The topic of conversation surrounding the nominations for the 35th Annual Annie Awards (better described as Animation Awards) is the snubbing of Beowulf in the Best Animated Feature category, but I am more concerned with the fact that Bee Movie was nominated for Best Feature along with a nomination for Patrick Warburton as the voice of Ken and four other smaller category noms. Bee Movie is easily one of the worst animated films I have seen in quite some time, worse than the mediocre Shrek the Third, certainly worse than the mediocre Meet the Robinsons, and yes, even worse than the stale Beowulf.
You may be thinking that the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA-Hollywood) simply didn’t consider Beowulf to be an animated film, but that theory goes out the window as it was nommed for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production, and that was it… Shrek received one nom as well and Meet the Robinsons earned two.
As should be expected the slob job for Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille continues as it earned 13 nominations, followed by Surf’s Up (which I rather liked) with 10 noms. While I believe Ratatouille is the best animated film of the year and deserves the all the accolades it receives I think it is sad when an award centered on animation actually looks at Bee Movie as one of the top five animated films of the year. The sheer mention of it in the same category with Ratatouille, Persepolis, The Simpsons Movie and Surf’s Up is just silly. However, I won’t really be upset until the Animated Oscar noms are announced, if Bee Movie snags that then I really will be frustrated.
Everything said, here is a list of the noms in the feature film categories, click here for the complete list.
Best Animated Feature
Bee Movie – DreamWorks Animation
Persepolis – Sony Pictures Classics
Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
The Simpsons Movie – Twentieth Century Fox
Animated Effects
Gary Bruins – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Deborah Carlson – Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
Ryan Laney – Spider-Man 3 – Sony Pictures Imageworks
James Mansfield – How to Hook Up Your Home Theater – Walt Disney Feature Animation
Jon Reisch – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Animation Production Artist
John Clark – Surf’s Up
Michael Isaak – Bee Movie
Hyun-Min Lee – The Chestnut Tree
Natasha Liberman – Growing Up Creepie “Creepie & The Candy Factory”
Jim Worthy – My Gym Partner’s A Monkey “Meet the Spidermonkeys”
Character Animation in a Feature Production
Dave Hardin – Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
Alan Hawkins – Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
Michal Makarewicz – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Brad Bird – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Ash Brannon & Chris Buck – Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
Chris Miller & Raman Hui – Shrek The Third – DreamWorks Animation
Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi – Persepolis – Sony Pictures Classics
David Silverman – The Simpsons Movie – Twentieth Century Fox
Music in an Animated Feature Production
Olivier Bernet – Persepolis – Sony Pictures Classics
Danny Elfman, Rufus Wainwright & Rob Thomas – Meet The Robinsons – Walt Disney Feature Animation
Michael Giacchino – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Rupert Gregson-Williams – Bee Movie – DreamWorks Animation
Amy Powers, Russ DeSalvo & Jeff Danna – Disney Princess Enchanted Tales – DisneyToon Studios/Walt Disney Video/Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Doug Chiang – Beowulf – Paramount Pictures
Harley Jessup – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Marcelo Vignali – Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Don Hall – Meet The Robinsons – Walt Disney Feature Animation
Denise Koyama – Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
Ted Mathot – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Sean Song – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – IMAGI Animation Studios
Nassos Vakalis – Bee Movie – DreamWorks Animation
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Janeane Garofalo – Voice of Collette – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Ian Holm – Voice of Skinner – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Julie Kavner – Voice of Marge Simpson – The Simpsons Movie – Twentieth Century Fox
Patton Oswalt – Voice of Remy – Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Patrick Warburton – Voice of Ken – Bee Movie – DreamWorks Animation
