that there’s plenty of stuff in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On that present-day children will look back on, and their expanded minds will connect more with a film they loved as a child because of its color, comedy and accessibility. Despite this, I firmly believe there can never be an A24 film “made for kids.” Sure, Marcel the Shell is suitable for a younger audience, but there’s still a remarkable amount of philosophy, emotion and incredibly seamless stop-motion animation present to entertain those of any age.

The Lenient Critic Podcast Episode 18: Turning Red, The Adam Project, X, Deep Water

The metaphors in Turning Red are not exactly subtle, but does that bring down the film? Rowan discusses this with our new guest Robert Bouffard, co-editor of SiftPop! Together, they discuss Turning Red, Netflix sci-fi action The Adam Project, A24 horror X and Deep Water, a film that has somehow not aged well despite only just now being released. Plus, their top five A24 films, and what they’ve been watching lately.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and give us a rating on Apple Podcasts!

“Turning Red” Begins a New Era of Pixar (Review)

I always appreciate when animated movies are willing to get a little more adult, while still staying true to their values and producing films that can be enjoyed by everyone. Cars was the first movie I ever saw in a theater, and now thousands of young Pixar fans, myself included, have passed into adulthood. I have been able to understand a lot of the adult-oriented jokes for years, but 2022, sixteen years since Cars, is the first time I’ve seen an entire Pixar movie that centers itself around a theme that may not be entirely kid-friendly — and I am absolutely here for it.

Image courtesy of Pixar

From the director of Bao, one of the best Pixar shorts ever made, comes Turning Red. Set in 2002, the film follows Mei (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), a young Chinese-Canadian girl whose puberty takes on an interesting form — whenever she experiences strong emotions, including excitement or anger, she transforms into a giant red panda.

The metaphor isn’t exactly subtle — “my panda, my choice!” — but it doesn’t need to be. Like any good Pixar coming-of-age film, it’s brutally honest (in a PG way) about children growing up. They’re going to be mean to their parents, they’re going to drift away from what they used to enjoy doing, and they’re going to be awkward as hell — in fact, I’m pretty sure a lot of the excuses that Mei gives to her parents are word-for-word what I’ve said to mine. As someone who’s still not very far from that point in my life, I appreciated the sincerity of its portrayal here.