Academy announces 2025 Oscar-eligible animated features

The Academy has unveiled this year's crop of Oscar-eligible animated features. This year, there are 31 movies in the mix, with a few notable omissions and -- for me -- one big "huh??" 

Art College 1994

Here's the list:

Art College 1994
Captain Avispa
Chicken for Linda!
The Colors Within
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Despicable Me 4
Flow
The Garfield Movie
Ghost Cat Anzu
The Glassworker
The Imaginary
Inside Out 2
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Kung Fu Panda 4
Living Large
Look Back
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Mars Express
Memoir of a Snail
Moana 2
Piece by Piece
Rocket Club: Across the Cosmos
Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds
Spellbound
Sultana’s Dream
That Christmas
Thelma the Unicorn
Transformers One
Ultraman: Rising
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

Some movies that aren't here that I thought might be here but aren't: The Concierge, one of my favorite movies of the year. It received a one-night-only release from Crunchyroll, as did Trapezium (also absent). Neither had a shot at being nominated, which I imagine Crunchyroll knew, so why bother submitting?

Similarly, Viva didn't qualify any of their slate, despite having some better-than-usual releases this year like 200% Wolf and Hitpig! Again, wouldn't have had awards traction, and I imagine they'd feel like they have to do an all-or-nothing strategy with their movies. So I get it. 

Boys Go to Jupiter has been playing a ton of fests, and I thought it was getting a qualifying release, but seems that isn't the case. Maybe next year?

The Most Precious of Cargoes, from Oscar-winner Michel Hazanavicius, will likely be eligible next year.

Some international movies from this year that I thought might be eligible but are absent for one reason or another: No Dogs or Italians Allowed, Pelikan Blue, Rosa and the Stone Trolls. Honestly, the list goes on...

As far as surprising inclusions, I think there's only one for me: Rocket Club: Across the Cosmos. I am constantly scouring the internet for animated movies. I've seen over 100 from this year. And I've never heard of this movie! Which honestly gets me hyped. I'll try to track it down, and I'll of course review it if I manage to find it.

Aside from Rocket Club, the other movies I need to see: Captain Avispa (been trying to find it), Moana 2 (next week), Spellbound (this week), Flow (Sunday), That Christmas (in a couple weeks), and The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim (next week).

Captain Avispa

Currently, my prediction for the category at the Oscars is the same as pretty much everyone's:

Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

I'll probably do a more in-depth awards season post later on as we get into the thick of it.