Disney Makes a Play for Best Picture for Toy Story 3

Deadline’s Pete Hammond got the scoop that states what we knew already – Pixar/Disney is going for the Big One with Toy Story 3 to win Best Picture. Not going to happen. But okay, let’s pretend it does have a chance just for kicks. And thanks to all of the readers who have been sending me the FYC ad pictured above. There’s just one problem with it: Toy Story 3 is not the best reviewed film of the year — The Social Network is, according to metacritic.

“The theory is pretty simple for us,” says Ross. “It’s thrilling that there is a separate category for animation and that allows animated movies to be recognized but for some reason an animated film has never gotten Best Picture and I always wondered was there not an appetite? We decided this year we have the biggest and best reviewed film of the year. If not this year, and not this movie, when?” He also points out other genres and categories of films like fantasy (with Rings), horror (with Lambs) and sequels (with Godfather II) broke seemingly insurmountable barriers in terms of the perception that certain kinds of movies can‚Äôt win, so why not toons?

It might be the biggest money maker (most of that is not the Academy demographic, rather, it’s families) but it isn’t the best reviewed. Toons might win one day (a stretch), I’d tell him, but not this toon.

I hate to be the one to rain on their parade, but put that movie side by side with The Social Network, 127 Hours, The King’s Speech, Black Swan and Inception – does anyone really think Toy Story 3 would have a shot against those? I may end up eating my hat on this, and never say never, but I can’t even entertain the possibility that it could win up against such visionary works as we’ve seen this year.

But let’s pretend for a minute that it actually did have a chance of winning. It would have to be better than the other Pixar films that didn’t win – Wall-E, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo. That’s just for starters. Secondly, it would have to be a film that adults loved, not just kids. It would have to tap into something deeper than just the opportunity to reward Pixar — they already have a category for animated films so why would they think the Academy would decide not to reward the films that star real actors, especially when the majority of Academy members ARE actors.

Imagining a large group of actors saying out loud, much less voting for, Toy Story 3 would shock the hell out of me. Toy Story 3 already has competition enough with How to Train Your Dragon. They should focus their efforts on the animated category so that they don’t lose that gimme.

As a big fan of Pixar I don’t blame them for going for the big prize. Two things would happen if the film managed to pull off a win – it would immediately degrade the film itself, and it may very well make a mockery of the proceedings. The reason for this isn’t that Toy Story 3 isn’t good. It’s that they would be saying there weren’t any worthy live action films. And let’s face it, that is just plainly untrue.¬†¬† So, I don’t see a scenario that has Toy Story 3 winning. I can’t even see it being many voters’ number 1 film of the year. Oh, maybe a couple of people here or there might say that, but I’m having a hard time imagining who they might be.