Written by Karlamon :

Yes folks, it is once again that time of the year to celebrate the best of cinema with the 88th Academy Awards. While 2015 wasn’t a big year for animated features, there were still plenty of highlight movies, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have now officially selected five unique nominations for the Best Animated Feature category. Now without further delay, it’s now time to discuss about them.

Anomalisa

In a time where most American animated features are primarily made for families, one aimed for adults comes in to stand out from any other movie in the form of Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa. Funded through Kickstarter, this stop-motion romantic drama about a man struggling to connect with people was met with major praise for being highly original, emotional, and though-provoking with Matt Patches of Esquire calling it “the most human film of the year”. Paramount Pictures has progressively been expanding the Oscar-contender’s release in theatres, though with an R-rating from the MPAA, this is something not to expose to children.

Boy & the World

While this animated creation from Brazil may not be widely known, Alê Abreu’s Boy & the World (O Menino e o Mundo in Portuguese) was awarded with numerous accolades since it’s worldwide debut at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in 2013. It wasn’t until last month when GKIDS gave the chance to experience the dialogue-free adventure in select US theatres. The film, which tells the simple story of a boy on a quest to find his father, received big acclaim for it’s ambitious drawing style and strong storytelling, and was crowned by Carlos Aguilar of Indiewire as “unequivocally the best animated film of the year”.

Inside Out

2015 was considered as the big comeback year for the animation kings at Pixar when they released two movies after a year’s absence. While The Good Dinosaur was considered to be “good”, it was their other project Inside Out that amazed everyone as being among the best movies of the year. Critics and audience’s worldwide applauded director Pete Docter and the rest of the Pixar team for their bold execution with the creative concept of emotions inside the head. Not only was this nominated for Best Animated Feature, but it also went on to get an additional nomination for Best Original Screenplay, which was written by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley. On a side note, a third nomination of Best Animated Short Film was given to the studio for Sanjay Patel’s animated short Sanjay’s Super Team.

Shaun the Sheep Movie

Boy & the World was not the only nominee this year to feature zero dialogue. There was also UK’s beloved animation studio Aardman who brought their popular TV icon Shaun the Sheep to the big screen with Shaun the Sheep Movie. Dialogue-free movies rarely ever get released widely in theatres, but with the help of distributors StudioCanal and Lionsgate, the risk paid off greatly with the stop-motion adventure from directors Mark Burton and Richard Starzak receiving universally-positive reviews for it’s uniqueness, clever visual gags, and simple charm. It was described by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone as “a world-class winner”, and now stands as another fine piece in Aardman’s catalogue.

When Marnie Was There

The last nomination of the year can be said to be rather bittersweet, considering it could possibly be the final feature film made by anime master-house Studio Ghibli due to their indefinite hiatus. Helmed by Arrietty director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, When Marnie Was There (思い出のマーニー in Japanese) was adapted from the novel of the same name by Joan G. Robinson where a tomboy meets a mysterious girl who may or may not be real. It was released in native Japan back in 2014 and arrived in the US with an English dub by GKIDS a year later, which was followed with highly positive reviews with praise given to the beauty in the film’s narrative and hand-drawn animation. With Ghibli’s future uncertain, this may be the final time we’ll see a film from one of the animation industry’s finest studios.

And that sums up this year’s nominees for Best Animated Feature. The winner of the award will be announced on the night of the Oscars on February 28. With all that said, feel free to share your thoughts and predictions in the comments below.