10 Least Deserving Oscar Winners Ever

10. Avatar: Best Cinematography

By the rules of the Academy, a studio can submit a movie for animation nomination provided 75% or more of the film's run time is animated. By that logic, Fox really should've submitted James Cameron's Avatar as an animated feature. The film takes place in a world composed of CGI, where actors use motion-capture technology to become computed generated characters.

With this in mind, the feature's Best Cinematography win is highly debatable. The film's Best Visual Effects win was perfectly justifiable. Cameron spent years developing new filming techniques and cameras to create the film, providing a visual extravaganza unlike anything that had come before it.

The question remains, however, of why it bags cinematography when everything on screen was a digital creation. Nominees such as Inglourious Basterds and The White Ribbon were considerably more deserving of the award. Beautifully filmed in more traditional, less high tech, settings, these films embodied what the category is meant to acknowledge.

First time nominee Mauro Fiore was no doubt overjoyed by his victory. All the same, the film's win ultimately raised the question of what cinematography does and does not entail. A controversial win for a film that really didn't belong in the category to begin with.