This morning’s question from Gold Derby‘s Tom O’Neil: “Can Big Hero 6 take down Lego Movie for Best Animated Feature? Please sign in and update your predix.”

HE answer: I respect the animated realm as far as it goes (including, if you must, anime) but I hate watching it for the most part, and that definitely includes anime. Anything drawn or dreamt or hard-drivey. If I never see anything swirly or magical or shimmering or visionary-for-vision’s-sake again, it’ll be too soon. Aside from the usual welcome exceptions from the world-class visionaries (Hayao Miyazaki, Fantastic Mr. Fox‘s Wes Anderson, the Lego Movie guys, Brad Bird, the Disney/Katzenberg run of the late ’80s to mid ’90s, etc.) and the usual high levels of craft, animated films are mostly about the Big Shill — selling tickets and merchandise to families. Take your corporate family neckrubby pitty-pat hucksterism and shove it. It’s an open coin toss as to which I hate more — animated or just about anything Asian (excepting the rare exceptions).