The animated features this year are pretty strong (strong enough that a perfectly delightful Frozen II got left in the dust). Not as strong as 2019 – where Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse was easily my favorite Oscar watch of the year –  but definitely no complete duds. If anything, I would say that the race is so tight that there are no clear winners. But because you came here for the hot takes, here is as much as I can muster on this year’s nominees – from most bad to least bad. But seriously, they’re all pretty good.

 

• How to Train Your Dragon: Hidden World (aka – How to Train Your Dragon 3) – Having not seen HTTYD 1&2 I expected to be pretty lost coming into the franchise so late, but they handled it pretty well for the stragglers and it held together fine as a stand-alone movie. I liked especially that Toothless looks just like my cat, and I straight-up ugly cried my way through the final scene (I am very easily manipulated by sentimental children’s movies). But for all its good-heartedness, I found it predictable and forgettable and am a little surprised to see it in the mix (seriously, I thought Frozen 2 was better and I also never saw Frozen 1).
• Toy Story 4 – I am always impressed when Pixar can find an innovative way to refashion the same characters and themes into a new story that is still fun to watch. It’s kind of like that episode of the Simpsons where Marge finds a discount Chanel suit and just keeps sewing it into different shapes to try and impress the rich ladies of Springfield (until it ultimately turns to shreds). I admire the innovation, but am still aware that I’m being served the same essential story every few years. You’re paces away from shreds, Pixar – quit now.
• Klaus – It’s nice to see a Christmas movie that is doing something different, and I found Klaus to be refreshingly new feeling – while still embracing the sentimentality that the best holiday movies require. Also, Jason Schwartzman, Rashida Jones, and JK Simmons made for a pleasingly quirky voice lineup that I could support. If I had kids, I might put Klaus in the traditional Christmas movie rotation – at least until they’re old enough to watch Scrooged.
• Missing Link – How was this movie not more popular? It seriously bombed at the box office, and frankly I’m can-I-speak-to-your-manager grade outraged about it. Laika is the gold standard when it comes to stop motion, and this movies looks SO GOOD in every single goddamn detail. Also, a sweet and fun story of a wayward Sasquatch feels more interesting than the standard kid’s fare (while still maintaining a wholesome central theme of finding a place where you can fit in even if you’re a weirdo). It was also legitimately funny and well cast (and I’m not normally a Zach Galifianakis booster).
• I Lost My Body – Public Service Announcement: This movie is not for children. More than anything I think that kids would be bored by it, but also there’s some graphic hand severing and themes of suicide. I do love to see animation used in “adult” movies, but I actually didn’t like the animation style of this one at all. It looked ugly and clumsy to me and the story was so bizarre right out of the gate that I expected to really hate it. Somehow tho, it sucked me in and spit me out a fan. I won’t do spoilers because you should definitely see this one, but the plot is smart and sweet and completely unexpected and you really feel like you’re along for the ride on an emotional and physical level. Also, big props for being the only animated film in this year’s lineup to have a non-white protagonist (don’t you argue with me that Bonnie from Toy Story 4 “might be” hispanic), and to realistically show people being poor without the “Little Match Girl” tragedy or “Little Princess” happy ending veneer. Ugly animation aside, I think this one will get the win (let’s say 75%) and it genuinely deserves it.