This year’s awards season feels longer than ever, but we’re almost at the finish line.

On Sunday night, the industry will gather in person and in front of their TVs for the 98th edition of the Academy Awards. Taking place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, the show will be televised starting at 7 p.m. ET.

This is the year’s biggest chance for kids & family films to shine, primarily in the Best Animated Feature category. Here’s our rundown of the contenders, with animation veteran Eric Calderon weighing in on each film’s shot at winning.

Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney Animation)
Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard

This buddy-cop sequel set a well-deserved box-office record. Can it also snap up an Oscar? Nearly a decade ago, the original Zootopia won in this category. That said, the Academy has a strong preference for rewarding original films over sequels (unless “Toy Story” is in the title). 

Zootopia 2 sees Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde go undercover to crack a new case. Like the first film, social issues are expertly weaved into the hijinks of the animal society. But unlike the first film, this one was launched specifically to capitalize on the franchise’s international appeal.  

“Although a recognized commercial success, leaving audiences very happy in general, this feels more like a polished theme park experience than a film,” Calderon notes. “It’s a fun ride! But when it’s over, it’s over. So, maybe this is better suited to a Thea, a Brass Ring, or a Golden Ticket Award—those are all awards given out each year to the best theme park attraction!”

Arco (Remembers and MountainA)
Directed by Ugo Bienvenu

Before a certain Netflix film came out swinging this summer, Arco was building momentum as an early Oscar favorite. If you were at Annecy last year, you may remember this feature generated a lot of positive buzz among attendees—and even took home the festival’s Cristal Award. 

Its story revolves around a 10-year-old boy from the technologically advanced year of 2932 who needs to find a way back home after landing in 2075. Actor Natalie Portman co-produced this fantasy pic, which has been praised for how it deals with ecological themes—similar to last year’s indie winner, Flow.

“At first blush, this feels like a dark horse because of the exceptional style, unique world-building, and reverence for old-school 2D techniques,” Calderon says. “But I think the script is just shy of profound. It sets up something very special, but then languishes in its own mood before ending with a shrug.”

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Maybe Movies and Ikki Films)
Directed by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han

The other French indie in this year’s race is also the shortest, with just a 78-minute runtime. Critics lauded this autobiographical adaptation that has an impressive 98% Rotten Tomatoes score, the highest among this year’s Best Animated Feature nominees.

With deep coming-of-age themes and a vibrant 2D color palette, Little Amélie looks at life in post-war Japan through the eyes of a two-year-old Belgian girl who bonds with a housekeeper and has a miraculous encounter with white chocolate. Following its world premiere at Cannes, the tender tale also got a lot of love at Annecy, where it was presented with the Audience Award. 

Calderon says: “Real talk. I haven’t seen it. And TBH, outside of the film festival circuit, this is [one of those] ‘probably beautiful but just can’t seem to get around to rent it’ movies. I wager some of the judges will feel the same.”

Elio (Pixar Animation Studios)
Directed by Adrian Molina, Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian

This original sci-fi comedy tags along with a boy who’s mistaken for Earth’s ambassador after getting abducted by aliens. Pixar, of course, has the strongest Best Animated Feature track record as the studio with the most wins (11 in total since the category launched in 2002).

Despite being a disappointment at the box office, Elio has enjoyed a surprisingly good run on the awards circuit, overperforming on this year’s Annie Awards shortlist. But as many are aware, it has also been caught up in controversy, with reports of production hurdles and queer themes being erased—concerns that were shrugged off recently by studio head Pete Docter in an interview that set off even more backlash.

“With all the caveats— like ‘It takes a Herculean effort to make any CG film’ and ‘It was supposed to be this, but had to settle for being that’—it’s hard to deny that this movie might just be bad,” Calderon observes. “Nothing about it is Pixar at its best. But if it does win, I predict the industry equivalent of table-flips happening all around the world.”

KPop Demon Hunters (Sony Pictures Animation)
Directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans

It’s hard to sum up the sheer breadth of this animated film’s pop-culture impact: it has outranked real-world pop stars on the music charts, dominated last year’s Halloween costume market, and even driven a tourism boom for Seoul.

“Even though there’s no official rubric or standard criteria for judging, it’s going to be hard to defend that KPDH is not well beyond the other films by all metrics, whether they be commercial and artistic, or cultural and emotional,” Calderon says. 

In other words, a decision to not award it “will be to reveal hidden biases or corporate agendas at play that will simply erode the trust in the Academy,” he says. “As many professionals in animation will bemoan, the larger judging process involves people primarily focused on the live-action business who may not have seen most of the nominated films and/or who may simply choose the films their families and children have watched—further frustrating the animation community, which views cartoons as a medium, rather than just children’s content.”

KPDH has been regarded as one of the biggest locks of this year’s Oscars race, along with its very own soundtrack hit “Golden” (Best Original Song) and Hamnet‘s Jessie Buckley (Best Actress) . Calderon adds: “The overall question of the night isn’t going to be who wins. It’s going to be what the backlash will be if KPop Demon Hunters doesn’t win.”