Award season is inching closer and closer so it’s time to check in with the animated films in the running for Best Animated Feature at the 2022 Academy Awards. In 2021, we saw Soul take the win over the cult favourite (and underrated) Wolfwalkers.
2022 is set to be a very competitive year, with Disney/Pixar’s frontrunner Luca going up against the Danish animated documentary Flee, which has garnered rave reviews and is a Best Picture hopeful, as well.
It’s very rare that an animated feature makes the cut for Best Picture, so if Flee could pull it off, it would be pretty monumental. In fact, only three films have been able to snatch a Best Picture nod, and so far, they’ve all been Disney films.
Back in 1991, Beauty and the Beast made history as the first animated flick to win Best Picture. This is especially remarkable, as it was prior to the introduction of the Best Animated Feature category. The category is actually a pretty recent inclusion to the ceremony; it was first introduced in 2002, right in time for Shrek to get the recognition it deserved!
After Beauty and the Beast, there were no Best Picture-nominated animations again until 2009’s Up, and Disney backed it up the following year with 2010’s Toy Story 3.
Whether Flee can make its long-shot dreams of a Best Picture nomination a reality remains to be seen, but until then, let’s have a look at some of the competitors in the running for Best Animated Feature.
The Addams Family 2
Synopsis: The Addams get tangled up in more wacky adventures and find themselves involved in hilarious run-ins with all sorts of unsuspecting characters. Sequel to the 2019 animated film, The Addams Family.
Belle
Synopsis: Suzu is a shy high school student living in a rural village. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself. But when she enters “U”, a massive virtual world, she escapes into her online persona as Belle, a globally-beloved singer.
The Boss Baby 2: Family Business
Synopsis: The Templeton brothers have become adults and drifted away from each other, but a new boss baby with a cutting-edge approach is about to bring them together again – and inspire a new family business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h45V1RXrKqE
Encanto
Synopsis: A young Colombian girl has to face the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers.
Flee
Synopsis: FLEE tells the extraordinary true story of a man, Amin, on the verge of marriage which compels him to reveal his hidden past for the first time.
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
Synopsis: Tsuneo is a university student and Josee is a young girl who has rarely gone out of the house by herself due to her being unable to walk. The two meet when Tsuneo finds Josee’s grandmother taking her out for an evening walk.
Luca
Synopsis: On the Italian Riviera, an unlikely but strong friendship grows between a human being and a sea monster disguised as a human.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Synopsis: A quirky, dysfunctional family’s road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity’s unlikeliest last hope.
My Sunny Maad
Synopsis: When Herra, a young Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan, she has no idea what kind of life awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor of the family she is about to integrate into. A liberal grandfather, an adopted child who is highly intelligent and Freshta, who would do anything to escape her husband’s violent grip.
Sing 2
Synopsis: Buster Moon and his friends must persuade reclusive rock star Clay Calloway to join them for the opening of a new show.
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