In Contention

Tag: The Princess and the Frog

  • ‘Coraline’ leads the field of Annie nominees

    Coraline“Coraline” and “Up” both received nominations in eight categories.  “The Princess and the Frog” showed up in five while “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” showed up in four.

    “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (3),  “Monsters vs. Aliens” (3), “9” (2), “Astro Boy” (2) and “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” (2) brought up the rear with mentions in three and two categories respectively.  “Ponyo” also only landed two nods, for music and direction, so that’s probably worth noting.

    I’m listing per category, by the way, because it’s weird to me to have two separate “nominations” in fields like character design and production design, one per person.  Why not just one for the film with the artists listed as nominees?  It makes sense for vocal performance nods, but not really otherwise.  Anyway, to be fair, I guess “Coraline” leads the whole field with 10 total nominations, while “Up” has nine.  “The Princess and the Frog” has eight, with that in mind.

    Anyway, check out the full list of feature nominees after the jump (and the full list of all nominees at the Annie website).

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  • 11/23 Oscarweb Round-up

    Bill Murray on the set of Fantastic Mr. Fox• Dave Karger cusses with “Fantastic Mr. Fox” star Bill Murray. [Oscar Watch]

    • Owen Gleiberman whines about the snubbing of inferior documentaries, fails to recognize the solid slate of short-listed films we ended up with. [Entertainment Weekly]

    • Nicolas Rapold talks to the principals of “The Last Station.” [New York Times]

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Original Score — Volume II

    (from left) Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in BrothersSome categories haven’t had that much renewal since I last reviewed them. Best Original Score is an exception. Principally, this is because the category is very difficult to judge before hearing the scores, not to mention last minute personnel changes (as composers always seem to be the most disposable members of film crews).

    As I said last time, the music branch, though it has opened up to newbies slightly in recent years, is notoriously one of AMPAS’s most insular branches. Best Picture nominees tend to do reasonably well, but the category also tends to award “loud” music, and as of late, world music has been a favorite.

    One thing that has not changed, in my opinion, is that Michael Giacchino continues to lead this category for his score for Pixar’s “Up.” Giacchino was nominated two years ago for “Ratatouille” and again composed a soundtrack which was sad, joyous and suspenseful. The film is likely headed towards a Best Picture nomination and I expect Giacchino to show up as well.

    At the same time, I also can’t help but wonder if Giacchino maybe, just maybe, could pull off a double nomination this year for his compositions on J. J. Abrams’s “Star Trek.” The music was quite original and bombastic.  And, of course, the film a huge hit. I don’t see a lot of surefire nominees in this category, so this could be a place where it finds a home.

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  • 11/19 Oscarweb Round-up

    (from left) Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeff Bridges Crazy Heart• Michael Cieply writes up “Crazy Heart” from the angle that Paramount has “embarrassed” itself for passing on the film once upon a time, but apparently that early cut was “unwatchable,” so, you know, cut some slack. [New York Times]

    • Clint Eastwood — set to grace one of five GQ covers next month — says the country is in a morbid mood.  [CNN]

    • The Gurus o’ Gold weigh in on the directors and animated features. [Movie City News]

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Oscar hosts, Bridges arrives, animated five

    Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart• Oscar season ramped up this week, with the popular selection of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as this year’s Oscar emcees.

    • This week’s Off the Carpet column surveyed the runners and riders for Best Actor …

    • … only to be immediately outdated as Jeff Bridges and “Crazy Heart” arrived to turn that race on its head.

    • Big news in the Best Animated Feature race, as last-minute entry “A Town Called Panic” ensured we’ll have five nominees.

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  • SHORT TAKE: “The Princess and the Frog” (***)

    The Princess and the FrogIt’s a little difficult to argue with the nostalgia that Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” conjures.  As effective as Pixar has been for over a decade and as exciting as the computer-generated leaps have been in animation, there is something to be said about a well-crafted, traditional piece of animated feature filmmaking.

    Filmmakers Ron Clements and Jon Musker stretch back to the “Black Cauldron” days of the studio after all, and they were largely responsible for two of the biggest Disney animated hits of the pre-Pixar era, “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.” “The Princess and the Frog” isn’t in that league, however.  It’s an effective story and a clever twist on a classic tale, a twist that works quite well, in fact.

    That having been said, the vibrant animation and striking color palette the film’s animators are working with make “The Princess and the Frog” a truly beautiful fixture in this year’s healthy slate of animated feature films.  Working with the bayou particulars of New Orleans goes a long way toward servicing those visuals, of course, but the sheer energy of the piece, an organic extension of those particulars, is what makes it feel so comfortably familiar.

