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The remaining three will, like the Foreign Language nominees, immediately put to the test the effect of opening up voting to the entire Academy. Before the rule change, I would have easily predicted Mr. Hublot for the win. The short tells the story of a peculiar man who lives in a highly mechanized society, and the loving relationship he develops with a stray dog made out of metal parts. The short immediately evokes a recent winner called The Lost Thing. It is emotional, well drawn, and “aww” inducing. The more emotional of the shorts has tended to win in past years in this category.

But it is not a runaway. My personal favorite was Room in the Broom, which has the largest cast of known actors as voice artists, including Best Supporting Actress nominee Sally Hawkins, and tells a sort of fairy-tale story of a witch who befriends quirky animals as she journeys through the world. Again, this short evokes a past nominee in this category, The Gruffalo, which ultimately was defeated by The Lost Thing. But, it is perhaps the funniest and “cutest” of the bunch, and with an open voting system it could appeal to more voters.

And last, but absolutely not least, is Disney’s entry, Get A Horse! Disney dominated this category at birth, winning 10 of the first 11 years. Then, after Walt Disney’s death in the 1960s, the studio all but disappeared from competition here for over 45 years. It was not until last year’s Paperman that Walt Disney Studios once more claimed an Oscar in the category, and it has a real chance of adding another one this year with Get A Horse!. The advantage for the short is clear: it played ahead of Frozen, and has the most recognized studio in front of it.

Honor system notwithstanding, I am sure that many members will not be able to resist voting for the short when they reach that race on their ballot. It is also the showiest of all the animation, transitioning seamlessly from old school black and white animation that first made Mickey Mouse famous, to sumptuous, 3D real-style animation. Its weak spot is that it essentially lacks a plot and is just a cartoon-type adventure. In the past, such entries rarely won over the emotions-driven and plot-laden shorts. But, given the popularity of Frozen, I’m currently predicting this to edge out Mr. Hublot - at least for the time being.

What’s your favorite of the shorts? You can likely check them out online or on demand, if not in theaters, and I highly recommend them as a way to gain exposure to a different narrative style than studio-driven feature length films. Join me next week when we will cover the British Oscars, the BAFTAs, and analyze how those awards will change the Oscar race as voting ballots finally go out to voting members on February 14th. I will also try to take a look at some of the Documentary races.

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