Why Does The Academy Hate Animation?

The 97th Academy Awards are upon us, and as much as I dislike clickbait articles about the Oscars before the event, we can’t deny their monumental impact on how we view, critique, and appreciate films. Lately, the Oscars discourse has just become a vessel for rage and controversy, which I find ironic considering they’re meant to honour and appreciate the cinematic arts. This endless debate over snubs and surprises overshadows the real conversation. Amidst all the outrage over films, directors, and problematic celebrities, there’s one category that remains largely ignored—not loved not hated, just met with pure indifference: Best Animated Feature.

You might have seen some of these films or glanced at the nominations before promptly forgetting about them. When you tell your friends this film genuinely changed your life they tell you to grow up—you go home and cry. After all, animated movies are just for kids, right? Wrong. I’m here to tell you that ignorance is not bliss. Some of the animated films that get overlooked are of a higher quality than the live-action films that receive nominations in major categories like Best Picture, Editing, Screenplay and Cinematography.

At this point, it’s no secret that the Academy does not respect animation. Not only do animated films rarely get nominated for Best Picture, but for over a decade now, they haven’t even been in consideration for the award. Believe me, I know—I’ve been following the coverage of this ridiculous award show since 2012. In all that time, I’ve never seen a single major outlet predict an animated film as a serious Best Picture contender.

This dismissiveness is especially evident in how the category is presented at the ceremony. Presenters often reduce animated films to “kid's movies,” and talk about how wonderful it is to watch them with children. That would be fine—if the category didn’t include mature, artistically ambitious films made specifically for adults. The lack of respect is embarrassing. If the Academy wants to treat this as a category solely for children’s media, then why not nominate Paw Patrol: The Movie or give it to Cocomelon every year and call it a day? Many Academy members have even admitted that they just vote for whatever animated film their kids liked that year, proving they don’t see this category as deserving of real prestige. So, when did the Academy truly start disrespecting animation? Did it ever respect it?

From the 1930s to the 1980s, animated films were rarely recognized outside of the Best Animated Short category. The only consistent nominations came in the music categories. Disney dominated Best Original Score and Best Original Song, winning for Pinocchio, Dumbo, and The Little Mermaid. A few non-Disney films, like A Boy Named Charlie Brown, and An American Tail, also received nominations, but no animated feature ever received a Best Picture nomination. That finally changed in 1991 with Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast was so critically acclaimed that it became the first animated film nominated for Best Picture. Even though it wasn’t nominated for Best Director or Best Screenplay, it still secured a spot over films like Thelma & Louise and Boyz n the Hood. Though Beauty and the Beast didn't end up winning—The Silence of the Lambs won the top prize—its nomination was a milestone, proving animated films could and should be considered among the best of the year.

Respect and recognition of animation surged for the rest of the '90s. Disney films consistently won Best Original Score and Best Song, with The Lion King, Pocahontas, and Tarzan bringing home gold. Non-Disney films like Anastasia, The Prince of Egypt, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (nominated for “Blame Canada”) also received nods. But what truly proved the Academy's respect for animation was nods in the screenplay categories. Toy Story (1995) became the first animated film nominated for Best Original Screenplay, marking a major win for animation.

In 2001, the game changed again. Smash Mouth came crashing in our doors and introduced us to a little indie film called Shrek. Not only was it the first animation to earn a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, but its historic success led to the creation of a whole new category—the Best Animated Feature award, with Shrek becoming its first winner. The following year, Spirited Away won. An anime film taking home an Oscar was completely unheard of at the time.

Throughout the 2000s, Pixar dominated with six more screenplay nominations (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, and Toy Story 3). Animated films even won outside their category: The Incredibles won Best Sound Editing, Up won Best Original Score, and WALL-E tied Beauty and the Beast for the most Oscar nominations for an animated film. The expanded Best Picture category introduced in 2009 allowed Up and Toy Story 3 to break through, making it seem like animation was finally being taken seriously. But all good things come to an end.

Since 2010, the Academy has almost entirely shut animation out of major categories. Pixar was still releasing great films—so what happened? Sure, Inside Out got a screenplay nomination, but that’s it. We went from a decade with seven animated films receiving screenplay nods to just one. Coco—Pixar’s most acclaimed film in years received Best Animated Feature and Best Song awards, but no Best Picture nom. Soul? Best Original Score, but nothing else. Even Best Original Score, a category where animation used to dominate, saw its animated nominees cut in half. There were a few wins, but it was nothing like the ‘90s and 2000s. What about other animated films deserving of recognition? Flee made history as the first animated film nominated for Best Documentary. Kubo and the Two Strings and The Lion King (2019) got Visual Effects nominations. And Best Original Song still includes animated nominees. But outside of those exceptions, animation is treated as an afterthought.

Some blame Cars 2 for damaging Pixar’s reputation, but that doesn’t fully explain the drop-off. The bigger issue might be how animation evolved in the 2010s. While Pixar focused on sequels, Illumination and Minions dominated the box office, reinforcing the idea that animation is just for kids. Frozen—while widely adored—cemented that perception. But that doesn’t justify the Academy ignoring true artistic achievements. Films like Spider-Verse, The Lego Movie, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Song of the Sea, Inside Out, and Coco deserved far more recognition for the bold risks they took in the medium.

This Oscar season brought a surprising shift, as the Academy is gradually welcoming younger, more diverse, and more passionate voters who are making better decisions. The animation nominees—Flow (also nominated for Best International Feature), Wild Robot (nominated for Best Sound and Original Score), Inside Out 2, Wallace & Gromit, and Memoir of a Snail—finally received some of the recognition that past animated films were unfairly excluded from. But I don’t think that’s enough. If the Academy can nominate films that completely misrepresent entire cultures in the Best Picture category, then the best-animated films deserve to be in the spotlight too.

Despite all of that, I don’t believe the Oscar for Best Picture truly determines the best film of the year—I’ll always appreciate my favourite animated films, regardless of whether they win or not. I just hope that great works of animation aren’t ignored due to outdated stigmas.

Animated films—or any work of animation—can take years to create, requiring immense effort, energy, and manpower. When I was studying animation myself—apart from the long tireless hours I'd spend on perfecting my skills, I was always trying to craft a more intricate story so both kids and adults could enjoy it. But, frankly, what’s so wrong with enjoying a film that kids can watch too?

When I was younger, I only slightly grasped the themes of WALL-E and The Incredibles. As an adult, I understand them on an even deeper level now that the environment is in shambles and big corporations are taking over. This year's film, Flow, teaches empathy and compassion—an essential life skill that many adults still struggle to comprehend. The stigma and sense of superiority surrounding live-action films as a more “mature” or “grown-up” way to experience cinema infuriates me. So, I’m going to go watch Penguins of Madagascar to cool off.