If filmgoers rather than filmmakers had been doing the choosing, there’s no doubt that Toy Story 3 would have triumphed.
Toy Story 3 picked up two awards at the Oscars. Best Song went to Randy Newman’s We Belong Together – not, I’d wager, a tune that many people came out of the film humming. Its other win was for Best Animation – predictable, maybe, but it was up against some terrific competition in the enchanting shape of Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist and DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon, with its breathtaking flying sequences.
TS3 was also nominated in the Best Picture category. It never stood a chance against The King’s Speech, but could it ever have won?
After only two years of 10 nominations in the Best Picture category, it feels as if the Academy is establishing a tradition by including a token animated film (last year, it was another Pixar masterpiece, Up). The long-term aim may be gradually to encourage the idea that an animation could win the top award: if this is the case, I fear it’s going to be a lengthy process.
On the other hand, if filmgoers rather than filmmakers had been doing the choosing, there’s no doubt that Toy Story 3 would have triumphed.
It’s not just a great film – beautifully made, intensely moving, unafraid to tackle Big Ideas – it also has cross-generational appeal, which is why it has earned more than $1 billion at the box office since it was released last summer. Incredibly, Lee Unkrich, director of TS3, told me during a visit to the Pixar that he’d had sleepless nights during production, fearing he might be making the first flop in the history of the mega-successful studio.
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