Best Animated Film: 2010

[OscarGuy]

Just as a frame of reference, for most of Animated Feature's current existence, the rules for how many were nominated were dictated not by quality, but on number of eligible features. There were only 15 eligible animated features this year, which required the Academy to go only nominated 3 films. And Tangled's absence predicated Disney's push to release more claptrap to theaters each year to increase the number of eligible features so they could thereby get more nominations. There's no way in a five-way slate that Despicable Me and Tangled weren't the other nominees.

I still have not seen The Illusionist, but for some reason Sylvain Chomet's work has never piqued my interest. Between How to Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3, I voted for How to Train Your Dragon simply because I think Toy Story 3 would probably run away with it and I like How to Train Your Dragon a lot. Hell, I like both a lot. And I liked Despicable Me and Tangled a lot too. It's very sad we didn't have all four nominated. Limiting to three, I would have put Despicable Me in third behind the other two, then Tangled, which was amusing, but was clearly a step down from Princess and the Frog.

While How to Train Your Dragon's visual splendor was minimal, it was still a vibrant film to watch with characters you felt at home watching. Toothless is still one of the greatest animated creatures ever made. I also think that the subsequent two films help bolster this original's loveliness. It's a coming of age story that actually ages its characters up rather than leaving them the same ages in perpetuity.

As for Toy Story 3, it's really more of the same, but it's so heartfelt and emotional that you have to give it props. It's not easy to make a second sequel that is as good as the first sequel (personally, I'm not the biggest fan of the original, for what it's worth). That Toy Story 4 dulled the series' legacy and unfortunately won the Oscar only makes me more irritated with this film, which told Pixar that it could continue making sequels without concern for the durability of the approach.

[Okri]

This year a throwback to 2008 and earlier and the last year of the old animation branch. As Sabin mentioned, given the relative acclaim/popularity for some of the 2010 releases, it’s odd that they ended up with three, but I cop that up to the lack of specialty division releases this year.

I don’t like The Illusionist. It was a bottom five for me of the year. Animated Tati seems like it should work way better than it does, but the concept is too thin for a feature-film (even at a brief 80 minutes) and I suspect that Tati’s screenplay was unproduced for a reason. I’ve tried to rewatch it a couple times this past decade to see if it improve for me and it never hooked me. Ah well.

How to Train Your Dragon was good. I skipped it in theatres and can imagine just how rousing it would’ve been on the big screen, but even on the small screen it scaled appropriately. I’ve listen to the music at least once a month for the past 12 years. I wish the animation was a bit better or had more character to it, but it’s certainly a worthy nominee.

But I’ve gotta go with Toy Story 3. It’s definitely an “end of an era” type vote – the story is very familiar. But I’m just sucked in every single time. Heck, the way Laurie Metcalf gasps/sighs “Andy” to herself when sending Andy off to college just fucking rends me. Randy Newman’s music a shortcut to . So I have no hope of making it through the final sequence without crying. I mean, I’ve seen a movie, I know they aren’t gonna kill the toys, but I’m completely in that moment where the toys are going to be incinerated. I get verklempt just thinking about this movie so I’m not even gonna pretend to that I’m seeing this with clear eyes. An easy vote for me.

[Sabin]

It makes zero sense that the Academy only nominated three films this year. 2010 was a monumental year for animated features in terms of impact, if not quality. I'm not sure a great film was ever in the running but many of them produced big waves. Obviously, the winner was never in doubt. It was always going to be Toy Story 3. More significant though, The Lasseter Era officially began at Disney Animation with Tangled, a severely overpriced film with a messy development (still the most expensive animated film ever) but a largely positive reception that laid the ground work for a new Renaissance at the company, one that seemingly has just come to a close this year. As Dreamworks saw their biggest franchise come to an end with Shrek Forever After, they saw a new one beginning with How to Train Your Dragon. They also had an underrated one-off with Megamind, a clever superhero satire that never quite entered the zeitgeist. Illumination Film released their first feature with Despicable Me, another massive franchise and easily their best received film to date. And the team behind Happy Feet released Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. I've never seen it but I've heard fascinating things about it.

I would argue that 2010 is one of the most consequential years for animated films at least as a turning point in recent years, and for whatever reason this was the year (the last year) that the Academy decided to only nominate three films. A lineup that included Despicable Me and Tangled would likely be remembered as the most popular in the category's history.

Anyway. All three films are good. I would take Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Secret of Kells over all of them.

I've written about Toy Story 3 elsewhere recently. I have more appreciation for the film now than I did back in 2010 when I objected simply because I personally had already said goodbye to these characters and didn't feel the need for a billion dollar sequel. How quaint! Watching it today, I think it's a good film that never quite feels like the inspired jail break that it could be as well as lacking the individual character depth of the previous two (and the fourth). It's the only film where they feel like The Toys, rather than a compellingly neurotic found family. As the film begins, Andy literally chooses Woody to go to college with him over the other toys who will stay in the attic forever and this is never brought up again. It's a film that feels like a competent arrangement of agreed-upon plot points that is one or two drafts away from being amazing. As it is, it's a strong Pixar B+.

I just watched The Illusionist. I'm of two minds about it. There's something that just feels a bit disconnected about the story. I know something about the backstory of this film but when the main character leaves the girl behind the note ("Magicians are not real") I felt nothing. Also, what would have been funny in a live-action Jacques Tati film (or more moving) just doesn't translate the same way in Chomet's hands, save for the fat, angry rabbit. There's a difference between laughing at an observed human behavior (as Tati would do) and cherishing a hand-drawn creation. But they are still hand-drawn creations to cherish. I'm a little disappointed because I think this could have been a transporting experience instead of a totally pleasant experience, but I'll take it.

But I'm going to take the less defensible option and vote for How to Train Your Dragon. It's the worst looking of the bunch. Dreamworks' humans were still hit or miss in 2010. It's the least ambitious of the lot as well. It's juts a smart mix of ingredients strung together to produce a terrific coming of age story that I'm reasonably sure would've been my favorite movie as a twelve year old. As an adult, I never stopped marveling at Toothless, the adorable cat-like dragon. Such a fantastic character design! It's not as cinematically relevant as The Illusionist or as culturally touchstone as Toy Story 3. It's just the most satisfying. Great score too.

So, this will probably be the only time I vote for a Dreamworks animated film. Remarkable time capsule moment: How to Train Your Dragon was released in a time where Jay Baruchel, America Ferrara, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, and T.J. Miller could all play teenagers.