CNN has posted an article asking “Was ‘Ratatouille’ ripped off in Oscar race?” The question is raised because it was the best reviewed film of 2007 and went on to earn $206 million dollars domestically and a whopping $620 million worldwide, not to mention selling millions of DVDs and Blu-ray discs.
I’ll admit that I personally didn’t dig Ratatouille all that much in theaters, but once I revisited it on DVD I couldn’t get enough. If you overlook the rather boring opening scene involving the grandma and the silly montage in the middle of the film it is quite good. So, why wasn’t it nominated for Best Picture?
Ratatouille ranks number seven on MetaCritic.com’s all-time best films and it ranks #113 on IMDb’s Top 250 list, ranking higher than Best Picture noms Juno (#130) and Michael Clayton and Atonement, both of which are not ranked. Its MetaCritic score, by the way, is higher than all five Best Picture nominees, including No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood.
Ratatouille‘s five nominations are the most for a computer generated film, and it ranks second when compared to all animated films as it falls just behind Beauty and the Beast‘s six nominations, which includes a Best Picture nom and the only time an animated film has ever been nominated for Best Picture.
Brad Lewis, the film’s producer, is quoted saying, “Ultimately, it makes it perhaps too convenient for people to look at an animated film from an isolated perspective,” said Lewis. “Somebody can say, ‘You know what? We have a place for that, so we don’t necessarily have to give it broader consideration.'”
Of course, he is talking about the Best Animated Feature category, of which Ratatouille is sure to win, but this opens up another question for me. Okay, so there is a place for animated films, but what about other genres that earn fantastic reviews, tons of box-office dollars and are loved by all?
I think many could have argued a Best Picture nom for films such as Borat, Batman Begins, The Matrix, Alien and even past films of the same sort including 2001, Empire Strikes Back and Blade Runner.
If this is a case of Ratatouille missing out on a Best Picture nomination because it is an animated film and they have a category for that does that mean the Oscars are soon going to have to start adding specialized categories for the likes of sci-fi, fantasy and comedy? Why the different distinction? Aren’t all movies based on their entertainment and artistic value? On that basis I think it would be hard to discount Ratatouille, which I would argue is the very best computer animation I have ever seen and on top of that creates an amazing atmosphere for an animated film. One of the reasons I love such films as Before Sunrise and Before Sunset is the way they manage to transport me to a foreign place all while telling me a story. Ratatouille achieved the same result, all while being a wildly entertaining (and animated) film.
It made sense to me, in the past, to have an animated category, only because the quality and the quantity of animated films wasn’t the same as it is now. I mean, back in 2001 when Shrek won Best Animated Film I don’t think a lot of people were arguing for it to be a Best Picture nom, but I am sure several folks would have argued for Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, Pixar’s The Incredibles and even DreamWorks’ Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Then, this year, you have films like Persepolis and Ratatouille, two films loved by many and the only place they really stand a chance is Best Animated Feature. Persepolis was submitted for Foreign Film, but didn’t even make the short list.
I wonder, should the Best Animated Feature category be done away with, or should we begin creating more specialized categories and turn it into another Golden Globes scenario where they can’t quite figure out what exactly constitutes a good film?
… or …
Dare I ask? Is this a part of the Academy’s awards process that people think isn’t broken? I know that can’t be… Can it?
On a side note, if you really want to look at a film and ask why it was ignored you need only look at 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. This just might be the absolute best filmmaking ever. I know people throw the word “ever” around basically removing its meaning, but I truly mean it. 4 Months is a film I would never recommend anyone see due to its subject matter and the fact that it leaves you hollow (read my review for more), but as far as filmmaking goes it is the absolute best and it has been completely ignored.
Stay tuned as our Oscar coverage ramps up as we get ever so close to February 24th and our night of all out Oscar coverage! To stay up-to-date with everything Oscar related be sure to check out the RopeofSilicon Oscar Homepage throughout the month.
