It is absurd that they didn't even nominate MU, and it is 100% obvious to me that the sole reason for that is "diversity"--they didn't want to give the award to Pixar year after year, or seem to be playing favorites (even though most of the time Pixar does produce the best films), so they deliberately avoided even nominating theirs this time. The winner was completely clear from the beginning, so it really didn't even matter; it still would've gone to Frozen. However, this would have been my #2 pick, and certainly deserved to be among the choices.
It's a wonderful film, and while there'll always be those who just don't like it or who criticize and badmouth good things merely for the sake of being contrary, it's very well-liked and successful. Some of us fans even prefer it to the first. Some people also tend to automatically assume that sequels, prequels, or midquels are going to stink and degrade their opinion of the previously-made film (somehow), and a few are so invested in that preset view that they don't give the next one a really fair chance. They're looking too much through the negativity lens to recognize another great movie--if it indeed is one--when they see it. So that happens, too.
I believe Frozen is a masterpiece, by far the best Disney has achieved since their last round of excellent films that basically ended with Tarzan. The Croods is a little better than I'd expected, but nothing fantastic. It was pretty cliche. Despicable Me 2 I found entertaining, funny, charming, and cute. What more would you want from a family flick? And yet, in my view MU is still far more original, clever, and engaging, with more "staying power"...as in, it stayed with me after I'd seen it, I wanted to read and learn more about the characters, I still want to see much more, it entered my long list of favorite movies, I bought it, etc. Oh, and of course Brave...I adore Brave. Merida is now one of my top four princesses. I think it deserved its win, but again, the Academy didn't want to appear lazy and dismissive of anyone animating a film except for Pixar. (Of course, since Pixar is now PART of Disney even though retaining full control over their film production, Disney's odds of being connected with a winner are greater than ever. With no more Don Bluth and the like giving us some Disney-caliber movies, most of the competition is just, imo, not as great.)
The Lego Movie frankly didn't impress me much...it's not terrible, but from all the talk I expected so many more laughs.
Wreck-It Ralph is very, very good, and ParaNorman's good too. I would probably rank these recent movies: Frozen, Brave/MU (hard to choose), Wreck-It Ralph, ParaNorman, Despicable Me 2, The Croods, The Lego Movie.
And hopefully I'll get to see The Wind Rises soon.
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