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