Annie Awards Results. It's Zootopia vs Kubo for the Oscar
Sunday, February 5, 2017 at 4:00PM The Annie Awards have been happening for 44 years but after some bumpy years in which their loyalties to specific studios were questions, they seemed to have worked things out and their profile is higher each year. Yesterday's even at the UCLA's Royce Hall was a big night for Disney which took 10 prizes. Zootopia continued its dominance by taking the top prize.
Though we should quickly note that Kubo and the Two Strings is still a possible spoiler at the Oscars and took home a few Annies itself. As Kris Tapley recently noted, there is momentum for finally honoring Laika who have never missed a nomination in the Animated Feature category but have yet to win it. While I am in the minority that thinks Kubo is the company's weakest film to date (it's gorgeous, don't misunderstand -- I just think both the episodic plot and the voice work is weaker than in their other films) they're also rapidly outdoing Pixar who have fallen into repetition and sequelizing.
The winners with commentary are after the jump...
Animated Feature “Zootopia” Walt Disney Animation Studios
Also my choice as Animated Feature of the year, despite the frame-worthy aspects of The Red Turtle, the pathos of My Life as a Zucchini, the visual splendor of Kubo and the Two Strings, and the music and grandiosity of Moana. Zootopia has almost all of that in a single film.
Animated Special Production “Pear Cider and Cigarettes” Massive Swerve Studios and Passion Pictures Animation
This is the longest film nominated for the animated short Oscar this year by a huge margin. It's a 32-35 minute (depending on the source) documentary short about the filmmaker's hard living friend. The filmmaker, Robert Valley, is best known for Aeon Flux and music videos for the Gorillaz. (The other nominees for the Oscar are all under 10 minutes.
Animated Short Subject “Piper” Pixar Animation Studios
Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial “Loteria ‘Night Shift'” Passion Pictures Ltd
General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production “Bob’s Burgers” Episode: Glued, Where’s My Bob? Bento Box Entertainment
Animated Television/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children “Tumble Leaf” Episode: Mighty Mud Movers / Having a Ball Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment
Animated Television/Broadcast Production for Children “Adventure Time” Episode: Bad Jubies Bix Pix Entertainment Cartoon Network Frederator Studios
Animated Feature-Independent “The Red Turtle” Studio Ghibli, Wild Bunch, Why Not Productions
Student Film “Citipati” Director: Andreas Feix Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
Animated Effects in an Animated Feature Production “Moana” Marlon West, Erin V. Ramos, Blair Pierpont, Ian J. Coony, John M. Kosnik Walt Disney Animation Studios
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production “Doctor Strange,” Mirror Dimension Georg Kaltenbrunner, Michael Marcuzzi, Thomas Bevan, Andrew Graham, Jihyun Yoon Marvel Studios
Character Animation in a Television/Broadcast Production Mike Chaffe “Dreamworks Trollhunters”
Episode: Becoming, Part 1 DreamWorks Animation Television
Character Animation in a Feature Production Jan Maas “Kubo and the Two Strings” Laika
Character Animation in a Live Action Production Andrew R. Jones, Peta Bayley, Gabriele Zucchelli, Benjamin Jones “The Jungle Book” Walt Disney Pictures
Character Animation in a Video Game Jeremy Yates, Almudena Soria, Eric Baldwin, Paul Davies, Tom Bland
“Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” Naughty Dog
Character Design in a TV/Broadcast Production Victor Maldonado, Alfredo Torres, Jules Rigolle “Dreamworks Trollhunters” Episode: Win, Lose or Draal DreamWorks Animation Television
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production Cory Loftis “Zootopia” Walt Disney Animation Studios
Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production Patrick Osborne “Pearl” Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures
Directing in an Animated Feature Production Byron Howard, Rich Moore “Zootopia” Walt Disney Animation Studios
Music in a TV/Broadcast Production Scot Stafford, Alexis Harte, JJ Wiesler “Pearl” Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures
Pearl (embedded above) has been wracking up awards right and left over the season and is up for Best Animated Short at the Oscars. It's directed by Patrick Osborne who won the Oscar in that same category very recently for the dog's life-through-food journey of Feast. The incredible thing about it is you have to watch it several times to get the full picture. The controls in the top left corner allow you to move the camera around the entire image to see different details of what's happening inside the car. It's difficult to imagine how complicate this five minute short must have been to make -- it definitely has a shot at winning the Oscar.
Music in an Animated Feature Production Hans Zimmer, Richard Harvey, Camille “The Little Prince” Netflix and On Animation Studios
Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production Tuna Bora “Pearl” Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production Nelson Lowry, Trevor Dalmer, August Hall, Ean McNamara “Kubo and the Two Strings” Laika
Storyboarding in a TV/Broadcast Production Hyunjoo Song “DreamWorks Trollhunters” Episode: Win, Lose or Draal DreamWorks Animation Television
This is an excellent prize to give Trollhunters, as its action sequences are among the most exciting and well choreographed you'll ever see in an animated series. I've actually considered writing about the show but abstained since I doubted enough readers were watching and there are so many episodes in its first season it would take forever to cover. It comes from filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro and I'd argue its his best work since Pan's Labyrinth, so check it out if you like animation and fantasy.
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production Dean Wellins “Zootopia” Walt Disney Animation Studios
Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production Carlos Alazraqui as Ponce de LeÛn “The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show” Episode: Ponce de LeÛn DreamWorks Animation Television
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (Tie) Auli’i Cravalho as Moana in “Moana” (Walt Disney Animation Studios) and Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde in “Zootopia” (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
So pleased that Cravalho won -- that voice is spectacular and huge props to Disney for racially appropriate casting (which, unfortunately Kubo failed on) but surprised that she almost lost to Jason Bateman!
Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production Lizzie Molyneux, Wendy Molyneux “Bob’s Burgers” Episode: The Hormone-iums Bento Box Entertainment
This is the episode in which Linda invents "the wine shoe" and Tina gets a shot at singing solo at the student assembly. This show often has movie jokes and this episode references Meryl Streep's It's Complicated.
Writing in an Animated Feature Production Jared Bush, Phil Johnston “Zootopia” Walt Disney Animation Studios
Editorial in a TV/Broadcast Production Illya Owens “Disney Mickey Mouse” Episode: Sock Burglar Disney Television Animation
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production Christopher Murrie “Kubo and the Two Strings” Laika
Reader Comments (14)
I don't think Tapley is saying there actually is momentum for Laika to win this year, he's just offering his own personal thoughts on the studio's artistic success and lack of reward to date. Zootopia is unbeatable this year, between the amount of money it made and its spectacular reviews.
I'm happy that Cravalho got the voice acting prize (I don't know why the Academy is so resistant to creating a similar category), though if she was going to tie with somebody from Zootopia I would have thought it'd be Goodwin.
Nat: Two notes: 1. I'm not actually surprised Bateman tied for the win. Of the two performances of Zootopia, it has a lot more of the heavier lifting to do. (As I've mentioned, I'd actually put it on my, undivided, Lead Actor ballot. Not as a medalist (this isn't Peter O'Toole in Ratatouille or Amy Poehler in Inside Out good), but still on there.) 2. Yes, Pixar is falling into sequels. But 3 of those 5 sequels are at least good. Cars 3 looks...way more promising than it should. (It helps that Owen Wilson IS a battered superstar facing irrelevancy. So long as they push Mater to the extreme background...we're in for a special finale.) And then we have Incredibles 2 (if you're going to do a sequel...superheroes) and Toy Story 4 (by necessity, it has to be an at least slightly different beast than the first 3, which is one of the best reasons to do a sequel), so I'm not TOO worried about Pixar's turn toward sequels.
Sean C: I can't imagine that the Academy leadership hasn't brought it up, but I'd guess the actors branch has consistently voted against it.
I'm in the minority with you, Nathaniel, on KUBO. You put it exactly right - it's the least engaging story of Laika films, and Charlize Theron was actually a bad miscast IMO.
I don't get why Moana isn't seen as more of a possible spoiler here than it is. It was a huge hit and it was also this grandiose musical thing starring humans and as such just kind of feels a bit more classy and Oscary. It has the original song nomination as well. Almost reminds me of that year when everyone thought Wreck it Ralph would win but then they pivoted to Brave instead.
MJS: I think more were expecting ParaNorman than Wreck-It Ralph. What Ralph was trying to do (tell a story of job uncertainty and moral questions with video game iconography) was far below what it actually succeeded at (a few really choice, and specific, video game in-jokes in the first twenty minutes that turned into an almost chokingly normal Disney movie afterward), such that I'd argue the movie probably would have been a bit better if they chose a game from one of the licenses they locked down to set the second half in. I'd hope that's what the sequel opts for, honestly. Biggest hope: Alan Tudyk being back DOESN'T mean King Candy/Turbo is back. Who do I most hope James Corden is? Lord Raptor.
It's interesting that three of the nominees in this year's Best Animated Short race were winners in the Annies under the separate categories of Animated Short, Animated Special Production and Animated TV/Broadcast Production. It seems that the race is down to those three. I'm personally rooting for either Pear Cider or Piper.
I still think Zootopia is going to take Animated Feature. It's a great film, it pulled huge box office, and the message will resonate with the voters given the current political climate. All the nominees are good this year, but I'm pulling for My Life as a Zucchini to spoil. It would be nice to have another foreign language winner in the category and to see European animation take the prize.
What I really want is Kubo to win Effects, Moana to win Song, and My Life to win Animated, but I highly doubt any of those will win.
I think The Boxtrolls is my least favourite Laika film - those character designs still gives me the creeps, and not in a good way - but Norman and Coraline rank above Kubo, easily.
I'm glad Bateman won (or, tied, I guess). His voice-work was stellar and was on my personal Best Actor ballot for most of the year.
Disappointed that the most inventive animated episode of the year (hell: I'd call it the most inventive half-hour of television - full stop - of the year), BoJack Horseman's 'Fish Out of Water' went home empty-handed ...
KUBO is clearly the best Laika's movie but I liked all of them so...
It is also clearly better than ZOOTOPIA and SHOULD win. But probably won't.
I thought Kubo was one of the very best from last year tbh, Laika's strongest since Coraline and possibly their most visually and technically accomplished, and by far one of the most gorgeous experiences in the cinema during 2016. I don't think it'll win the Oscar now and it didn't make enough money for people to automatically vote for it. I hate how that becomes a deciding factor sometimes.
But then again, I was in the minority with Zootopia when I finally saw it on Netflix a couple months ago. I didn't think that film was as deep or as effective as the raves made it seem. The world is cool and fully realized but I kept rolling my eyes at the story wanting its cake and eating it too with the stereotyped characterizations. Plus, I didn't laugh once despite many attempts. Poo.
Remember when the Annies gave Kung Fu Panda a boatload of awards but then WALLE very easily won the Oscar? They love sticking it to the big man, except when they don't. They're weird.
Moana is a film that needs to be rewatched to fully appreciate it. On first watch it's a great film, but I preferred Zootopia until a rewatch of both, and Moana really does have some nuances that rise it above. One of Disney's best, and the voice acting by the lead is top tier voice acting.
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