Where's the love for the Old School...

Seriously, what a disappointment. Of the nominees for "Best Animated Picture", you most certainly have a lack luster display. In it you have: Cars, Happy Feet, and Monster House. Now to be fair, Pixar has never disappointed, though I was not driven (no pun intended) to see a picture about talking cars. With Happy Feet, something about having Robin William's character be the focus of early trailer spots was a big turn off. And truthfully, you're not gonna grab me by showing me a legion of dancing penguins.

But then there's Monster House, which I did see. And by no means warranted an nomination. Sure visually it was stunning, but there was nothing new here from a story perspective. And even if it was stunning to look at, it's nothing new.

Now I am sure all three would fall into the category of an excellent family picture. But is that what this Oscar® category is about? Family friendly? Because outside of being your standard family fare, there really anything else here, these pictures do not say anything beyond that. It just begs to question the Academy's criteria for selection, especially when you had (non-CG) pictures like Satoshi Kon's Paprika submitted for consideration.

It's just unfortunate that CGI pictures seem to dominate this category, regardless of story. More and more it seems like studios are focused on the technology and less and less about the story. The traditional animated picture seems to be a lost art nowadays. I would offer that it's more an art to draw a picture then build one. I look forward to the next animated picture by hand... whenever it may come.