'Inside Out 2,' 'Wild Robot': Best Animated Feature Oscar contenders
The race for the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2025 is heating up, and Pixar's Inside Out 2 is at the forefront. The sequel to the Academy Award-winning original has struck a chord with audiences by centering anxiety as an important emotion for its lead, 13-year-old Riley. This chord has struck a $1.6 billion box office success—a new high for animated films. Here's a list of predictions for the 2025 Best Animated Feature Oscar.
'The Wild Robot' and other contenders challenge Pixar's dominance
Despite Inside Out 2's success, several other films are in contention for the coveted award. These include DreamWorks's The Wild Robot—a sci-fi adventure inspired by Peter Brown's illustrated book, and Memoir of a Snail, a touching stop-motion film that won at the Annecy festival. Other contenders include Flow (Ottawa festival winner), Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Aardman and Netflix), Ultraman: Rising, and The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.
Anticipated releases add to the Oscar race
The competition is only going to get fiercer with the release of highly-anticipated titles like Moana 2 and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. Other notable entries include Chicken for Linda, a hand-painted musical comedy from France and Italy; Look Back, adapted from a popular manga; The Colours Within, a unique twist on a musical journey; Pakistan's entry The Glassworker; and Piece by Piece, a documentary about musical star Pharrell Williams.
A closer look at the contenders' narratives
The Wild Robot narrates the tale of Roz, a robot (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o), who learns to coexist with local animals on a deserted island. Memoir of a Snail delves into loneliness through Gracie's letter to her favorite snail, Sylvia. Flow is a dialogue-free adventure of a black cat in a post-flood world, while Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl brings back Aardman's beloved characters in an interesting story of a rogue smart gnome.
Lesser-known films and sequels in the Oscar race
Ultraman: Rising—a passion project by Shannon Tindle—reimagines the classic character balancing parenthood and heroism. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie brings back Daffy Duck and Porky Pig in an adventure uncovering an alien plot. Moana 2 expands on the original story with Moana's quest to find the lost island of Motufetu. Transformers One offers a new origin story for Optimus Prime and Megatron, while Lord of the Rings delves into Helm Hammerhand's family struggles during war.
