More surprises than usual for this category. TWITTER 4/2/2021 Theaters reopened just in time for the annual round-up of Oscar-nominated animated shorts. A couple of truly daring visions spice up the expected fare in this year's crop of Academy-honored animated shorts — one of which would be as at home in an art gallery as in the theaters, which, pandemic be damned, will still showcase nominees as a big-screen event. Each candidate has something to offer, including those non-nominees that have been added (as "highly recommended") to stretch the program's running time to feature length. But this is the rare occasion in which (for the first time in a very long time) the Oscar could go to a film that really pushes the limits of the form.