The Hollywood Mainstream Establish Toadsuckers (aka., the HMETS) who hand out the Academy Awards (and, even though I rarely agree with them, I still love them for it because I love tacky award shows), have announced the 15 films that are eligible for this year’s Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Those films are:

“Alpha and Omega”
“Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”
“Despicable Me”
“The Dreams of Jinsha”
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Idiots and Angels”
“The Illusionist”
“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”
“Megamind”
“My Dog Tulip”
“Shrek Forever After”
“Summer Wars”
“Tangled”
“Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue”
“Toy Story 3”

A few things to note:

In order to be nominated, the eligible films (which, apparently, are submitted for official consideration by their studios) must play in Los Angeles by the end of the year.  So far, Tangled, The Illusionist, Summer Wars, and The Dreams of Jinsha have yet to open.  Don’t get me wrong.  They all will open but until they actually do, they’re only theoretically eligible to be nominated.

Number two, Toy Story 3 and How To Train You Dragon aside, it’s been kind of a crappy year for animated films, hasn’t it?  What the Hell is My Dog Tulip?

Number three, I should give credit for most of this information to the Awards Daily web site.  It’s a good site for tracking the Oscar race but it’s a terrible site if you’re interested in anything beyond a middle class, mainstream perspective on film.  It’s the type of site where Roger Ebert’s word is God and William Goldman is quoted without a hint of irony.  Just from a critical perspective, I like to think of Through The Shattered Lens as being the anti-Awards Daily. 

Number Four, under Academy rules, there will only be three nominees for Best Animated Feature.  (If 15 films are eligible, the Academy can nominate up to 3 films.  If more than 15 are eligible, the Academy can nominate 5.)  Since Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon would appear to be locks, that only leaves one space open.  My personal choice for that slot would be A Town Called Panic — oh, wait!  It’s not eligibile!  Bleh.

Okay, then out of the eligible films, I personally would give the third nomination to Megamind and the actual Oscar to Toy Story 3.