“Cars” gets bypassed at Oscars

The hit Disney-Pixar movie “Cars” was bypassed for any Academy Awards victories on Sunday night, falling short in both the Best Animated Feature and Best Song categories.

And you can blame it on global warming. But more on that later.

“Cars” was favored to win Best Animated Feature, but “Happy Feet” scored a mild upset. After “Cars” scored a Golden Globe in that category, I initially figured it would be a lock for the Oscar.

But in recent weeks, I noticed momentum seemed to be swinging in “Happy Feet’s” direction. I suspected something was up when Entertainment Weekly picked “Happy Feet” for the Oscar in an online contest.

For Best Song, the winner wasn’t James Taylor‘s performance of “Our Town” from “Cars.” Nor was it one of the three nominees from “Dreamgirls.” The one who walked away with the statuette was Melissa Etheridge for her performance of “I Need to Wake Up” in the Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

So what’s global warming have to do with this? Everything.

In recent months, the issue has been near the forefront of the media and watercooler discussions. And that issue no doubt was on the minds of Academy voters.

That’s why “Happy Feet,” which had a strong environmental message in its ending, edged “Cars” for Animated Feature. That’s why Etheridge’s tune, which was tied to the global-warming documentary, beat “Our Town” and songs from a Tony-winning musical.

Perhaps Academy voters thought it was someone else’s turn besides Pixar to win  Oscars for animation. Perhaps Etheridge gained sympathy votes after her recent bout with cancer. And I’m sure a few people (including myself) thought “I Need to Wake Up” was one of the best songs of her long career.

But, in the end, the global warming issue was stacked against the fossil-fuel-burning characters of “Cars.” They didn’t call Sunday night “the Green Oscars” for nothing.

I felt only mild disappointment that “Cars” went home empty-handed. I would have been crushed if the movie had been a flop when it was released back in June. With $400 million in grosses and millions more in toy and product licensing, “Cars” is anything but a failure. An Academy Award or two would have been gravy.

I don’t begrudge the global warming issue, either. For years, I’ve taken steps to reduce my energy consumption with compact fluorescent light bulbs, Energy Star appliances and fuel-efficient vehicles.

With Route 66, you can have the best of both worlds. You can cruise the Mother Road in a hybrid vehicle. With the historic highway’s lower speed limits, you conserve even more fuel. And buying from mom-and-pop businesses along the road keeps more money within the community instead of sending it to distant, often-wasteful big boxes.

Route 66ers are known as preservationists. And I count the Earth as a worthwhile preservation project, too.

8 thoughts on ““Cars” gets bypassed at Oscars

  1. I agree with you thoughtful assessment of the Oscar ceremony and the surprises for the residents of Radiator Springs, which of course includes me, the town’s Sheriff.

    Although another award would have been nice, we are all warmed by the “go Green” trend. Also as you point out, it is good to spread the wealth with some of the other animators and studios.

    Here’s a hearty cheer for penguins, cars, and open roads!

    regards to all,
    The Sheriff
    aka Michael Wallis

  2. Bravo for your conservation efforts. Without straying too far off topic, another way everyone could help reduce our addiction to oil is simply to change our cars’ oil less often. The oil industry’s “Every 3 months or 3,000 miles” chant is a complete waste of resources (both $$$ and oil). Conventional motor oils these days can go 5,000 miles without catostrophic engine failures. Synthetic lubes can give a motorist upwards of 10,000 miles without problems. However, with just about every other issue in the world that involves a change in attitude, those who are brainwashed with the 3 month/3,000 mile routine will need time to “get it”.

  3. Cars was easily the best animation movie of the year! Here in europe we are plagued by green politicians who have no sense of reality! At the end of the day it is the people’s decision that counts and the box office and Cars two recent awards in your country plus public opinion over here is proof that Cars is the best animation movie! No doubt these decision makers left their meeting in their cars!!!!

  4. We are plagued by green-motivated politicians here, too, but their delusional and irresponsible behavior stems from their obsession with a different shade of green: the color of money.

    Greed, not “green,” is the real plague here. Short-sighted behavior by people who are too selfish to endure a minor inconvenience here and there for the greater good is a plague on the planet — and, IMHO, an embarrassment to our species.

    I was very disappointed that Cars didn’t win an Oscar. But if the price of environmental awareness is one little gold trophy landing on Animal Logic’s shelf instead of Pixar’s … well, speaking as someone who is still trying to recover from vocal cord damage that appeared after a year in an apartment half a mile from an oil refinery, I consider that a fair trade.

    Besides all that, the more I’m reading about Happy Feet, the more I’m thinking that I can’t get too wound up about an award being handed out to a film that’s basically a tap-dancing version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull with a PSA for conservation tossed in. Was it as gracefully rendered as Cars’ pro-mom-and-pop message? Don’t know. Haven’t seen it. But I probably will, now that the initial disappointment has worn off. I’m sure at least two of the road’s citizens — Tripper and Bob Waldmire — would approve.

  5. I agree with your comments. We need alternative fuels for transport.I wish some so called environmental politicians would be a good example to us but they are not! John Prescott who is high up in the Tony Blair government wants us to use alternative transport but he has 2 chauffeur driven Jags! The Welsh countryside may lose some of its natural forests so innofficiant wind farms may be built! wind energy is good but would be better out at sea.
    Changing the subject completely, Route 66 news is the best site on the net! I read it every night I’m a big fan of all those old road movies!

  6. Swapping trees for wind turbines seems like a well-intentioned but not tremendously well-thought-out approach. Hope they can sort that out and accomplish the goal of clean energy without sacrificing the forests in the process.

    Next question: Does Prescott have carbon offsets for his Jags?

    There was a little flap over here about the outrageous power consumption at Al Gore’s mansion, but of course the people reporting on Gore’s electric bills conveniently overlooked some critical facts:

    1. It’s his family homestead. He didn’t just go out and build some gigantic house to live in. The house was already there, and if he didn’t live in it, someone else (probably someone less responsible) would.
    2. Historic properties are not exactly known for energy efficiency. The building was constructed long before anybody ever heard of the greenhouse effect.
    3. Gore has installed solar panels and taken other steps to offset the overall power consumption, so the house probably uses less non-renewable energy than it would if someone less socially conscious lived there.
    4. Unlike most people, Gore participates in a carbon-offset program to try to cancel out the environmental impact of his home’s power consumption.

    If Prescott hasn’t done so already, he should buy himself a Terrapass. Ron and I have them. They’re not the perfect solution, but they’re one of the easier and more manageable/affordable ways to reduce our environmental footprint.

  7. Al gore’s criticism seemed unfair. There are many 200 year old stone cottages in Wales (I Moved here from Liverpool a number of years ago) that still use solid fuel heating systems so as you say old properties cannot be 100% fuel efficient. Some company over here has developed a way of running vehicles on vegetable oil but i’m not sure if this may work. There are some politicians over here who want to make driving so expensive (taxes,tolls, road charges)that a lot of people could not afford to drive. This is wrong in my opinion especially in rural areas where people need their cars. The motor car is not the problem its what you put in them that is.

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