The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was first given out at the 74th Oscar ceremony in 2002. Originally a category that would be voted upon by Academy members for nominations every year, the award was named a permanent category starting in 2012. For a film to qualify for a nomination, the film has to be at least 75% animated and more than 40 minutes in length.
This category has provided several controversies since its inception:
- The most blatant of them all is that the AMPAS created the category in order to prevent animated films from being nominated for Best Picture and making this a Consolation Prize for them, thus keeping the Animation Age Ghetto alive, despite their claims that it can encourage filmmakers to create more animated films. This came to a head in 2009, when WALL•E was snubbed for Best Picture despite being one of the best-acclaimed films of 2008. Nevertheless, the Academy states that animated films can be nominated in both categories, which happened in 2009 and 2010 with Up and Toy Story 3 respectively.
- The award tends to go to either Disney or Pixar, giving the impression that voters only vote for the film that their kids like the best regardless of the artistic merits of the other nominees.note To date, only eight non Disney or Pixar films have won: Shrek, Spirited Away, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Happy Feet, Rango, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, and The Boy and the Heron.
- In 2010, a new rule was enacted about the eligibility of films that use motion-capture technology, which was probably created to prevent live-action films that rely heavily on mo-cap ("cheating" if you'd like to call it) such as Avatar or Ready Player One (2018) from being nominated.
- The award was initially an optional category that was voted upon every year by Academy members. It wasn't until 2012 when it became a permanent category.
- In the 2022 Oscars, the category was presented by Lily James, Naomi Scott and Halle Bailey (who happen to portray the live action versions of Disney Princesses: Cinderella, Jasmine and Ariel) where their remarks on animated films supposedly being for kids sparked criticism amongst those who in the animation industry, including directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller. Many saw these remarks as another proof on how the Academy is still in denial of the animation medium by having the belief that animation is for children (despite having several adult-oriented animated features that have been nominated for the category). In addition, this also made arguments as to how animation had an advantage over live action during the COVID-19 Pandemic, as well as resulting into the #NewDeal4Animation movement for animators to receive the same pay as those who work in live action productions.
And here is some additional trivia about the winners...
- Pixar currently holds the record for the most wins in the category, with eleven in total.
- Spirited Away and The Boy and the Heron are the only anime films, the only hand-drawn films, and the only non-Anglophone films to win the award.
- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio are so far the only stop-motion films to win the award.
- As noted above, two of the winners were also nominated for the Best Picture prize.
Winners and nominees
- 2001 — Shrek
- 2002 — Spirited Away
- 2003 — Finding Nemo
- 2004 — The Incredibles
- 2005 — Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
- 2006 — Happy Feet
- 2007 — Ratatouille
- 2008 — WALL•E
- 2009 — Up
- 2010 — Toy Story 3
- 2011 — Rango
- A Cat in Paris
- Chico and Rita
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Puss in Boots
- 2012 — Brave
- 2013 — Frozen
- 2014 — Big Hero 6
- 2015 — Inside Out
- 2016 — Zootopia
- 2017 — Coco
- 2018 — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
- 2019 — Toy Story 4
- 2020-21 — Soul
- 2021 — Encanto
- 2022 — Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
- 2023 — The Boy and the Heron