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  • We can officially add ‘A Christmas Carol’ to the animated list

    Gary Oldman in A Christmas CarolYesterday we covered the animated feature film race and the potential for the category to have five nominees this year, largely dependent on Robert Zemeckis’s “A Christmas Carol” being submitted as animation (a decision completely in his hands).  As it turns out, the film will indeed be submitted for consideration.

    That, along with “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure” brings the tally up to 16 titles.  Some are expressing doubts that “Tinker Bell” can qualify, but I’m told the film “looks great, is made professionally, and will receive a theatrical run in LA, so those are the criteria.”  Still, being right on the edge, this thing could go either way.

    I’m still waiting on confirmation that the French film “A Town Called Panic” had a qualifying run or will have one (mass confusion), and ditto Summit’s “Astro Boy,” but that would be 17 and the absolute ceiling (by my calculation) on the number of submitted titles.

    Assuming five nominees, here’s what I’m thinking…

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  • How the animated category could go to five

    Tinker Bell and the Lost TreasurePete Hammond has gone ahead and written the column I was going to write today, but you snooze you lose.

    Recently there was some discussion about the animated feature film category in our comments section.  The number of potential submissions is right on the edge.  By my count in the Contenders section, there are 16 films listed, which is the magic number that would yield a five-nominee slate.

    The field was widened recently with a planned qualifying run from Disney for “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure” at the El Capitan prior to DVD release.  To me, that smells like a studio trying to inflate the number of qualifying titles in order to get a wider field of contenders, because “Tinker Bell?”  Really?  One would expect it to just hit shelves as an afterthought.

    Anyway, there is one other title that could possibly be submitted: Zeitgeist Films’ “A Town Called Panic.” I called Zeitgeist yesterday to find out whether the company had run the film or would attempt to do so to qualify it, and the gist I got was that they just weren’t interested.  I expect a phone call if things change on that front, but for now, it’s unlikely.

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  • Animated feature forecast: could be ‘Cloudy’

    Cloudy with a Chance of MeatballsOver at The Odds (The Wrap’s new Oscar blog, in case you haven’t been reading), Steve Pond brings up the fierce competition of this year’s animated feature category and brings up an intriguing tidbit worth considering.

    In looking through Time Out London’s list of the 50 greatest animated films of all time, collected by the magazine’s editors and filmmaker Terry Gilliam, Pond takes note of the complete absence of both “Up” and “Ponyo.” These are two films considered very much in the thick of this year’s toon Oscar race, of course.

    However, after that aside, he comes to the two animated films from 2009 that did make the list.  The first is Henry Selick’s “Coraline,” but, well, hopefully the other note will provide some insight to those puzzled over my animated feature film predictions.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Festivals, festivals and festivals

    George Clooney in Up in the Air• After weeks of hype, “Up in the Air” landed in Telluride, and delivered. (And finally got a trailer too.)

    • Meanwhile, as some compare director Jason Reitman to Billy Wilder, we interviewed him at the festival.

    • We also got chatty with possible awards contenders Paul Schneider and Venice prize-winner Mark Boal.

    • On the other side of the Atlantic, our Venice coverage continued, including a first look at Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story.”

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  • Best Original Song and the tunes of Disney’s ‘Princess’

    The Princess and the FrogIn just a few weeks here the Best Original Song picture has become clearer and clearer.  We’ve told you about contenders from films like “2012,” “Precious,” “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Up in the Air,” but there’s more coming.  Today: the songs of Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog.”

    You might recall that for two years in a row, three songs from one film were nominated in this category: “Listen,” “Love You I Do” and “Patience” from “Dreamgirls” in 2006 and “Happy Working Song,” “So Close” and “That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted” in 2007.  The Academy took action in June 0f 2008, putting a new rule into effect that limits the number of eligible songs per film to two.

    This is worth keeping in mind in the case of “The Princess and the Frog,” which, to the best of my knowledge, has seven songs in play.  But I’m told only two (naturally) look to get the awards campaign treatment.

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  • New ‘Princess and the Frog’ trailer

    (Courtesy: Yahoo! Movies)

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Original Score — Volume I

    The Princess and the FrogAs long as humanity has been recording history, music has been immensely important in society. Not only can it be joyous and entertaining, but it can capture the mood and feel of a time and a place. Cinema has been no exception in this regard.

