10 Animated Movies That Should Have Won The Oscar For Best Animation (But Didn't Because The Award Didn't Exist Yet)

10. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

The image of Jack Skellington has come to be one of the most recognisable in both the Halloween and Christmas season, which is quite a feat whichever way you slice it. The motivation for this misunderstood and genuinely loveable creature is that he is simply bored with his line of work and wants a change.

His subsequent invasion of Christmas Land and impersonation of Santa, though very naughty, comes from the right place and in the end, he falls in love with the re-animated scarecrow thing called Sally. Who can honestly say they don't want that in their own lives?

For a film that is entirely off the wall and totally peculiar, it is such a wonderful affair, and in the years since its release, it has become beloved the world over. It was financially successful at the time and did garner a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars, which was a first for an animated movie.

Tim Burton's mind is a strange place. However, that makes this film what it is. It holds universal themes in life, such as the yearning to be different, and the pain of unnoticed love. Not bad for a pseudo-Halloween movie.

Looking back, it would have walked away with a win for Best Animated Feature since there was nothing that was quite like it, and it helped show us all that western animation wasn't just for children.