12 Awesome 2014 Movies That Deserve Best Picture (But Won't Get Nominated)

6. The Lego Movie

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96% (8.1 average) Why It Deserves Best Picture: Here's a movie that could so easily have been a total train-wreck, but guided by the sure hands of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, The Lego Movie turned out to be a whip-smart, uproariously funny Lego commercial that somehow didn't feel like it. As a tribute to human creativity, while also boasting gorgeous animation and a hilarious, pop culture-driven script, The Lego Movie is one of the year's most intelligent and surprisingly heartfelt films. It took what could have been a cynical movie made entirely to shift more coloured bricks, and made of it a charming, highly imaginative animation. Why It Won't Get Nominated: Because it will likely win Best Animated Feature, and that will be the movie's Oscar glory. Only three animated films in history have ever been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar (Beauty and the Beast, Up and Toy Story 3), and The Lego Movie, with its slew of pop-culture references that will likely irritate or fly over the heads of 70-year-old Oscar voters, simply won't break that trend. Though sure to be superior to at least half of the films that end up being nominated, it's just a sad fact that most Oscar voters struggle to take animation seriously.