The Simpsons Movie and Beowulf and even Ratatouille, good as they are, can all pack up and go home, because Persepolis is totally gonna win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.
If the trailer’s any indication, this film will be as heartbreaking, illuminating, and hysterical beautiful as the autobiographical graphic novel (by Marjane Satrapi) on which it was based. Beyond that, it’s always encouraging to see animated films that reach for something that Shrek the Third can’t hope to grasp: art.
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I’m excited for [i]Persepolis[/i] and have no doubt it will be great, but I’d bet you $100 it won’t win the Oscar. I’m still bitter that [i]Waking Life[/i] wasn’t even nominated several years back. Smaller animated films just can’t compete with the Pixar/Dreamworks juggernaut.
I loved the book and can’t wait to see the movie! I will wait until then to give my vote to Persepolis or to the lovely Ratatouille
Its submitted for foreign film, so I bet that it wins best foreign film and leaves Ratatouille for best animated film. Kind of like the best screenwriter consolation prize for all the neato little films – Good will hunting, lost in translation, usual suspects, etc.
Forgot to add – the Triplets of Belleville was a really cool French animated film too, very stylish … but it had nothing on burkas and Iran and etc so no politically correct motivation there for academy voters.
i do not really understand all the hype. it’s not original, it’s not creative… it is simply a graphic novel on screen. the animation is pretty much a carbon copy of the pages of the graphic novel….. am i missing something?
Ratatouille is the best movie of the year, animated or not. I haven’t seen this movie yet but saying it deserves the Oscar based on one trailer because it has “serious” subject matter is pretty foolish.
foreign films do not win oscars for best animated feature unless your last name happens to be Miyazaki and you are backed up by a company named Disney. Either way, this trailer looks great and id like to see it.
I saw the trailer for this movie last weekend and read an interview with Marjane Satrapi and I am really looking forward to seeing it.
It’s a movie about Islamic Relations and it’s in French???? Whatever.
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It’s looking great, but how many Academy viewers will have seen a foreign black and white animation about Islam in time? I think we’re looking at Ratatouille for the win.
It was shown at my college during our film festival and most people hated it. They felt it was to preachy
The film looks great, but I take umbrage with it being advertised as “likely to win best animated picture.” Promoting the film with an eye toward Oscar is upsetting (yes, I know that’s the way things go these days) and diminishes the clear artistry on display.
I don’t know about the Best Animated Picture Oscar…but it certainly does look like a treat to watch. I’ll wait until I see it before I compare it to the stunning “Ratatouille”.
Death to graphic novels! Long live the comic book! VIVA LA COMIC!
Aggghhh. This drives me nuts. It makes me want to read the graphic novel, not go to the theatre. Yes, it has its place, but as a animated achievement? Give me a break. The topic is important and nothing wrong with doing it in B&W animation. But just because a topic is important and done in an “artsy” way, does not make it a greater achievement than Ratatouille or The Simpsons. It’s like we cave to “high culture” from Europe when it comes to giving honors. Enough! There were much better animated films released this year. Even so, I’ll go see it if they fix the subtitles. My eyes were tearing trying to read the gray over the black and white.
I have to agree with the Ratatouille fans on here. It is stunning and art, it’s just different in style and tone than this film and highly underrated. It’s also done huge box office outside the US, nearly doubling what it made here.
I agree that “Ratatouille” is the best movie of the year (and deserves a “Best Picture” nomination that it won’t get), so I have a hard time accepting Mr. Bernardin’s claim that it’s a shoo in to win animated feature based on a trailer and it’s critically-aclaimed source material.
Go Ratatouille!
WH, the academy has never caved to “high culture” when it comes to animated films. That’s kind of the point of this blog: even if Persepolis is the best movie, it won’t win best animated feature BECAUSE it’s perceived as too “high culture.”
Although, if you read the book, you’ll see that Persepolis is accessible to everyone. It’s not intimidating or pretentious in the least.
I loved the graphic novel, so I’m very much looking forward to this film. I agree with some of the comments about the technical proficiency of this movie not seeming to really match that of Pixar/Dreamworks, but I don’t think that animation quality is necessarily the only basis on which to judge animated films. I think it should be more about whether the movie is compellingly told through the medium of animation, in a way it couldn’t be in live-action. Also…Ratatouille wasn’t that great, sorry. Cute, yeah, but nowhere near as great as Cars. Also, would it kill Pixar to have a female lead character every once in a while?
I just saw Ratatouille this last weekend on DVD and was truly moved by it. Beyond the animation it just had such heart. I agree with those who say that it should receive a “Regular” Best Picture nomination, not just animated. Persepolis looks very interesting and I look forward to seeing it, but comparing it to Ratatouille is unfair to both of them. But I suppose that’s the story of the schizophrenic Academy Award logic every year.
On a more practical note, was I the only one who found it hard to read the white subtitles against a white background, especially when it whips by so quickly?
Why do we always have to view a movie’s artistic success through the lens of the box office (where economic profit is associated with quality) or the academy awards (a giant popularity contest that proves nothing except that “art” is completely subjective, and the idea of trying to catagorize films into “best [whatever]” is not just a waste of time but contradicts the very purpose of artistic expression). Art, by nature, is open to interpretation, so don’t deride Persepolis just because it deals with supposedly “serious” subject matter or threatens to rob Ratatouille of winning a shiny lump of metal. An oscar is only an opinion…it does not, in and of itself, determine whether a movie is good or bad or somewhere in between. That decision ultimately rests with the viewer. “Art for art’s sake,” anyone? I thought Ratatouille was great, and if Persepolis is anything like the graphic novel I’m sure it will be great too (of course, that’s just my opinion…)
I think its awards opportunities look very good–remember when Spirited Away won a few years ago?
My biggest question: When the voters vote for Best Animated Feature, how much are they taking into account the quality of the animation? If that plays even a small role, Ratatouille could take the trophy.
The trailer indicates the film is France’s submission for Best Foreign Film. I wonder if it can be nominated for both categories.
I really loved Ratatouille and will probably received the animation award but I want a Best Picture Nomination at least for Persepolis. Hopefully it will win foreign film but I really want to see it in the Big Race.
It looks pretty interesting, but am I the only one who found the white subtitles on black and white almost IMPOSSIBLE to read? I hope they will do something about this before it hits the theaters!
To: GingerCat
I admire your postings, but I believe you misinterpreted my rant. I didn’t say the Acadamy would give it best annimated picture. I said honors. I agree the Acadamy runs from art except when they feel it’ll make them look important. I’m just tired of Americans thinking their work isn’t as important as art from other countries. I do not find “high culture” to be, necessarily, intimidating or pretentious. Of course, artists should be free to express themselves, whether their work is popular or not. There is also entertainment that achieves art while being accessible and fun. And then there is art that looks important without any real substance. I’m not saying this movie is that; I haven’t seen it. But I dislike how we will seriously consider something from Europe to be more important than our own art. I’m not anti-EU. I have a European passport as well as US.
The film does indeed look neat, though the subtitles do look a bit hard to read from their choice of color. When a movie’s black and white, it’s not a good idea to use either for the subtitles’ color.