Updated on December 10, 2021
The 90th Academy Awards ceremony took place last night. Here’s a look at, and my thoughts on, this year’s animation-related Oscar winners. A full list of Academy Award winners is available here.
Animated Feature Film
- Coco
- The Boss Baby
- The Breadwinner
- Ferdinand
- Loving Vincent
Short Film (Animated)
- Dear Basketball
- Garden Party
- Lou
- Negative Space
- Revolting Rhymes
Music (Original Song)
- “Remember Me,” Coco
- “Mighty River,” Mudbound
- “Mystery of Love,” Call Me by Your Name
- “Stand Up for Something,” Marshall
- “This is Me,” The Greatest Showman
Comments
As expected, Pixar’s “Coco” won for animated feature film. It also managed a win over “The Greatest Showman” for Original Song. “Coco” did have some promotion through the night; of course, the ceremony airs on Disney-owned ABC.
Meanwhile, “Dear Basketball” won for animated short subject. The short is by basketball star Kobe Bryant and animator Glen Keane, and is about Bryant’s feelings about and life with the sport.
Despite some flaws, this year’s show did pay more attention to diversity issues, making it a bit of an improvement.
Jimmy Kimmel of late night ABC talk show fame was this year’s host. He was mostly a reminder that I miss Craig Ferguson, as I haven’t paid much attention to late night talk shows since Ferguson left CBS.
Surprisingly, the Best Picture winner was “The Shape of Water,” a fantasy film by Guillermo del Toro about a fish-guy. Given the Oscar judges traditionally aren’t big sci-fi/fantasy fans, I’d figure “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” would win, even if some have criticized the film over problematic aspects. I haven’t seen it, though some of the criticisms don’t make me eager to watch the film.
That said, at least we avoided another fiasco like last year’s best picture winner announcement; the envelopes this year have the categories printed in large type. As for “Get Out,” it did win for best screenplay, the first time a Black person’s won that award in the show’s 90-year history.
Greg in Hollywood (Greg Hernandez), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped from original)
