Most of the times, a big movie that's a critical and box office hit gets the Oscar, so... I think that's why Kubo and the Two Strings probably won't win the Oscar, as it did poorly at the box office (it was so damn perfect though!). Other than Disney Animation's two movies, Zootopia and Moana, the other big animated movie that has Oscar chances is Finding Dory, but it's a sequel, and since there are two original movies out there (that the majority seems to find a bit better), I think it's most likely for Zootopia or Moana to win the Oscar. But which of these two animated masterpieces will win? Zootopia has already won a number of awards, but I have a feeling Moana will get the Oscar. After all, Zootopia could possibly win the Golden Globe.
Well, I can tell you this. Not every year does a animated film make AFI's top ten list. 8 times since 2001 animated films have been on this list and all 8 times, 100% have gone on the win a Oscar! Lego movie while not nominated for best animated film was however nominated for best song. Fans seem to forget this.
Uh what majority? Fans or professionals? Multiple critics have sited Zootopia as the bar of quality in reviews... Here's just a few I seen that range from positive critic and comparison to much more negative.
"Better than Finding Dory but not quite reaching the level of Zootopia, the latest Disney animated effort of 2016 adheres pretty much to the formula we've come to expect in recent years from the storied studio."
-Creative Loafing
"The animated musical adventure Moana is the cherry on top of a sweet year for Disney that also includes Zootopia and The Jungle Book."
-Patriot Ledger
"Moana who is a strong and positive character in the vein of Judy Hopps from Zootopia"
"Moana doesn't quite measure up to Disney's most recent computer-animated efforts."
-The Kanas City Star
"Arriving during the same calendar year as two superior fellow computer-animated releases from Disney, "Zootopia" and "Finding Dory," it also proves slighter and exceedingly traditional."
-The Film File
"Kicking off the year with Zootopia, the studio took a big risk with the film's powerful commentary on today's racial and social landscape. Hopping up to new heights, it resulted in one of the most relevant animated films in the past decade."
-Movie Pilot
"I'm not the target audience for this kind of movie, certainly, so maybe I'm missing something. But in a year when Disney also put out the smart, wonderful Zootopia with its more daring themes and more complicated plotting, it's hard not to see Moana as easy regression."
-Vanity Fair
"One wonders if releasing three animated films in one year proved to be a strain on the brain trust, because The Process let Moana down. It's fun, and it's beautifully rendered, but it is a far cry from Zootopia in terms of story, a farther cry from Frozen in terms of musical numbers, and it pales in comparison to both in terms of emotional weight."
-Bullzeye Blog
"Still, there's a simplicity to the plot here that feels like a step back from the narrative complexity of some of Disney Animations recent achievement most notably Zootopia, whose elaborate mystery plot left room for a powerful social message. Considering these two movies side-by-side, one can see how far the toon studio has come in recent years, and rather than judging them against one another (an exercise required only of Oscar voters), there's something to be celebrated in the way Zootopia advances the storytelling possibilities of animation."
-Variety
"Disney has set a high standard lately. Frozen defied its fairytale template by swerving into matters of sisterhood, Big Hero 6 pulled off a clever trans-Pacific cultural fusion, and this year's excellent Zootopia was both a snappy, original comedy and a valuable primer in identity politics. Moana never quite reaches these heights. Its cultural setting is fresh; its storytelling, less so. It navigates the reefs but it doesn't discover a whole new world."
Frozen is the most overrated animated movie from Disney, as are its songs. Moana is a much better movie, and the songs are way better too. That said, it's pretty obvious that thr Oscar is going to Zootopia this year.
Congratulations for finding all these reviews. As I said before, it doesn't really matter which one of the two will win. The award will go to the studio anyway.
Zootopia just picked up the Critics Choice Award last night to add to a growing list of major awards, and has so far won every singe major award and a few local critics awards. At this point Moana hasn't won anything that would make it stand out. It's pretty clear looking at the pattern what film will win and it isn't Moana.
I just didn't get anything from Zootopia, really. It wears what it's about on its sleeve and explicitly tells you about its themes so much that honestly, there's not all that much to talk about, other than "WOW CAN YOU BELIEVE DISNEY TALKED ABOUT THIS KINDA STUFF, WOW!!!"
Which always kinda annoys me, as if Disney has never dealt with mature topics before. Like their only frame of reference with statements like that are the Walt days of Snow White or whatever. But I digress..
Other than the "ZOMG risky plot" thing, I just don't have all that much to chew on when it comes the movie. Judy and Nick and the world/characters around them just aren't all that interesting enough to really have fun diving into. ESPECIALLY the side characters, wow are they one-note jokes. The sloths, the fat donut eating jaguar (that's also a borderline gay stereotype), the high Tommy Chong ox...just nothing. Heck, even the twist villain thing that's becoming a new Disney cliche in its own right is better with Moana (debatable with Wreck-It Ralph).
And quite frankly Zootopia has its own share of forced moments that people aren't letting Moana off the hook for, so there's that too that keeps me emotional distant from the former.
...wow, now that I'm laying it all out like that, I've found that I disliked Zootopia more than I thought.
I enjoy both movies myself equally. Though I like Kubo slightly more than both and felt it should win. But sadly its non-Disney status to the voters means that it won't.
I also really don't understand how half the people on here essentially treats Moana like crap by comparison to Zootopia, and felt it also isn't worthy of winning any future awards.