I think it’s not hard to believe that Pixar is the best overall animation studio and has been the bar that everyone hopes to hit ever since their first film back in 1995. Last year they released the final film in the Toy Story trilogy and even though it’s definitely still up there with the rest of Pixar’s immediate classics I just don’t think it’s the best animated film of the year.

The Golden Globes introduced the Best Animated Feature Film in 2006 and the Academy Awards introduced the Best Animated Feature award in 2001. Of the six years where a Pixar film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards four times their film won the award. Last night Toy Story 3 beat How to Train Your Dragon and Tangled to take the award for the fifth year running at the Golden Globes. Which begs to question: can Pixar be beat?

I’m quite possibly one of the biggest Pixar fans that happens to be over the age of 10, but honestly I don’t think they made the best animated film this year and somehow I doubt the Academy will have the balls to admit it. Between How To Train Your Dragon and Tangled they’ve got Pixar beat this year without a problem. This year the only thing that Pixar’s Toy Story 3 had going for it is that it was a continuation of a beloved franchise. The film was very off structurally and even though it had all the makings of a great movie there are other movies which worked better as an animated movie this year.

So I guess the question is why is Pixar the automatic choice? I know it’s a successful studio and has the fanbase that when they win no one will be complaining. It’s definitely the safe choice for anyone to just say that Pixar’s movie is the best of the year, regardless of what the movie is.

Last year there was a lot of commentary on the internet for Fantastic Mr. Fox to win the Best Animated Award.  Even though I was not a part of the crowd I honestly wouldn’t have been angry if it had happened. What makes Pixar so critically lauded is that even though it makes films that children can enjoy it also finds a way to tailor their films to the adults who are not only taking their children to the movie, but also voting for all these awards. Fantastic Mr. Fox was definitely a movie made for adults and not children which is something that always confused me. Is an animated movie less of a film if it’s not made for children? I personally don’t think so but I guess we need to have kiddies jumping for joy or it isn’t a real animated movie. Animation isn’t just for children.

I really don’t see how Pixar won’t win this award this year, but honestly I don’t want them to. Tangled is my favourite animated film this year, and How to Train Your Dragon is also far better than Toy Story 3; but I guess it’s always best to keep it safe and just admit that TS3 is the best of the year and then no angry internet trolls will pop from under the bridge to anger me.

Does Toy Story 3 deserve the BEST ANIMATED AWARD of the year?