The Race for Best Picture Grows Animated

The setting was Spago in Beverly Hills. The decor was Far Far Away. The restaurant was transformed into the mythical land at the heart of “Shrek 2,” ostensibly to promote the DVD launch of the highest-grossing animated film in history.

But as the paparazzi flashed away at Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers and Julie Andrews, three of the stars who provided voices for the film, and as hundreds of industry insiders milled about sipping wine and munching stir-fried lamb in lettuce cups, another reason for the evening became apparent: The Oscar campaign for “Shrek 2” was shifting into gear.

In a year when no live-action movie has emerged to overshadow the competition, some animated films may have a shot at best picture nominations.

Their prospects would be considered unlikely, except for the perception among academy members, if not the public, that there is a dearth of Oscar-worthy live-action films this year.

Contenders, which include Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”; “Collateral,” starring Tom Cruise; “Ray,” starring Jamie Foxx; “Kinsey,” starring Liam Neeson; and “Sideways,” an independent film, will certainly make a run for a nomination, but their success remains uncertain.

To date, though, only one animated film has ever received a best picture nomination in the Academy Awards’ 76 years, the Walt Disney Co.’s 1991 fairy tale, “Beauty and the Beast.”

“How can you keep avoiding it when it’s like the elephant in the room?” asked Andrews, who supplies the voice of Queen Lillian in “Shrek 2” and won the Oscar for best actress for 1964’s “Mary Poppins.” “There are so many great animated movies these days.... The technology is incredible. They are doing things that never could have been done before.”

As the genre continues to push creative boundaries and delivers blockbuster box office receipts, it is increasingly difficult for academy voters to discount animated movies.

Indeed, the lines between live-action and animation films continue to blur, thanks to technological advances in computer graphics, stronger scripts and Oscar-winning stars and directors willing to lend their names and talents to a genre once dismissed as the province of cartoons.

This may be the year, said Jon Bloom, chairman of the executive committee of the academy’s short films and animation branch: “I think it’s possible ... with the terrific crop of animated pictures we have.”

Among movies in the running are “Shrek 2” from DreamWorks; “The Incredibles” from Pixar Animation Studios, one of the best-reviewed movies of the year; and “The Polar Express” from Warner Bros.

Despite wildly mixed reviews -- “The Polar Express” has been called everything from enchanting and delightful to a train wreck -- Warner Bros. President Alan Horn made no secret of the studio’s plans to seek Oscar nominations for best picture and best animated feature. It will also try to land a best actor nomination for academy favorite Tom Hanks, who plays five roles in the film thanks to a technology that transposes his movements onto the screen.

There are seven weeks left to unveil Oscar-worthy films and performances before eligibility expires at year’s end. Among the major films yet to be released are director Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Closer,” starring Julia Roberts and Jude Law. Some believe the pickings are so slim that even a foreign language film, possibly “Bad Education” or “The Sea Inside,” also has a chance at a best picture nomination.

The growing popularity and sophistication of animated movies led the academy to give the genre its own category a few years ago. The first Oscar for animated feature was awarded in 2002, to “Shrek.”

The new category was welcomed by many in the animation community, but others wondered whether it was an attempt to ditch the competition.

“A vast majority of academy members are in live-action, and they don’t want these animators to get the awards they are working so hard toward,” said Kevin Koch, president of the 1,900-member Animation Guild and a character animator on “Shrek 2.”

“I remember when ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was nominated, there were some prominent actors who made some snippy comments to the effect that Oscars should be for ‘real film.’ ”

Although animators are now able to bask in Oscar’s spotlight, some worry that animation has been marginalized in the eyes of the academy.

“The downside, in a year like this, is that a film like ‘The Incredibles’ or ‘Shrek 2’ is probably going to get passed over for best picture ... because the academy members can shove it off into its own little slot,” Koch said.

John Lasseter, Pixar’s creative chief and executive producer of “The Incredibles,” doesn’t see it that way.

“When this category of best feature animation was created, I was very excited,” Lasseter said. “Some people argued, though, that it’s now becoming ‘ghettoized,’ that animation will never get best picture now. But I said, ‘Finally, we have an award celebrating the film as a whole.’ ”

He pointed out that “Toy Story,” “Shrek” and “Finding Nemo” were nominated in recent years for best screenplay. “That kind of opened the door” to serious recognition, he said.

DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg, the executive producer of “Shrek 2,” agreed.

“No one is denying these films the right to be nominated as best film and best animated film,” he said. Animation today runs a wide gamut that includes such hand-drawn cartoons as Nickelodeon/Paramount’s upcoming “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie,” computer-generated images like those in “Shrek 2” and the cutting-edge “performance capture” technique used in “The Polar Express.”

That technology allowed director Robert Zemeckis to digitally capture an actor’s live performance for virtual characters.

Bloom said the academy debated whether “performance capture” qualified as animation and decided that it did. It rested its decision on academy rules that dictate that animation must figure in no less than 75% of a picture’s running time in order for it to be eligible in the animation category. The animated background of “The Polar Express” clearly met that standard.

“The Polar Express” faces a much bigger challenge, however.

Horn, the studio chief, said he was frustrated by the reviews. Many critics took the film to task, saying its strange hybrid of live action and computer-generated images created children who looked downright creepy and “dead-eyed.”

“I want to say, ‘Excuse me, do you think the eyes of the characters in Pixar’s movies -- are they dead eyes? They aren’t real, human eyes,’ ” Horn said. Conceding that bad reviews “don’t help” his film’s Oscar chances, he said he could take solace in a strong review from influential critic Roger Ebert, who gave the movie his maximum four stars.

Horn said the studio still had tremendous confidence in its movie, which is why it decided to seek both best picture and best animated feature film nominations.

Warner Bros. won’t be alone in its bid to coax academy members to consider a film.

At Spago on Monday night, the restaurant took its decorating page from what seemed like the set of a twisted fairy tale.

Signs advertising “Farbucks Coffee” and “Abercrombie & Witch” emblazoned the front of the restaurant; inside, colorful medieval banners were hung from the rafters. Katzenberg was greeting guests arriving at the “Shrek 2” party. The DVD was on track to sell more than 11 million units in its first three days.

But as pleased as he could be, Katzenberg was still uncomfortable discussing his film’s Oscar chances.

“After 30 years, the one thing I’ve learned is that academy goes its own path,” he said. “There is no predicting.”