And the Oscar goes to...

And the results are in from 86th Academy Awards.  The ceremony was held last night with the usual pomp and splendor that one could expect from a party thrown for Hollywood's elite.  I mostly just see the Awards as an opportunity for Hollywood to pat themselves on the back and tell themselves how wonderful they are, despite the fact that the actors put far less hours into a film than the production crew does.  And of course, the fact that receiving these statues at all at times seems completely meaningless.

But I'll get to that in a moment.  Let's talk about animation!  So who were the big winners?

Frozen took  home the Best Animated Picture award, which was no surprise.  And big surprise, Mr.  Hublot took home Best Animated Short!  It's a very charming short (you can find it on YouTube), and I'm happy for both winners.  I can't comment on who I think should have won since I haven't seen all of the nominees for both categories yet.  Ernest & Celestine (which looks absolutely wonderful) isn't out on Blu Ray yet and The Wind Rises isn't even available at my local cinema (so disappointing).

And of course, "Let It Go" took home the award for Best Song, which it completely deserved.  I didn't have the chance to see the performance myself, but I'm sure it was good.  Although, seriously, what was up with Travolta mispronouncing Idina's name?  I just don't get it.  If you know you're going to speak in front of hundreds of people and be on national television, wouldn't it make sense to read your script beforehand and now what you're going to say and how to say it?  Yeesh.

I'm particularly happy for Disney.  I still think that Monsters University was a better film than Frozen and definitely deserved to be nominated over Despicable Me 2, but it's nice to see Disney win in a category that has eluded them for years.  It's especially nice considering the studio literally came back from the dead (remember Home on the Range?  I try not to) and has had nothing but success for the last few years.  In fact, Frozen crossed the $1 billion dollar mark on Sunday!  That's pretty remarkable, and definitely worth celebrating.  Frozen may not have been my favorite animated film I saw last year (yeah, I know I'm in the minority), but I still think it's an entertaining movie.  I'll spill my full thoughts on the film when it hits Blu Ray.

Yet, of course, like a lot of things, there's an ugly side.  I bring this up not to sour the mood, but because I think it's important that people know just what the Academy thinks of animation.  Take the intro speech for the animated categories, for example.  Matthew McConaughey had started to something nice about animation being creative and imaginative when the woman next to him suddenly interrupted him to say "I just wanted to let everyone know how happy I am to be here!"  How nice of her to make the moment all about herself.

And then there's this interesting article from Cartoon Brew on what some of the academy viewers think of animation, and to be honest...it's just horrible.  And shameful.  And so many other negative adjectives.  It's really disheartening to see that some people won't even vote in the animation category because, quote, "I have no interest whatsoever.  That ended when I was 6.  My son dragged me to a few when he was 6; I would seat him and go outside and make phone calls."  Isn't it these people's job to watch movies?  And for that matter, what kind of parent leaves a 6 year old alone in a theater???

*Sigh*  I suppose it's pointless to complain, because things may never change.  I hope they do.  I really believe that the newer generations are more into animation than ever before, and I hope that it stays that way all their lives.  Maybe in a few decades it'll be a different scene at the Academy Awards.  Who knows?

The important thing to remember is that animation doesn't need a shiny gold trophy to validate itself.  We all know that animation is, and always will be, a true art form.