Bet it would of won an OSCAR!

It's certainly a wonderful film, but I can't help but think if the Oscars had any authenticity when it came to animated films, competition would have been pretty tough in 1982. The Last Unicorn and The Plague Dogs stand out the most, but famed directors Ralph Bakshi, Isao Takahata, and Rene Laloux also had films that year.

"Unless you're an alien, time traveler, or esper, your opinion doesn't matter. "

*have

I could've seen this winning Best Animated Feature. :)

RIP
Jeff Hanneman
1964-2013

"would have", not "would of"

It's an incredible film, and you can't really expect anything less from Don Bluth. And Goldsmith's score is fantastic. It's really wonderful music. I'm not a big fan of the songs, but the orchestrations are fantastic.

There were no Disney releases that year, so Bluth's work would have most likely been the front runner, though there WERE a number of notable films it would have gone up against. I imagine the nominees would have been as follows:

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Ralph Bakshi for Hey Good Lookin'
Don Bluth for The Secret of NIMH
Alan Parker for Pink Floyd's The Wall
Arthur Rankin Jr. & Jules Bass for The Last Unicorn
Martin Rosen for The Plague Dogs

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The Wall is a hybrid live action/animated movie, so that might have disqualified it. Also, every film on the above list is pretty "dark" are more adult-themed material, and given that the category is for animated movie, they might have substituted the following nominees if they wanted to be more "kid friendly"

Friz Freleng for 1001 Rabbit Tales
Fumihiko Takayama for The Wizard of Oz
Robert Taylor for Heidi's Song

In any case, Rosen and Baski probably get brownie points for being "edgy", but those particular films are hardly considered their best work, so I can't imagine they'd win. The Wall could win if it "counted" as an animated movie, and if the Academy wanted to be "artsy". Most likely, it would have come down to The Secret of NIMH and The Last Unicorn. Both are very good. Both were also released when I was a kid, but I didn't see The Last Unicorn until I was an adult, so the Secret of NIMH has sentimental value for me. Putting personal bias aside, I agree that Secret of NIHM would probably ultimately win the award, but the contest would be close.