Oscars 2021 Review: 8 Ups & 8 Downs

7. Best Animated Feature Film: Soul Beats Wolfwalkers

Academy members generally voted along incredibly predictable lines this year, and though for the most part that wasn't an issue given the fine work they rewarded, it was a shame to see voters playing things so safe and unadventurous away from the "major" film categories.

Best Animated Film, for instance, predictably went to Pixar's Soul, which has effortlessly steamrolled its way to the Oscar podium despite the arguably superior - and broadly better-reviewed - Wolfwalkers being ripe for the win.

If interviews with anonymous Oscar voters in recent years have proven anything, it's that many voters don't even bother watching the five animated nominees and will generally just defer to the Pixar movie rather than abstaining.

That's not to say Soul isn't a great film, but the Pixar win feels so depressingly foregone almost every single year because many Oscar voters are too lazy to do the actual leg-work.