If the wordless, exquisitely done life-of-a-marriage sequence hadn’t been part of Up, would anyone be talking about this animated Pixar film being a likely/deserving Best Picture nominee? We all know the answer.

Up is “simply is not worthy of consideration,” writes Sammyray in a piece called “Down on Up.” “Most positive reviews (including mine) mentioned the truly beautiful and wordless montage at the outset that tracked the lifelong love of Carl and Ellie. This sequence is easily among Pixar’s finest work, mixing complex emotions with a truly magnificent series of images. But 20 minutes does not a Best Picture make.”

Except the silent sequence doesn’t last 20 minutes. My recollection is that it’s more like eight or nine minutes, tops.

The Up dissers have a surge going now — I can feel it — but they started too late to have an effect on the nominations.