A. J. Roscoe says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 12:08pm

Great news! Now every major type of animation could have a representative or two in the arena. The artsy-geeky-ugly-looking spot is reserved for Mary and Max. 3D is the trendy thing with Up locking one spot down and the other tossing a coin between A Christmas Carol and Cloudy (dunno ACC’s mo-cap will turn out to be an asset or a liability). The stop motion slot would be between Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox. The two 2D hand drawn (Ponyo and Frog Princess) will possibly see one end up among the final five with Ponyo having the edge.

My pick for now,

Up
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Mary and Max
Ponyo

A. J. Roscoe says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 12:11pm

@Kevin

The Last Alvin and the Chipmunks was eligible as well.

Krammit says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 12:38pm

I really enjoyed Mary and Max. That would be awesome if it got recognized

Kay says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 1:15pm

Yay! Really a great year for animation. I predict the 5 nominees to be..
Up
The Princess and the Frog
Ponyo on the Cliffe by the Sea
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline

Trevor says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 1:32pm

What I would like to be nominated:
Astro Boy
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ponyo
Up

What will be nominated:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Disney’s A Christmas Carol
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
Up

Kelly says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 2:39pm

What if, WHAT IF… Up doesn’t score an animated nomination, but lands a best pic nom… that would be weird. But do you think it’s possible? I mean, with so many good animated films out there this year, do you think voters will see Up as the “shoo-in” and decide to nominate something else in the animated race? Hmmm… maybe I’m just crazy.

Kelly says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 2:41pm

But my list would look like:

Coraline
Ponyo
Up
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

I don’t really buy into the whole A Christmas Carol… and I’m not totally sold on The Princess and the Frog, either.

Without UP in the Animated category, though, I would put Princess and the Frog in its place.

Erik says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 3:31pm

If Alvin and the Chipmunks counts as an animated feature I think they might as well have entered Transformers: Rise of the Fallen here (in spite of the fact that Megan Fox came eerily close to looking like an actual photorealistic human being this time around).

Nick K. (and a talking fox) says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 3:59pm

This is awesome news. BTW Sasha and Ryan, did you get my email about Mary and Max? I just saw the movie and I think it’s the best animated film of the year, bar none. Unfortunately, it’s too weird and too sad to win. But with five nominations, it has a shot of getting in.

Dave says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 4:57pm

I really didn’t enjoy Coraline – I’d be surprised if it was nominated, actually. I don’t think it’s that fantastic…maybe I’m on my own on that one.

Daniel says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 7:27pm

Mary and Max is by far the best animated film of the year so far, and one of my favorite animated films of all time. I really, really hope it gets in.

Nick K. (and a talking fox) says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 9:31pm

I find it really strange that, on reflection of my favorite films of ’09, a lot of them have been animated. If “Fantastic Mr. Fox” blows me away, that’ll be about four of my top ten belonging to animated films. Goes to show that the animation race is far more interesting than the BP race.

The question is if Disney will have “Up” campaign for both animated and BP or just go full-out for BP. If “Up” was put into BP but snubbed for Best animated feature, it would make the race all the more interesting.

Dave says:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:22pm

I’m a HUGE supporter of Mary and Max, too.

It will only miss out on a nomination if people don’t watch it – surely they will with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette doing voices etc. It is a great piece of work.

The website is fantastic, too – check out the awards it has already won!

http://www.maryandmax.com/

Glenn says:
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 1:14am

I’d be incredibly happy if “Mary & Max” could make it in. I know Adam Elliot has said he wants to sit down and chat with as many Academy members as possible to help the film’s chances. Unfortunately, history is not on his side. A film with only a qualifying run has never been nominated in the Animated Feature category. And unlike “The Triplets of Belleville” or “Howl’s Moving Castle” it doesn’t have a weak field of competition keeping it out. Although like Miyazaki, Elliot is a respected animator and that can only help. Plus some big names doing voice work and praise from everyone who sees it.

“Up” and “Coraline” are locks. “Princess and the Frog” seems like a good bet IF it gets good box office. “Cloudy”, too, has a lot of positive factors towards it. That leaves “Mary & Max”, “Fantastic Mr Fox” (competing claymation) and “Ponyo”. It seems natural to think “Fox” has the edge (it’ll have more box-office) but I can also see the animation branch reacting negatively towards Wes Anderson thinking he can make an animated film (and by email if the rumours are true) and might go against him, so I think it’s down to “Mary & Max” and “Ponyo” for the intellectual, international spot. I’m hoping for “M&M” obviously, but…

Fidel says:
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 10:02pm

5, huh? Ironically, this COULD hurt UP’s chances at winning, heck, even getting nominated in the BP race because maybe the Academy will feel as if the Animated Feature category (especially now) is its own Best Picture top 5 category thing…so why invite UP to the 10 when it already belongs to the 5, which is the same number of nominated films they had last year in BP. Then again, I can’t see that there really are 10 better films than ‘UP’ this year…I mean, one can argue that ‘PRECIOUS’ ‘AN EDUCATION’ ‘DISTRICT 9′ ‘INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS’ ‘STAR TREK’ and ‘THE HURT LOCKER’ are all BP material, but do we really know for sure about ‘NINE’ ‘LOVELY BONES’ ‘AVATAR’ and ‘INVICTUS’? We’ll see…oh, and yes, PRINCESS AND THE FROG is definitely getting a nomination now…there’s no way or reason they can ignore it now. PRECIOUS and PRINCESS AND THE FROG at the Oscars…mmmhmm, now that’s how you reach a wider audience.

Jon says:
Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 8:56pm

My predictions for Oscar Nominations for Best Animated Feature:

Up
The Princess and the Frog
Coraline
Ponyo
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Up is a lock for a nomination and possible win, The Princess and the Frog is a return to classic Disney and I think it will get a nomination due to that, Coraline is a dark and delightful stop motion film which may appeal to Academy voters, Ponyo is Miyazaki and his films tend to get nominated and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is my dark horse of scoring a nomination but given the critical praise along with a good story and stunning visuals, it does have a good chance of securing a nomination.