^{Credit: Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie (Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation)} 

What’s the first animated DreamWorks film to achieve an elusive A+ Cinemascore? Shrek? How to Train Your Dragon? The Wild Robot? While those films all got an A, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie finally brought DreamWorks the highest Cinemascore possible. This milestone caught many off guard in a year where DreamWorks also brought us well-received films like Dog Man and The Bad Guys 2, which both settled for A Cinemascore ratings. Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie is also aimed at a younger demographic, being DreamWorks’ first theatrical feature since 2005’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit to warrant a G rating. Honestly, though, why the hell was Spirit: Untamed rated PG?

In any case, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie also garnered a solid response from critics, currently sitting at 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 17 reviews. With the film opening #2 at the box office behind One Battle After Another, it’s worth contemplating whether Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie could be a Best Animated Feature nominee. Of course, the real question is whether the film will be eligible. While Gabby’s Dollhouse features animated characters, it also utilizes live-action environments and actors. So, where is the line drawn between animation and live-action?

This question goes back to the Best Animated Feature category’s introduction over two decades ago. The inaugural Oscar lineup included Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Monsters, Inc., and Shrek, the latter of which won. Several other films were submitted for consideration that year, including Osmosis Jones, in which a live-action Bill Murray’s body served as a playground for animated cells, germs, and other microscopic life forms. Another submission that stood out was Waking Life, which was originally shot in live-action and then drawn over in a process called rotoscoping. Even then, some debated whether live-action/animated hybrids should be grouped in with fully animated features. 

The debate continued the following year when Stuart Little 2 was submitted for Best Animated Feature consideration. Despite initially being reg-flagged, the Academy ultimately decided that it met the criteria that animated characters appear in 75% of the film. Stuart Little 2 still wasn’t nominated. Neither were other hybrids like Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Alvin and the Chipmunks, or the latter’s squeakquels. Where those hybrids were still deemed eligible, Arthur and the Invisibles, Yogi Bear, and The Smurfs all fell short of the 75% threshold. 

WALL-E won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2009. While primarily animated, Fred Willard played Buy n Large CEO Shelby Forthright in live-action while clips from Hello, Dolly! were also used. Still, few would describe WALL-E as a “hybrid” film. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is another story. Centered on stop-motion characters in a live-action world, Marcel’s eligibility was on the bubble at first. This indie charmer not only qualified. It became the first hybrid film to achieve a Best Animated Feature nomination. While the Oscar went to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Marcel took home the Annie for Best Animated Feature — Independent. 

This is good news for Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie’s Oscar eligibility, although it remains unclear if DreamWorks will even submit it for Best Animated Feature consideration. DreamWorks already has two potential contenders with Dog Man and The Bad Guys 2. Some might argue that Gabby’s Dollhouse has more in common with the How to Train Your Dragon remake, a live-action film with animated characters. Even with an A+ Cinemascore, Gabby’s Dollhouse could also be seen as too “kid-friendly” in a year where adult-oriented animation like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle is topping the box office. 

The Best Animated Feature is getting increasingly competitive with Arco, In Your Dreams, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, Scarlet, and Zootopia 2 gaining buzz, while KPop Demon Hunters continues to capture the zeitgeist. Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie has another hurdle it may have to overcome. If The Lego Movie, The Peanuts Movie, The Simpsons Movie, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters have proven anything, it’s that the Academy rarely goes for movies with “Movie” in the title unless it stars Shaun the Sheep. As different as Gabby’s Dollhouse and Demon Slayer are, the “Movie” in the title bias may be the one thing they have in common.  

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!