Animators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, best known for their work behind renowned animated flicks Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, take exception to the notion of animated works being lesser than live-action projects, and they expressed such when they pled to the academy that animated movies should be taken just as seriously as non-animated movies.
Because of their reputation of being marketed toward children, animated films can get unfairly diminished when comparing them to their live-action counterparts. Lord and Miller wrote their very own article shortly after the 2022 Oscars ceremony to make their case that animated movies deserve more recognition by the Academy
In this guest article for Variety, the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-writer and producers cited the efforts that are put in to make them go at full capacity as well as their popularity as demonstrated by their box office success. They also called out the Academy for making out animated films to be strictly for children. "Framing the five Academy Award nominees for best animated feature as a corporate product for kids that parents must begrudgingly endure could be dismissed as simply careless," Lord and Miller said. "Animated films routinely demonstrate excellence in photography, design, costumes and performance. They are some of the most carefully and cinematically directed films of the year. They have some of the most intricate scoring and sound design... When broadcasters bemoan the fact that so many of the nominated films have not been widely seen, they must be forgetting that animated nominees “Luca,” “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” were three of the 10 most-streamed movies of 2021. (Seven of the 10 were animated!) Or that 13 (25%!) of the 50 highest-grossing films of all time are animated... Animation is for everyone."
To be fair, the Academy has given animated movies some respect. When Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy in 1991, it was the first animated film to receive the honor. Several years later, the Academy ultimately decided to give animated movies their own category at the ceremony. While that made sense to give animated movies their own "Best of" category, segregating them from live-action movies does give audiences the arguably unfair view that they are the inferior genre compared to live-action.
For the record, everything Lord and Millar are saying is completely true. Just because animated movies are traditionally targeted at children does not mean they shouldn't be held in the same regard as non-animated movies aimed at adults. There are so many factors at play that go into making a movie good, enjoyable, and memorable all at the same time. Animated movies arguably have more on their plate because they need the animation to stand out on top of the acting, the story, the characters, etc. So it makes no sense that the Academy looks down on them.
And you can see why this would impact guys like Lord and Miller because they want to be recognized as filmmakers just as much as they would like to be recognized as animators. Lord and Miller have already made their mark in the profession of animation. Both Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse weren't just great animated movies. They were game-changers that greatly influenced the films that came after them. They shouldn't have to be penalized because their movies' target audience was *technically* children.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Variety