Yogi-Gay-bear-posterPour out a little Sparks Four Loko Thunderbird for Yogi Bear today, as the surefire critical darling which opens next month has been DISQUALIFIED from the Academy Award animation category.  Can you imagine?  This is like banning Babe Ruth from baseball.  WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS!?

Yogi Bear was thrown into the consideration category [well sure], but here’s the accompanying rule of why it was disqualified. Under Academy rules, for a live action film to be eligible in the animated feature category, “a significant number of the major characters must be animated and animation must figure in no less than 75% of the picture’s running time.”

Although “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore” – a mixture of live action and animation – passed the 75% threshold, “Yogi Bear” apparently did not. So the main three players that will probably get the nomination will be Toy Story 3, Megamind and How To Train Your Dragon. [IngeniusProductions]

Looks like you’ve won this round, Kitty Galore.  Yogi Bear was never meant to be corn pigeon holed as *just* an animated film anyway.  An animated Oscar would’ve just taken the focus away from the real goal, winning Best Picture.  I imagine we’ll eventually see a day when Yogi Bear 3D is recognized not just as a great animated movie, or even a great movie, but as a great work of art.