With one week until Oscar Sunday, we thought we’d take a moment to pay homage to one of our favorite genres—animation.

And we’re willing to bet it’s probably one of your favorites too, even if you’re not quite ready to admit it.

These cinematic classics are often excused as mere children’s entertainment, and pure popcorn cinema. Not only is this assumption condescending to children and the art-form, it is also dead wrong. Animation is a brilliantly beautiful storytelling device.

Yes, it’s playful, colorful techniques make it appealing to children (though not always suitable), and this same candy-colored appeal makes real lessons and heartbreak a little easier to swallow and sometimes a little more moving.

Who among us can honestly say they didn’t tear up during the opening of Pixar’s “Up”?

Of all the movies covered throughout the year by 2WC, animation is the only genre that consistently shows up in our summer blockbuster season and come Oscar time is still receiving high praise.

They’re accessible, they’re imaginative, they’re insightful, and they’re just a lot of fun.

______________________________________

…just for fun: