Pixar’s ‘Coco’ no shoo-in for the animation Bafta against ‘handcrafted’ nominees

ON TUESDAY, the Baftas introduced an interesting twist to the debate over the best animation of late.

As expected, the “British Oscars” nominated “Coco,” Pixar’s awards-season frontrunner that took home the Golden Globe on Sunday as the best animated feature.

And in a welcome affi rmation, the European fi lm “Loving Vincent,” also a Globe nominee, received a nod here, too.

But unlike the Globes, the Baftas did not include another major Hollywood studio animation like “The Boss Baby” or “Ferdinand.” Instead, the third and fi nal Bafta nod went to “My Life As a Courgette ( My Life As a Zucchini),” the dark-humoured charmer from Swiss director Claude Barras that qualified for an Oscar nomination last year.

Tuesday’s Bafta threesome raises an interesting prospect: Could this be the major fi lm award that steers away from the acclaimed “Coco” and prefers a movie that looks hand- crafted? “Courgette” uses winningly intricate stop-motion, and “Loving Vincent” employed scores of painters to create the many Van Gogh-style canvases that animate the film.

The thing is, such a DavidoverGoliath outcome is not without precedent. Just last year, the Baftas chose “Kubo and the Two Strings,” Travis Knight’s visually stunning stop-motion fi lm from Laika, over three huge fi lms from the Disney banner: “Moana,” “Zootopia” and Pixar’s “Finding Dory.”

“Kubo” marked the fi rst time ever that the Baftas did not choose a primarily CG-animated fi lm as its animated feature winner. (Also worth noting: Every previous Bafta animation winner has had ties to an American studio.)

But after “Kubo,” we can’t count out the real option that the Baftas will be the rare awards body not to go with the beautiful “Coco.”

The Baftas winners will be announced Feb 18 at a Royal Albert Hall ceremony.