Animated Features

The third installment of the delightful How to Train Your Dragon series is the most touching of the trilogy.  Our heroes Hiccup and his dragon (Toothless) discover that Toothless may not be the last and only dragon of his kind.  He meets another "Night Fury" who they call a light fury.  Hiccup is trying to create a dragon utopia and he learns of a myth that such a place exists.  Meanwhile, the evil and infamous dragon hunter Grimmel is capturing Hiccup's community's dragon pets, and Hiccup must defend and set free those who have been captured and lead them to the safety of the Hidden World.  A truly delightful film.

A severed hand in a lab opens the film - it is trying to escape to find its owner.  Yep, this one starts off weird.  As the movie unfolds, we discover our main character, Naoufel, who is not living his best life.  He meets a girl, Gabrielle, and becomes infatuated with her spunky personality.  He follows her to see what her life is like and ends up on an entirely new life path, thanks to Gabrielle's father, who take Naoufel in as an apprentice.  It's a bit of a strange beginning, but the complexities of choices and relationships ultimately lead us to a place where we understand what happened to the hand, and why it is so important.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER OF THE HIDDEN GEM AWARD! (The Hidden Gem is awarded to a film that I'd never heard of before it was nominated and turns out to be one of my favorites of the Oscars season.)

Klaus is a funny, fantastic movie.  Jesper is a spoiled rich kid whose father has had enough of his laziness and shenanigans.  He is sent to the outer reaches of the country, Smeerensburg, where he must complete the task of having the post office he is sent to run process 6000 letters in one year.  Pretty tricky for a town where two families hate each other and live in a constant state of readiness to murder the other half of the town.  Jesper discovers Klaus who lives at the edge of the town and has made and hoarded presents for children in his home.  Over time, Jesper works with Klaus to secretly deliver presents to the children of the town, and rumors spread among the children as to how one might be selected to receive a present.  Each new rumor constructs the story of Santa Klaus.  This film was clever and adorable, and I just loved it.

Sir Lionel Frost can't get the community of explorers and adventurers to believe in his greatness.  As he seeks to prove his theories, he meets Mr. Link, the "missing link" mammal who simply wants to discover his own roots.  In fact, Mr. Link has recruited Frost to help him on his quest, and the two are joined on their adventure by Adelina Fortnight, another dazzling explorer.  I enjoyed the film, though it would rank 5th among the nominees.

The final (?) installment of Woody and Buzz Lightyear, joined by all of their old pals and even some new ones.  Forky has come home with their child - a toy who thinks he is trash (because he is made of a plastic fork and pipe cleaners) and keeps trying to throw himself away.  Woody is not having it and tries to teach Forky how valuable a lovable toy can be to a child.  While he is helping Forky, Woody comes across an old friend who had been given away and landed in a Thrift Shop, where he discovers that not every toy has good intentions, and that some hurts need healing in order to get out of life what every toy wants - to be loved.

In addition to the Animated Feature nomination, Randy Newman is nominated for his 22nd Oscar (PS, this is not the first time that Randy Newman has been nominated for two Oscars in the same year for 2 different movies!  Remember, he is also nominated for Original Score for Marriage Story this year), in this film, his work is nominated for Original Song, "I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away."  I don't think he will win this year (he has won 2 Oscars), but this is an adorable song which you can listen to here: