The Disney Times

Frozen has been considered a front-runner in the Animated Feature race at the upcoming Academy Awards even weeks before its release, as it began to build buzz among critics and audiences catching early screenings. Additionally, Get A Horse!, the attached Mickey Mouse short has been hailed as an inventive short for months, as it premiered at the Annecy Film Festival in June last year. Today, the two Disney Animation films, in addition to Saving Mr. Banks and The Lone Ranger nabbed several Oscar nominations for Disney. Scope out the nominees after the break!

Best Animated Feature Film:

• The Croods (Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco and Kristine Belson)
• Despicable Me 2 (Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin and Chris Meledandri)
• Ernest & Celestine (Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner)
• Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho)
• The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki)

Best Animated Short Film:

• Feral
• Get A Horse!
• Mr. Hublot
• Possessions
• Room on the Broom

Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Song):

• “Alone Yet Not Alone” from Alone Yet Not Alone (Music by Bruce Broughton, Lyric by Dennis Spiegel)
• “Happy” from Despicable Me 2 (Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams)
• “Let It Go” from Frozen (Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)
• “The Moon Song” from Her (Music by Karen O, Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze)
• “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Lyric by Paul Hewson)

Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Score):

• The Book Thief (John Williams)
• Gravity (Steven Price)
• Her (William Butler and Owen Pallett)
• Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)
• Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

• Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews)
• Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Stephen Prouty)
• The Lone Ranger (Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny)

Achievement in Visual Effects

• Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould)
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds)
• Iron Man 3 (Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick)
• The Lone Ranger (Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton)

Left out of the nominations is Emma Thompson, who has been lauded for her great performance as “Mary Poppins” author P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks. After the film was released, she was seen as one of the front-runners, but as awards races go, it seems like the momentum has shifted away from the actress. The film did pick up a nomination, for Thomas Newman‘s hummable score, which contained homages to classic Disney films and rides, as well as a heart-tugging original theme that brought it all together.

Frozen and Get A Horse! continue to be seen as the films to beat in their nominated categories. They are both great films from the recently reinvigorated Walt Disney Animation Studios. Although some may say that Tangled was the film that reintroduced the studio into the discussion of great animation houses, the groundwork for that arguably began with The Princess and the Frog, which was released after John Lasseter took over as Chief Creative Officer. Although he is not singularly responsible for the films coming out of the studio, he has certainly been a strong influence. Both films have earned the nominations and have a strong chance at walking away with the Oscars.

You can find out who wins when the Academy Awards are handed out on Sunday, March 2nd. View the complete list of nominees here.

UPDATE: Frozen directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, along with producer Peter del Vecho have released a statement, echoing their excitement for the nominations:

“Frozen’s journey has gone beyond our wildest dreams. We thank the Academy for this honor and look forward to celebrating the nominations with our crew at Disney Animation today.”

Get A Horse! director Lauren MacMullan producer Dorothy McKim have shared a statement as well:

“On behalf of the small but mighty crew of hand-drawn and CG artists from Get A Horse!, we want to express our deepest gratitude to the Academy for the nomination. We hoped the short would be seen as a love letter to Mickey, to Walt and to the magic of cinema, and have been overwhelmed by the response.”

Nominee statements via Cartoon Brew