The animation category of the Academy Awards are not usually known as an overstuffed category. There’s usually three or four films that everyone knows will go up for consideration and that’s pretty much that.
Well, this year. there are 14 different animated movies being submitted for consideration. The contenders are “Bolt,” “Delgo,” “Dragon Hunters,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “Igor,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” “$9.99,” “The Sky Crawlers,” “Sword of the Stranger,” “The Tale of Despereaux,” “Waltz With Bashir” “WALL-E” and “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!”
The way the rules are set up, only three will actually make it to the nominees list. The front-runners right now are Wall-E, Horton, and Kung-Fu Panda.
“Waltz With Bashir,” an Israeli release might not make the animation cut but it may pop up in the best Foreign Film category.
If you liked all the animation that Hollywood had to offer this year, get ready because next year you can look forward to: “Coraline,” “Monsters vs. Aliens,” Disney’s “Up,” “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.”