Pro: Pixar films are always considered more than their genre, popping up in categories all over the Oscar landscape. That often includes screenplay consideration, which has fed the narrative (so to speak) of the studio's workshopping practices, fine-tuning the storytelling at every step of the way. And despite the complaints of some, "Brave" is a good film that may have fallen short of the overall Pixar bar but stands out in the medium nevertheless.

Con: That "lesser" label unfortunately stuck on this one, though, so it isn't likely to bubble up in races outside of Best Animated Feature Film. It takes a lot for a film to overcome its own ghettoization -- foreign films, animated films -- and register elsewhere. And this one just didn't become the gem so many expected it to be.

- Kristopher Tapley