But Critics Don’t Vote on the Oscars

Brooks Barnes writing for the New York Times makes a pretty decent case for Fantastic Mr. Fox upsetting Up at the Oscars:

In a mid-December surprise, both the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named “Fantastic Mr. Fox” the best animated movie of 2009. Similar awards from five other critics’ groups followed. The film is up for a Golden Globe on Sunday, as is “Up.”

“Nobody saw this coming,” said Jerry Beck, the author of 12 books on animation and an operator of the news blog CartoonBrew.com. “The animation in ‘Mr. Fox’ strikes some people as a bit funky, but the film is indisputably a piece of art — something that exhibits a really strong point of view from beginning to end.”

It’s an interesting piece – Barnes talks to producer Scott Rudin and takes a good long look at the history of animation in the Oscar race. My first thought, though, is yeah….no. It’s true that Up isn’t Wall-E, but it’s also true that Fantastic Mr. Fox isn’t Up. One appeals to the art-house crowd and critics, and one appeals to everybody else.