At this year’s 94th Academy Awards Ceremony Disney’s 60th animated feature film, Encanto, won the warred for “Best Animated Feature”. Many people celebrating and cheering while dancing to We Don’t Talk About Bruno played the in the background. But there was another film that was nominated that a number of people think deserved the award more.

2021’s The Mitchells vs. The Machines was an animated film by SONY’s Animation division SPA, the same company that brought us Open Season, Hotel Transylvania, Cloudy with a Change of Meatballs, The Angry Birds Movie, and perhaps regrettably The Emoji Movie. But they also made the fan favorite Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.



The Mitchells vs. The Machines was originally meant to release theatrically but due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the film instead went straight to Netflix. The film became very popular when it released, a film about a collage age girl growing distant from her family while robots, with a goal of taking over the world, forces them to work together and eventually reconnect.

When Disney’s Encanto won a large number of online fans began expressing their frustration:

OK IM SORRY BUT THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES WAS ROBBED. pic.twitter.com/FFaRB8g5jc

— Chris DeRose (@ScratchyDerose) March 28, 2022

As much as I loved Encanto, Mitchells vs. The Machines deserved better
But then again, awards do not define a films worth or value https://t.co/ig9UrKWJeW

— +R0ACH+ (@D3VILMVTT) March 28, 2022

THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES WAS ROBBED >:( pic.twitter.com/6A12XY0gmm

— matt murdock enjoyer. (@seth_bingo) March 28, 2022

Encanto I’m going to let you finish but The Mitchells vs The Machines deserved this award https://t.co/bTJr1nqpHa pic.twitter.com/LNfYWklJsW

— Hannah 🦇 (@rejectedhannah) March 28, 2022

I really liked Encanto, but honestly The Mitchells Vs The Machines should’ve won Best Animated Feature. pic.twitter.com/lqzgnQ0w3O

— EquesTron (@EquesTr0n) March 28, 2022

My theory that Disney pays the Academy for there animated films to constantly win just becomes more and more probable. Mitchell's vs the Machines was ROBBED.#TheOscars2022 pic.twitter.com/aqKklCSLK1

— Cryptis Fame FIGHT FOR 🇺🇦 (@CryptisF) March 28, 2022

Even the official The Mitchells vs. The Machines twitter account posted their reaction. Though they did say it was joke:

Summon the elder (Disclaimer ⚠️: This is a joke) pic.twitter.com/McrlMxPISo

— The Mitchells vs. The Machines (@MitchellsMovie) March 28, 2022

Disney had three of the five nominee slots for Best Animated Feature for this year. The other two being Luca from Pixar and Raya and the Last Dragon. 

For the 20 years this award has been around, both Disney and Pixar have won 15 of them. 16 if you count 2002 with Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away as they acted as the film’s distributor. Many films like 2019’s Klaus or 2017’s Loving Vincent or 2014’s How To Train Your Dragon 2 all lost out to Disney. Remember when people were upset that 2014’s The Lego Movie wasn’t even nominated?

This does bring up an interesting debate as Disney always seems to win this award outside of a few outings. You can argue that the reason Rango won in 2011 was because no Disney films were nominated. Which is a shame because that year’s Winnie the Pooh was a good film. But then again they did release Mars Needs Moms and Pixar released Cars 2.

Perhaps there is some favoritism towards Disney animation at The Oscars as when you think animation the first thing that often comes to mind are Disney films. Even some of the hosts at the Oscars admitted they only knew about Encanto:

Seriously, they had the #Oscars hosts go out there tonight and say "Animation is something kids enjoy, and Adults have to endure", and Schumer say "The only one I've seen is Encanto because of my kid"

It's every year, and the disrespect needs to stop. It's a medium. RESPECT IT. pic.twitter.com/2JbkiACSCj

— TRAFON(s Backup Account) (@RiseFallNickBck) March 28, 2022

What do you think? Do you believe The Mitchells vs. The Machines should have won? Is there favoritism towards Disney movies at The Oscars?

Source: We Got This Covered