Oscar Winner Predictions: Best Animated Feature

The competition: Anomalisa, Boy and the World, Inside Out, Shaun the Sheep Movie, and When Marnie Was There

Previous winners: Big Hero 6, Frozen, Brave, Rango, Toy Story 3, Up, Wall-E, Ratatouille, Happy Feet, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Spirited Away, Shrek
My winner: TBA
The facts: This category has existed since 2001. Pixar has won this award a staggering seven times out of nine nominations and contends this year for “Inside Out.” The Japanese Studio Ghibli has won once out of five tries, back in 2002 for “Spirited Away,” and now contends for “When Marnie Was There.” “Shaun the Sheep Movie” is the third stop-motion nominee from Aardman, which won in 2005 for “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.” “Boy and the World” and “When Marnie Was There” are the eleventh and twelfth foreign-language nominees in the history of this category. “Spirited Away” is the only one from that list that won. “Inside Out” co-director Pete Docter has been nominated twice before and won for “Up.” “When Marnie Was There” co-director Yoshiaki Nishimura was nominated last year for “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.” This is “Anaomlisa” co-director Charlie Kaufman’s first nomination in this category, but he has been nominated for three screenwriting Oscars and won once, for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” I’m pretty sure that “Anomalisa” is the second R-rated nominee in this category after “Chico and Rita.”

Who should win: “Inside Out” is definitely the best of this bunch.
Who will win: There is simply no way that Inside Out doesn’t take this.