    The creation of original music for a film is awarded by the Academy in the Best Original Score category. The composer has one of the most difficult and lonely jobs in filmmaking. Almost always arriving at the end of the editing stage, he or she has to fashion music appropriate to the mood of a film.  But when a composer does a magnificent job, the result can be iconic.

    This category tends to awards its favorites. It is notoriously one of AMPAS’s most insular branches (though it has warmed up to newbies slightly in recent years). It also tends to award music that features prominently in the films.  From this vantage point, however, it is always hard to guess which films will find themselves in contention, largely because we have not heard the scores.

    An exception in this regard is Michael Giacchino’s work on Pixar’s “Up.” Giacchino, who was nominated two years ago for “Ratatouille,” has once again composed a soundtrack which can be sad, joyous and suspenseful. The film is likely headed towards a Best Picture nomination, and I suspect a citation here will follow.

    Another animated film which may very well end up in contention is “The Princess and the Frog.” The music is being handled by Randy Newman, clearly beloved by the music branch. I remain skeptical of how this film will be received and, in any event, think that Best Original Song may be the more likely spot to consider for this film. However, Newman’s name means a lot and there are few other favorites in the running this year.

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  • Lasseter on reviving 2-D animation and Pixar’s “failures”

    The Princess and the FrogJohn Lasseter certainly gives good interview. We linked back in June to a candid and very thorough piece in which the Pixar maven talked through his up-and-down (and up again) history with Disney. Now Variety carries a worthwhile profile of the man, in anticipation of the lifetime-achievement Golden Lion he is due to receive at the Venice Film Festival next week.

    In it, he reveals the supposed secret behind Pixar’s unbroken run of hits (not to mention their enviable critical track record) to be a collaborative “creative brain trust,” whereby an in-progress project is screened every three months, then critiqued and workshopped by Lasseter and the studio’s leading creatives.

    It’s a process designed to nip potential story problems in the bud, while Lasseter and his collaborators would have you believe that such problems emerge more often than not:

    “We fail a lot,” admits “Toy Story 3” director Lee Unkrich. “We just don’t fail by the time the movie comes out. John would be the first to tell you that every movie we’ve made has been at one point the biggest piece of garbage we’ve ever worked on.”

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  • ‘The Princess and the Frog’ featurette

    (Courtesy: Cartoon Brew)

  • New tune contenders from ‘2012,’ ‘Wild Things’ — what else?

    Adam LambertBoy, the “Where the Wild Things Are” items are coming fast and furious this morning.  I didn’t plan it this way, I swear.

    Anyway, generally around late August I begin to start compiling a list of the original song contenders.  It’s generally the last category that begins to fall into place after all, so it’s folly to speculate from too far out (which is why you’re greeted with the “coming soon” note in the sidebar for seven months out of the year).

    A potential nominee could be in our midst with Karen O’s “All is Love” from “Where the Wild Things Are,” which you can listen to over at MySpace.  Any fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is bound to enjoy this bouncing little ditty.

    Meanwhile, Queen guitarist Brian May was apparently “blown away” by Adam Lambert’s original song for Roland Emmerich’s “2012.”  I’m sure that combination is nails on a chalkboard for more than a few people.

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  • 8/3 Web Round-up

    Steven Miessner• Steven Miessner, the Academy’s white-gloved “keeper of the Oscars,” dead at 48. [USA Today]

    • Steve Weintraub talks “The Princess and the Frog” with directors Ron Clements and John Musker (at Comic-Con). [Collider]

    • The unmade films of Stanley Kubrick, including “Foucault’s Pendulum,” “Napoleon” and “Perfume.” [Empire]

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  • Could ‘Mr. Fox,’ ‘Carol’ join toon Best Pic hopefuls?

    Fantastic Mr. FoxJoBlo has an exclusive first look today at the central character from Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” a Scott Rudin-produced animated Roald Dahl adaptation.  The film was recently shifted from Fox over to Fox Searchlight for the purposes of distribution, lest a small, niche film such as this be lost in the shuffle.  But I have also heard murmurs (none of them confirmed, mind you) that the film will be pushed for a Best Picture nomination now that there are 10 slots up for grabs.

    What is confirmed, however, is that Henry Selick’s “Coraline” will be campaigned for the top prize by Focus Features (while Richard Curtis’s “The Boat That Rocked,” recently speculated in this space as being primed for Oscar, will not).  And of course, Disney/Pixar will be hitting the pavement in favor of “Up.”  Before long, the question becomes, “Well if they’re going for it, we should, too.”  Which leads me to wonder…

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