Ok, time for that rant now.
First, overall it seems that the big battle this year is between Pixar’s Ratatouille and Sony’s Surf’s Up. This doesn’t really surprise me but it shows that Sony is coming up in the world (I’ll also give the benefit of the doubt that it isn’t because Sony is this year’s only Platinum sponsor 
). I think we can officially move them to a top tier studio now and say that they join Pixar, DreamWorks, and BlueSky in the upper ranks. Of course then again, we haven’t seen much from Blue Sky lately and they’ve never had a success out side of their Ice Age series (Robots was not a success) so maybe we need to move them out and just let Sony have their place. So now onto the categories…
The Best Animated Feature category held only one surprise for me. Where is Meet the Robinsons? It was by far among the better animated movies this year and should have been the herald of the return of Walt Disney Feature Animation. Now it will most certainly be booted from an appearance in the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars. Interestingly, the same is true though for Shrek the Third. While I whole-heartedly support the decision to leave it out (though I’m not sure Bee Movie was the better option, though it got a surprising number of nominations for being so thrown together around a dry Seinfeld routine), it will be interesting to see how the Academy reacts to their beloved ogre getting the push. Also, I was surprised but also happy to see Persepolis make it in this category and others, showing that the world is not dominated completely by CGI. The Simpson’s Movie is of course a well deserved nod to a long-standing pop-culture phenomenon but don’t look for a win due to poor execution overall.
In Best Animated Short Subject, props to Pixar for picking up You’re Friend the Rat. This category is a major Oscar indicator so I will treat it as such. A win here would mean an approval for Pixar’s delving into realms beyond CGI an give the picture a good boost heading into the Oscars. This should continue Pixar’s long streak of Oscar nominated shorts (only Mater & the Ghost Light, Jack-Jack Attack, Knick-Knack, Red’s Dream, and The Adventures of Andre & Wally B. have failed to nominate and the first two were in favor of other Pixar shorts, Lifted and One Man Band respectively, taking precedence) and a win would be the company’s fourth and end a 7 year drought since For the Birds in 2001. Interestingly, Pixar goes an average of 6.5 years between wins in the category so they are due. Tough competition though with WDFA’s How to Hook Up Your Home Theater in the running. That could be a consolation prize for the lack of Meet the Robinsons.
Moving on to Best Animated Television Commercial, I’m really excited and hoping for a win for my girl Erin Esurance here.
In the Best Animated Television Production category Kim Possible has failed to win an Annie to date. Now that it has come to a close it should rightfully win against this competition. It is one of only two shows ever brought back to TV due solely to fan response (the other is Jericho) and the only show to ever break the Disney standard of three seasons. And let’s face it, season 4 just made it even better. Expect this to be a preview of what’s to come at the Emmy’s in the animation category this year.
In the Best Animated Video Game category, props again to Rataouille for another well deserved nomination. Given it’s praise I expect a win here as the sequence of high quality video games based on Brad Bird movies continues.
In the Animation Production Artist category you have what I think is one of the two biggest upsets this Annies can have and we haven’t even announced winners yet! Ratatouille failed to get nominated making it the first time ever that a Brad Bird film has failed to be nominated in a category it was eligible for. Interestingly, Brad Bird films have also won every category they were eligible for (unless of course it was beat by, well… itself). At least Brad can attempt to defend his record of never having his movie lose in a category in which it was nominated (unless of course again, it loses to itself). In the mean time though, I’m still just trying to find out what exactly defines an “Animation Production Artist.”
In the Character Animation in a Feature Production category we also have the only instance in which Ratatouille (or any other Bird film for that matter) is out-nominated 2-1 by Surf’s Up. Now we would normally take this to mean that the penguin film would split the vote but such is not true in the Annie world where often it can be a plus and the vote goes to one of the masses so to to speak.
In the Character Design in an Animated Television Production category I have to say there is no category at all as I do not believe you can have just one nominee. And can someone please tell me what the heck El Tigre is (and don’t just say “The Tiger”)?
In the Directing in an Animated Feature Production category I will only stop to say that I see no surprises here and I doubt anyone would dare deny the award to Brad Bird.
In the Music in an Animated Feature Production category you have what could be your biggest competition of the night pitting the combined talents of Danny Elfman, Rufus Wainright, and Rob Thomas from Meet the Robinsons against Michael Giacchino’s Ratatouille. This is inherently different from the Oscars as their is no separation between score and songs. Though Elfman’s partial score is no match for Giacchino’s latest masterpiece, Wainright’s “Emotion Waltz” and “Another Believer” and Thomas’s “Little Wonders” add strength to the [/i]Meet the Robinsons[/i] score. However, Giacchino’s “Le Festine” could go head to head with any of them. This could also have Oscar implications. While Elfman has little chance at a Score nod, there’s a lot of buzz around Giacchino after his snub in 2004 with The Incredibles (considered one of the years biggest snubs along with the films failure to be nominated for Best Picture), a win here could be just the boost he needs to get his first nomination. In Best Song, the Academy has only failed to nominate a piece from an animated movie four times since the trend was started in 1989 by The Little Mermaid (1990, 1993, 1996, & 2005) so we are almost assured to see either the popular “Small Wonders” or beautiful “Le Festine” make the final cut, however a nomination for Giacchino for score could hurt his chances for one in song and vice-versa. It should be noted though that 7 of those 17 years ('89, '91, '92, '94, '95, '99, & '04) saw two or more songs from animated movies nominated and this year is likely to add to that list.
In the Production Design in an Animated Feature category it’s interesting to note the presence of Beowulf in it’s only nomination. Once again industry insiders leave us to question whether mo-cap is actually animation or not. Is Beowulf not an animated film or is it just that bad?
In the Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production category you will find my real rant. Where is Peter O’Toole! I appreciate the nominations for Garofalo, Holm, and Oswalt and of course Warburton is always deserving, but Peter O’Toole should win this category hands down. Allow me to refer back to my previous post here:
I stand by that statement even now! Furthermore I wasn’t the only one saying it. Similar statements, even regarding the Oscars and Peter O’Toole have been made by those more respected in the business than myself. I’ve gone through every possible logical conclusion in my head and still cannot figure it out. It’s obviously not because he’s not a big enough star. I considered the possibility that he just got too little screen time but ruled that out with Brad Bird’s win in the category as the voice of Edna who only got a few minutes of screen-time in The Incredibles in 2004. There are very few other options left and I must say they are all far to detestable to post in this rant. I would also like to post my surprise at no nomination for Nancy Cartright as she makes her big screen debut nor does she or any one else from Kim Possible pick up a nomination on the Television side of the award.
In the Writing in an Animated Feature Production category I will only say no surprises. Nice to see Persepolis mentioned again but Brad Bird and Ratatouille are in a class of their own.
It will be interesting to see how some of these pan out.