Film / News
Aardman bags yet another Oscar nomination with Robin Robin
Another year, another mountain of awards nominations for Bristol’s very own Aardman Animations. The studio’s latest contender is Robin Robin – a 30 minute short produced for Netflix and directed by its creators Dan Ojari and Mikey Please. Made available to stream just before Christmas, Aardman’s very first musical boasts a voice cast that includes Gillian Anderson and Richard E. Grant.
Reviews for this heart-warming festive yarn were universally positive, with the Independent enthusing that it is “rich and satisfying, with details that are truly exquisite”.
The gong-givers clearly agree, as it’s been nominated in the Best Animated Short Film category at the 94th Academy Awards. We’ll find out whether Aardman needs a bigger trophy cabinet when the winners are announced on March 27.
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This marks Aardman’s first Oscar nomination since, er, last year, when Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon was up for Best Animated Feature. By our (possibly flawed) calculations, Robin Robin is the twelfth Aardman film to be nominated for an Oscar. Previous wins have been Creature Comforts (1989), The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995) in the short film category. Aardman also won Best Animated Feature in 2006 with Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon: last year’s Aardman Oscar nominee
The studio’s other nominations in the short film category were A Grand Day Out (1989), Adam (1993), Wat’s Pig (1996), Humdrum (1998) and A Matter of Loaf and Death (2010). It’s perhaps worth noting that at the 1991 awards Nick Park’s A Grand Day Out was beaten by, er, Nick Park’s Creature Comforts.
In addition to Farmageddon, the studio’s previous Best Animated Feature nominations were The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (2013) and the Shaun the Sheep Movie (2016).
Curiously, Aardman’s most commercially successful film was overlooked by the Academy. Chicken Run still ranks as the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film in history, but received zero Oscar nominations. The animated fowl will have a second peck at Oscar glory next year, when sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is due for release.
Main pic: Aardman/Netflix
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