Oscars 2014: 17 Unfair Snubs The Academy Got Completely Wrong

13. The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug €“ Best Production Design

Say what you will about The Hobbit as a piece of narrative, but it's a beautifully-crafted film from a Production Design standpoint, what with the sets and locations used to convincingly bring Tolkein's work to life. Its snubbing, then, was particularly surprising considering last year's Hobbit film received a nod, yet here it seems to have been pushed out by the futuristic stylings of Spike Jonze's Her. One could argue that perhaps the CGI overload of the films simply detracted from the physical set designs, but then Gravity employed a large amount of CGI also and wasn't subject to the same penalty. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about The Desolation of Smaug as a whole, but it certainly deserved to have its exuberant production design recognised. It'll be interesting to see what happens in this category next year, what with the final Hobbit film due out at the end of the year.