Carl (right, voiced by Ed Asner) unwillingly leads Russell (Jordan Nagai) through the wilderness of Venezuela to Paradise Falls in Disney/Pixar's feature animated film Up.

This past weekend, my family received the DVD of Up from the Disney Movie Club. We watched again the heart-warming story of Carl, the lonely old man who in the twilight of his years decides to fulfill his wife’s life-long dream of adventure. By tying their home to a thousand balloons, he uproots from the urban sprawl and heads to South America.

The film is a masterpiece of animation and storytelling, with some of the most endearing characters you will ever see. It is also perhaps the most moving film – animated or otherwise – to be created since Jimmy Stewart stopped making movies. If you can watch the first ten minutes of the film without crying, you have no soul.

Naturally, the beauty of this film started me thinking about the Academy Awards. In the history of film, only one animated feature has ever been nominated for best picture, and it didn’t win.

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced in 2001 that it would create an Oscar category specifically for animated features, it was about a decade too late. Beauty and the Beast had earned a Best Picture nomination in 1991 (and remains the only animated feature to do so). But it didn’t receive the recognition it deserved.

Fast forward to 2009. This year, the AMPAS announced that the Oscars will include 10 nominees in the Best Picture category, returning the Academy Awards to the heady days of yesteryear when television program length wasn’t a factor. (The last year to host 10 nominees was 1943, when Casablanca won for Best Picture.)

Since 2001, animated features have certainly been given their due. Beginning with Shrek in 2001, the AMPAS has recognized some truly noteworthy films. Four of the eight winners so far have been Disney/Pixar features (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and WALL-E).

While this is certainly something to be proud of, it is also a bit like saying “You’re the smartest kid… in your class.” It’s great that animated film is finally being recognized in some way, but it isn’t enough. This category should showcase animated features, not become their prison.

This year, the front-runner to be nominated and win Best Animated Feature seems to be the Disney/Pixar film Up. This wonderful film has captured the hearts of people everywhere, and is already considered a favorite of many Disney/Pixar fans. For the first time since Beauty and the Beast, we have an animated film that is worthy of the title Best Picture. And for the first time in more than 60 years, we have a wider list for nominations.

For these reasons, I contend that it is not enough to nominate Up for Best Animated Feature. It is time to once again nominate an animated film for Best Picture. I call on the voters of the Academy to make Up a nominee in the Best Picture and Best Animated Feature categories. Show your support for animated film by placing it alongside the other great films of 2009.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.