Because it wasn't?
I saw the movie yesterday and while I thought that it was very good, I wouldn't say it was the best movie I've seen this year. Take three actors the caliber of Eastwood, Freeman, and Swank, add a director like Eastwood, and a decent story line and you can't help but have a good movie. Does that make it worthy of the Oscar? I don't think so. I went in expecting to see a good movie, and I came out knowing I had seen a good movie. No surprise. A couple of weeks ago I went to see "Finding Neverland" not expecting a whole lot, and I walked out of there knowing that I had just seen the best movie I saw all year. Total surprise, wonderful cast, unbelievable acting on the part of Depp and the younger boy actor. I think that's what makes an Oscar winning movie, one that exceeds your expectations. "Million Dollar Baby" just didn't accomplish that.
That's what killed me about Driving Miss Daisy. I saw it on video after it won Best Picture, and while it was good, when Morgan Freeman is feeding Jessica Tandy at the end, and it faded out, I didn't think it was over. But it was. In a living room full of family and friends, I said, "That's IT?" and thought that I would be criticized, but a lot of other people in the room felt the same way.
Ditto Forrest Gump. I have been a fan of director Robert Zemeckis since his first feature, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, and think Used Cars is one of the most underrated comedies ever. Back to the Future made me buy a car that looks just a little like a DeLorean. But Gump didn't do it for me -- especially Tom Hanks' final tearjerking eulogy to Gump's mother (Sally Field, who didn't look ill when she died). Needless to say, I was wary of Cast Away, with Zemeckis and Tom Hanks teaming up again, but I was floored. Cast Away was everything I expected Gump to be. Too bad it didn't win Best Picture.
Sometimes a movie gets so built up it is hard for it to live up to expectations. I saw Million Dollar Baby and The Aviator both were very good, but didn't exceed expectations. I think this is more because of the nature of how movies are pushed.
I agree though I didn't find it to be glorifying euthanasia.