LEGO Movie snubbed by the Oscars, then wins Critics Choice award ...all in the same day [News]

Yesterday the 2015 Oscar nominations were announced, and The LEGO Movie was notably absent from the list of nominees for best animated feature. In response to this news, the movie’s writer and director Philip Lord tweeted “It’s okay. Made my own!” accompanied by a photo of a brick-built Oscar trophy. In reality, the uncredited creation was the work of brick artist Nathan Sawaya, although Lord did later admit that he just grabbed the image from a Google Image search.

 

LEGO fans everywhere were no doubt dismayed at the lack of an Oscar nod for this critically acclaimed and commercially successful movie. But later that very day, the critics themselves came to the rescue when the movie won Best Animated Film at the Critics Choice Awards!

 

As the saying goes… Every dark bluish gray cloud has a light bluish gray lining.

3 comments on “LEGO Movie snubbed by the Oscars, then wins Critics Choice award ...all in the same day [News]

  1. Erathor Pridenar

    It definitely deserved to at least be nominated for an Oscar, but then again it’s fantastic it won a Critic’s Choice Award!

  2. suboken

    Our family ADORES The LEGO Movie! Without a doubt, it is one of our top five go-to movies during family time.

    But…
    We have an ongoing debate about whether or not TLM is an animated movie (like Pixar’s Toy Story), or a live action movie that uses a ton of special effects (like James Cameron’s Avatar). That TLM did not receive a nomination for an Oscar for best animated feature has only polarized our debate.

    So, I’m posting this question to everyone here at The Brothers Brick. Awesome CG cartoon, or awesome SFX extravaganza?

  3. faefrost

    The Academy has rather detailed rules about what qualifies for the animated movie category. Some live action scenes are allowed. It is a percentage thing. I think no more than 30% or 30 minutes of live action footage? TLM does not come anywhere close to the boundaries. It clearly meets the qualifications.

    Things that would not qualify would be as you said Avatar, which is essentially live action actors rendered into animated or artificial backdrops, or the new Thunderbirds TV show they are developing which is CGI animated characters rendered onto real world backdrops. (Amazingly they actually do not consider the Star Wars prequels as “animated movies” despite the fact that it would appear no actual living breathing organic or sentient life forms appear on screen at any point. )

    Everyone is up in arms about no Black nominees this year. I think long term the TLM snub will actually have a bigger impact on the steady erosion of audience and industry respect and support for the Oscars and the Academy as a whole. It shows how wildly detached the industry has become from its audience in a way we have not seen since the Annie Hall debacle. At this point in order to qualify for an Oscar nomination a film must have put 60% of its audience to sleep and another 30% to simply walk out by the 15 minute mark.

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