The critics are praising The Tale of Princess Kaguya, which should be enough to make it a strong contender in the animated feature race already dominated by The Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon 2. Big Hero 6 should join the pack once it opens on November 7, based on its groundbreaking animation alone. Book of Life’s reviews are less raves than the other four films. Then there is the Box Trolls.
Right now, most pundits have The Lego Movie to win. Lego the toy brand was in the news recently for finally relenting on splitting ties with Shell Oil under pressure from Greenpeace. But their move to separate paints the brand in a better light and if the brand is no longer tarnished, that relieves a bit of the pressure on the toy company and its movie. It stands as the box office champ currently with $257 million take.
Right behind it is the Tale of Princess Kaguya, Studio Ghibli’s latest movie. Lush and dreamy but more importantly, appeals to adults. Glenn Kenny writes that the film “is a staggering masterpiece of animation based on a very old Japanese folk tale. “The Tale of The Princess Kaguya” is both very simple and head-spinningly confounding, a thing of endless visual beauty that seems to partake in a kind of pictorial minimalism but finds staggering possibilities for beautiful variation within its ineluctable modality. It’s a true work of art.
Kenneth Turan writes, “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” is a marvel of Japanese animation, a hand-drawn, painterly epic that submerges us in a world of beauty. While almost everything about it bespeaks its origins in a culture very different from the West, the delicacy and grace of its sublime imagery create an impact that couldn’t be stronger.”
It looks like the race, as Gold Derby has already proclaimed, is down to those two films for the win.
Third in line right now would have to be the How to Train Your Dragon 2, which not only upped its game with animation but also introduces a strong female character voiced by Cate Blanchett. It is followed by Disney’s Big Hero 6, which could, depending on box office, position itself higher in the animated feature race.
Finally, there is the Boxtrolls, which also looks to be a strong contender out of the gate. It competes with The Book of Life for the fifth slot if there are five.
Which five do you think will get in?