4. Renaissance (2006)
There has never been a movie nominated for Animated Feature Film with a rating higher than PG-13/12A. "Renaissance" was slapped with an R-rating in the United States while in the United Kingdom got the 15 rating. I had never seen advanced animation like this before, and I haven't since. Aside from a character drawing illustrations with crayons, the rest of the film is in black & white. Literally. There is no gray. Transparent items like car windshields and screen monitors may appear gray to indicate there's something there but isn't completely obscuring someone's view. But things that are normally gray or can be gray (shadow, smoke) are black. Set in a dystopian Paris, France ("Paris 2054" is the film's subtitle), the black & white picture could be considered redundant in terms of the film's darkness. There are two versions of "Renaissance," an English version and a French version. Since English is more widely spoken on this planet than French, here's a synopsis of the English version (the language barrier is the only difference). Karas, voiced by Daniel Craig, is a police captain who leads the investigation of the abduction of Ilona Tasuiev (Romola Garai), a 22-year-old researcher for the corporation Avalon. She's a top-notch protege who has been working on "improving everyone's quality of life." With an attitude that lets him disregard authority, Karas never loses focus or commitment. Other big names include Jonathan Pryce, who voices Avalon's vice president Paul Dellenbach, and Ian Holm as Dr. Jonas Muller, a former scientist who knows Ilona from Avalon. The Animated Feature Film category only had three nominations that year. "Renaissance" shouldn't disturb the other nominees.