VFX ShortList?

Anything about this handicapping that bothers you?

We break down seven films that will duke it out for VFX gold this awards season.



With the VFX Oscar shortlist coming in the next week, I predict the race will come down to seven contenders: "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," "Interstellar," "Guardians of the Galaxy," "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," "Godzilla," "Transformers: Age of Extinction," and "Maleficent." ...

So here's what grates at me.



Nowhere is How To Train Your Dragon 2 mentioned, nor Big Hero 6. Nor Frozen or Croods or any other CG animated feature of the last dozen years. Kind of stupid, to my mind. Because what is the output of DreamWorks, Pixar, Disney or Blue Sky Studios other than an 87-minute long visual effect?



Somebody needs to explain why reindeer, flying dragons and talking snow men are excluded. But not ...

Andy Serkis' amazing Caesar (Hey everybody! The mo cap performer is a visual effects artist!)Marvel's "Guardians" (You can be a talking raccoon in a partial live-action movie, but not an animated feature)



The first CG "Godzilla" (I guess you can be a big dinosaur and get nominated ... as long as Bryan Cranston is on-screen)

Since modern visual effects are indistinguishable from CG effects/characters in modern animated features, let's tear down the barriers and nominate the latter in the Academy's visual effects category. End the pointless and idiotic segregation that makes animated movies second-tier art forms.