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Certainly, any animated movie can suffer from poor vocal performances; the majority of films from DreamWorks Animation have had this fate fall upon them. Though people have lauded Eddie Murphy (and correctly, I might add) for his performance as the donkey in the Shrek movies, did anyone really enjoy the vocal performances in Shark Tale? What about Madagascar or its sequel? Of course not. I don't mean to come off as being anti-DreamWorks Animation (I love the first Shrek film, and enjoyed Kung Fu Panda), but the movies they make are meant to feature big-name celebrities. Whatever you think about Pixar, it's hard to say that Craig T. Nelson, Patton Oswalt, Ed Asner, or Albert Brooks are big-name celebrities. With the exception of the Toy Story movies and Cars, Pixar has strictly avoided the limelight, looking for the right actors.

That said, the entire Best Animated Feature category is impressive this year, not only for its diversity in animation style, but for the diversity in topic, tone, and quality. As I've mentioned, I have not seen The Secret of Kells - and, I can say with 99% certainty that you haven't either - but I intend to. The fact that it knocked out more well-known movies such as Ponyo or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and that it did so with the most bare-bones of campaigns, intrigues me. The other four nominees are all great movies to varying degrees. Coraline shows up here, in what could be considered a bit of a surprise, if only because the movie opened nearly a full year ago. Sure, Up was released last May, but it also made nearly $300 million; Coraline, while not a bad box-office performer, couldn't boast such numbers.

Of those four nominees, all stand out because they all appeal to different audiences. In fact, I'd be willing to say that only one of these movies - The Princess and the Frog - is a film that children, almost more than adults, could enjoy. Up, not just because of its first 15 minutes, is a movie that adults would understand and appreciate. Coraline is a movie that wouldn't be truly resonant with children, as the kind of angst and cynicism the title character evokes isn't usually present in eight-year olds. Fantastic Mr. Fox...well, as much as I was entertained by the movie, the best way to sum it up (perhaps a little too easily, but it's still appropriate) is that it's a Wes Anderson movie in stop-motion animation. How many little kids love Wes Anderson movies?

So, we're left with The Princess and the Frog, a movie that I unabashedly loved, if only because it made me hearken back to my childhood. One of the first movies I remember seeing is The Little Mermaid, which was released in 1989, and was the first animated feature to bring back a new golden age of Disney animation. That was followed by Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Those four films are easily and rightly as beloved as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, or Cinderella, not just for being newer, but for being as timeless. Though each of the films (Aladdin being the most obvious offender) throws in a few jokes for the adults in the audience, their messages and characters are instantly memorable.

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