13 Awesome 2016 Movies That Deserve Best Picture (But Won't Get Nominated)
12. The Jungle Book
RottenTomatoes Score: 94% (7.7/10)
Why It Deserves Best Picture: Jon Favreau's spirited, visually gorgeous remake of the animated classic surpasses it in almost every way, delivering an unforgettable spectacle with jaw-droppingly lifelike CGI animals and excellent voice acting (especially from Bill Murray and Christopher Walken).
It is big-budget blockbuster filmmaking that aspires to art...and totally succeeds. A rarity.
Why It Won't Get Nominated: It's too populist and too CGI-fueled, not to mention a remake, which is pretty much Oscar poison (though it still didn't hurt The Departed).
There's the pronounced feeling that Oscar voters will view it as not robust and serious enough. It's too silly to get the big gong, because as frothy as something like The Artist was, it still had a serious theme underneath (the death of silent film) that Hollywood types could deeply relate to.