Disney is a big name inanimation, so it makes sense that Disney’s animated films often win accolades during award season. However, there are plenty of animated films from other studios that might have lost to Disney at the award show, but still might have left enough of an impression on audiences that people have to wonder why.
Some animated films were lucky enough to get nominated, but ultimately lost to Disney in the final showdown. Others weren’t even lucky enough to be nominated, leaving fans to wonder why it’s so hard for their favorite film to get the credit it deserves.
10Anastasia (1997)
Anastasiais an animated film directed by Don Bluth from Fox Family Films and Fox Animation Studios. Loosely a remake of the 1956 Ingrid Bergman film of the same name, Anastasia takes place in an alternate version of history, where the young Grand Duchess Anastasia survived the death of the Romanov family. An amnesiac orphan known as “Anya” gets involved with a con to pass herself off as the missing royal. Little do the swindlers know that they have the genuine article on their hands. Along the way, Rasputin has risen from the grave to destroy the last surviving Romanov.
Ironically, over the years,Anastasiahas often been mistaken for a Disney animated film. Interestingly, thanks to Disney’s purchase of Fox,Anastasiais now owned by Disney. Many viewers thought thatAnastasia, as well as Don Bluth’s earlierThumbelina, had previously been an attempt to replicatethe Disney formula.
9The LEGO Movie (2014)
The LEGO Movietakes place in a universe filled with minifigs that come to life. The villainous Lord Business has gotten his hands on a powerful weapon, the “Kragle,” or “Krazy Glue.” However, a hero known as “the Special” is destined to save the day. Everyman Emmet Brickowski finds himself mistaken for the Special when he comes into the possession of the “Piece of Resistance,” or a glue cap, that can stop the “Kragle.”
The LEGO Moviewas one of the biggest films in 2014 and was expected to at least get nominated for Best Animated Feature. However, its only nomination was for Best Song, thanks to the popular “Everything is Awesome.” even getting a performance for the 2015 Oscars. At the time, critics suspected that the Academy gave preference to animated films with more traditional stories and films from studios that previously won Oscars.
8ParaNorman
ParaNormanstars Norman, a local outcast in his town who can see ghosts. Unfortunately, no one believes him, preferring to think he’s just trying to get attention. However, people might start believing when the dead start rising from their graves, summoned by a long-dead witch that had been executed by the town. However, things aren’t what they appear. Likewise, the “witch” had more in common with Norman than he thinks: she was just an innocent little girl who also had the power to see ghosts. Soon, Norman might see history repeat itself with another “witch trial.”
ParaNormanwas nominated at the 2012 Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature, but ultimately lost toBrave, which also beat outWreck-It Ralph.
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7Persepolis (2007)
Persepolisis an autobiographical, animated film adapting the graphic novel of the same name, based on the life of Marjane Satrapi. Marjane shares her ownreal-life coming-of-age storyset during the Iranian Revolution. After being expelled from school, Marjane is sent to Europe by her parents. Marjane returns to Iran as she reaches her late teens and sees how her homeland has changed in the interim.
Persepoliswas nominated for the 2007 Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. However, it lost to Disney and Pixar’sRatatouille. At the time, some critics suspected thatPersepolislost because of its mature themes, thanks in part to animation’s reputation of being for children.
6Song of the Sea (2014)
Song of the Seais a Cartoon Saloon film, serving as something of a follow-up toThe Secret of Kells, and is based around the “selkie” legend. A woman, Bronagh, disappears under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind her husband and two children, Ben and Saoirse. Years later, Ben has grown to resent his sister, believing she is somehow connected to their mother’s disappearance. Believing it would be in their best interest, the children’s grandmother wants to move them to the mainland. When Ben plots an escape around Halloween, it comes to light that Saoirse is a selkie, a being who can transform back and forth between a human and a seal.
Song of the Seawas nominated for the Best Animated Feature in 2014, only to lose against Disney’sBig Hero 6. In the competition that year wasThe Boxtrolls,The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, andHow To Train Your Dragon 2.
5Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Foxisa stop-motion animated filmfrom director Wes Anderson based on the eponymous Roald Dahl book. Mr. Fox is a thief-turned-family man who longs for his chicken-snatching days. All the ennui drives Mr. Fox to get his friends together for one last heist. Unfortunately, this spurs local farmers to increase their fox-hunting measures, literally driving Mr. Fox and his friends and family underground.
Fantastic Mr. Foxwas nominated for the 2009 Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. However, it ultimately lost to Disney and Pixar’sUp, which also beat out another Disney production,The Princess and the Frog. Other nominations includedCoralineandThe Secret of the Kells.
Related:The 10 Most Over-the-Top Animated Movies of All Time, Ranked
4Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
Howl’s Moving Castleis a 2004 animated film loosely based on the Diana Wynne Jones novel of the same name. Sophie is a young hatmaker living in a parallel world bond by fairy tale traditions, during her world’s version of World War I. One day, Sophie encounters the dashing but mysterious wizard Howl. Soon after, the Witch of the Waste curses her into becoming an old woman. Making the best of the situation, Sophie runs awayto Howl’s titular castle, getting a job as its housekeeper. As Sophie tries to break the spell, however, the forces of war rage in the background.
Howl’s Moving Castlewas nominated at the 2005 Oscars for Best Animated Feature. While it didn’t win, it didn’t lose to Disney, as a Disney film wasn’t nominated that year. The winner that year wasWallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.Howl’s Moving Castlewas thesecond Hayao Miyazaki filmto be nominated. The first, Spirited Away, actually won in 2002.
3Wolfwalkers (2020)
Wolfwalkersis a Cartoon Saloon film that focuses on Robyn Goodfellowe, an apprentice hunter who travels to Ireland with her father to fight against a feared pack of wolves. While there, Robyn’s falcon Merlyn is injured and healed by a mysterious girl, Mebh, who claims to be a “wolfwalker.” People of Mebh’s tribe have the power to leave their bodies as spirits and transform into wolves. Robyn befriends Mebh and gets caught up in a search for her lost mother.
Wolfwalkerswas nominated for the 2020 Best Animated Feature, but Soul ended up winning the Oscar. Other films in consideration wereOnward,Over the Moon, andA Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon. It was Cartoon Saloon’s third film in the “Irish Folklore Trilogy,” afterThe Secret of KellsandSong of the Sea. As all three films were nominated for Best Animated Feature in their respective years, this makes the franchise the most-nominated trilogy not to win.
2The Mitchells Vs. The Machines (2021)
The Mitchells vs. the Machinesis a computer-animated science-fiction film from Sony Pictures Animation. Katie Mitchell is excited about starting college. However, before she starts this new chapter in her life, Katie’s father Rick decides to cancel her flight and make the drop-off a road trip for the whole family, hoping to reconnect with his daughter. Unfortunately, along the way, the family gets caught up in a machine uprising. However, this mechanical attack might just be the team-building exercise the family needed.
The Mitchells Vs. The Machineswas a contender in the 2021 nominations for Best Animated Feature. However, it ultimately lost toEncanto, which also received nominations for Best Original Score and Best Original Song.
1Klaus (2019)
Klausis a Spanish-American animated film meant for the Christmas season, offering an interesting new origin for Santa. Lazy postal student Jesper Johanssen gets shipped off to a North Pole town, where he must deliver six thousand letters. If he fails, Jesper risks losing his inheritance. In his new surroundings, Jesper encounters Klaus, a woodsy loner with an untapped talent for crafting toys. Soon, the two join forces to deliver toys to local children.
Klauswas nominated for the 2019 Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. In particular,Klausbecame famous forits traditional animation, which was designed to look like it was three-dimensional, especially in an age when critics felt the animation was dominated by CGI. However, it ultimately lost toToy Story 4. Other films nominated includedMissing Link,I Lost My Body, andHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
