Best Animated Film: 2007

[Sabin]

I had no idea Surf's Up was a mockumentary. It's less in the Christopher Guest mold and more a sendup of Riding with Giants. I spent the first five minutes or so giggling. Pretty soon, it settles into a Karate Kid mold as brash young Cody (Shia LeBoeuf) has to learn to become the best after a gnarly wipeout from exiled legend Z (Jeff Bridges). Both of these molds are enjoyable on their own; the latter is very familiar but it gains quite mileage from those two voice performances. There's also a bit more to admire in the animation than I'm used to seeing from Sony Pictures Animation. The Rockhopper Penguins look good. The water animation and effects used to carry the mockumentary format are fun. And you get the impression that the filmmakers are always looking for new ways to film the surfing to keep it interesting. But that's the problem. It's a bit stretched out even at 85 minutes. Surf's Up is a kiddie satire and we don't really care about Cody's father issues. We've seen it many times before. I'm also truly interested in whether or not kids got this film. Certainly, Chicken Joe is aimed at them.

I'm mixed on Surf's Up but it's probably as successful at what it's trying to do as it could pull off.

Both Persepolis or Ratatouille would be perfectly fine winners in my opinion but I'm going with Persepolis both for what it represents to the category (it's a rare adult film) and for its quality. It makes the case for more coming of age stories being told in this format. And what a gorgeous format it is! I savored every frame. I can't imagine Marjane Satrapi's story being told in any other fashion. It just speeds along, perfectly capturing the changing world around her as well as her leaps in personality. I also love it as a depiction of righteous indignation fading into world weariness that comes with the oldness that the still-young can feel. If I have one criticism it's that it doesn't quite end strongly. I was fairly surprised, had to rewind, and then look up on wikipedia to really grasp why it ended at that point. In that sense, it's an inverse of Ratatouille which ends on a high but I'd imagine most who claim to love the film forget that a major plot-point hangs on Linguini discovering his secret parentage.

My vote is Persepolis. Viewing it is reason enough to do this series of polls.

[Okri]

Surf's Up is about surfing penguins. Sure, why not? It's biggest achievement is that it makes surfing look cool. Yes, surfing rarely looks uncool, so damning with faint praise. It's short enough and it has a couple funny moments, so it's a slight bit better than "waste of time." It's got a couple of unexpectedly crass moments, which kept me a bit off-centre. Nothing special and maybe that's par for the course for current animation, but it got a couple points for it.

That said, it's leagues behind our other two candidates. I've mentioned before that I just can't get with Ratatouille's premise. But it's crafted with genuine warmth and wit. The voice cast is quite strong. The animation (particularly in the title sequence and immediate aftermath) is glorious. But then and now, I sided with Persepolis. The animation is exquisite and involving. The story is gratifyingly complex and moving.

[Big Magilla]

Persepolis.

[gunnar]

Surf's Up wasn't bad. I liked Ratatouile quite a bit. However, Persepolis is my choice here. I'd give it a slight edge over Ratatouille.

[Sabin]

Well, I'm not going to be able to vote in this one either. Not only have I not seen Surf's Up, I haven't seen Persepolis either which I've heard some describe it as one of the best nominees in this category. I've quite a bit of homework to do at this point.

Ratatouille was a very popular winner. It's hard to remember at this point but Ratatouille over-performed Finding Nemo and The Incredibles for most nominations for a PIXAR film to date, and tied with Aladdin for second most nominations for an animated film in history (behind Beauty and the Beast). It's hard to imagine it losing in this category and it was a generally popular winner.

Surf's Up was the fluke nominee in this category. It wasn't especially well-received or successful at the box office. It only brought home $58m domestic on a $100m budget. The safer bets in this category would have been Bee Movie or The Simpsons Movie, both of which were bigger hits but neither were especially beloved. Bee Movie has gone onto become a meme while The Simpsons Movie (while positively reviewed) was a TV adaptation for a series that had exited its zeitgeist over ten years prior. But in retrospect, Surf's Up shouldn't have been that surprising because it did rather well at the Annie Awards.

Other possibilities were Alvin and the Chipmunks (though partially live action), Beowulf (the second Zemeckis film to strike out), Meet the Robinsons (a cute though ugly film), Shrek the Third (the worst received of the franchise), Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (unquestionably the best choice and probably the least likely), Tekkonkinkreet (no idea what that is), and TMNT (a snazzily animated but unsatisfying feature).

I'll watch Persepolis and Surf's Up and respond.