Hey, It's Almost Time for the Annie Awards!

Alright, by now you should know the drill, the Annie Awards are announced, I'm going to give my opinion on them, I'm gonna be wrong come awards night, nobody will actually care. To be fair, I do love sharing my predictions because I just have that gambling urge, and since I'm not putting any money on these predictions, I never technically lose. In all seriousness, this is my third year giving Annie Award predictions, and I enjoy doing this because, really for the same reason people enjoy making predictions about the Oscars or the Grammys or the Emmys or what-not, because we do genuinely love a lot of the things that are being nominated, and we have a deep love for cinema or music or animation, so we want to share that love in the ways we know and enjoy; through competition.

If you're new, my format for this is pretty easy to grasp, I introduce each category and give my thoughts on the nominees, which one I think will win, which one I'd like to see win, and which one I think is the least likely to get the award. I only cover the categories for features because, first off those are the ones I actually have opinions on, and secondly, if I did the other categories this blog would be a slog to read through. Of course, I also want to stress that I don't honestly care all that much, I've said it before and I'll say it again, awards don't typically mean that much. Last year, Across the Spider-Verse practically swept the ceremony, but Nimona is still the better movie, fight me. With that said, let's get to the good stuff.

BEST FEATURE

All in all, a fairly strong selection of nominees this year. I think the only nominee that I don't see winning is That Christmas, which to be fair I haven't seen. I also haven't seen Inside Out 2, but I think it has a decently strong case to walk away with this award, it has a better case than Kung Fu Panda 4 does anyway. I liked Kung Fu Panda 4, but let's be real, it's only winning this award as a fluke, especially compared to The Wild Robot. If I had to put money on any one movie winning this award, it would be The Wild Robot. Ultraman: Rising is also a decently strong one, but I just thought the movie was okay at best. If I had to really give them a ranking, Inside Out 2 would be in third place for most likely to win this award, Kung Fu Panda 4 would be fifth, That Christmas would be sixth, The Wild Robot would be first, Ultraman: Rising would be fourth, and that leaves second place to Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. It wouldn't be unprecedented, Curse of the Were-Rabbit won in 2005, it also won the Best Animated Feature Film at the 78th Academy Awards, won nine other Annie Awards, won the Best British Film award at the British Academy Film Awards, like it just won a whole lot of awards, like Wallace & Gromit absolutely collect at award shows, A Grand Day Out and A Matter of Loaf and Death were the only Wallace & Gromit short films to not win the Best Animated Short Film Oscar, and A Grand Day Out was still beaten by a different Nick Park short film. I'm just saying, The Wild Robot is the safe bet, Wallace & Gromit is the easy next pick.

 BEST FEATURE - INDEPENDENT

So, as usual I didn't actually see a whole lot of these movies. I saw Flow, and that was it. To be fair, it won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film, and it won a whole bunch of other awards, so I think it's a fairly safe bet that Flow will win. If I had to pick my next pick, I've heard good things about Memoirs of a Snail, so I think I'll go with that. I haven't seen, or even really heard of, the other nominees, but I'm sure they're all worthy of the award.

BEST FX - FEATURE

Let's see, Kung Fu Panda 4? Not likely to win this award. Moana 2, even less likely. Frankly, I think the Annie Awards are just giving lip service to Disney sometimes. The Wild Robot is very much likely to take home this award, and I can also see Ultraman: Rising walking away with it. Though, I'm actually going out on a limb and going to say that the safe bet is Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Again, Wallace & Gromit just collect awards, but also when it comes to visual effects, Aardman usually gets a lot of good praise, so I'm going to pick Wallace & Gromit as my safe bet for this category.

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION - FEATURE

Again, I think Wallace & Gromit has a good chance with this one, again it's because of Aardman. However, I think I'm gonna give the safe bet to The Wild Robot, but frankly I thin it could go to either movie really. I'm kind of impressed Kung Fu Panda 4 is getting a lot of nominations too, it just feels like pitting The Great Khali against The Big Show, like you know which is the better movie of the two immediately. Actually, I think a more apt comparison would be Giant Gonzalez against The Big Show, but that's getting into wrestling history and you're not here for that. Also, Inside Out 2 and Moana 2 are also nominated, I'll give Inside Out 2 third place again.

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION - LIVE ACTION

Every year I talk about this one for a throw-away that I'm only kind of half-serious about. Still would have loved to live in a universe where I can factually say "Annie Award winning movie Cocaine Bear", but I digress. I think I'll give the safe bet to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN - FEATURE

For once, Inside Out 2 is no longer the third most likely to win this award, it has graduated all the way up to second most likely to win this award. Yeah, I don't imagine that many movies are going to win against The Wild Robot, but to be fair, I don't think there really is a "Safe Bet" so to speak for this category, not because all the movies in this category are worthy of the award, but because this one really is down to a matter of taste. That Christmas is also nominated, shame I didn't check that one out. There is also Spellbound which... I can kind of see it walking away with this award, but it doesn't look like anything special. Finally, there is a movie called "Scarygirl" that is nominated and it looks... Well, this is for character design so maybe.

BEST DIRECTION - FEATURE

Chicken for Linda! is our first nominee and... yeah I haven't even heard of this movie, it won a couple of awards, only losing on three nominations, so that's impressive. I'll have to add this movie to my... growing list of movies to check out. Flow is also nominated, and I can see this one taking home the award, the direction of this movie was really good. That Christmas gets another nomination, was it really that good? Of course, I think The Wild Robot is going to be the safe bet, that and Wallace & Gromit as well. I'm not saying it's unlikely that Flow or even Chicken for Linda will get this award, but Chris Sanders and Nick Park are established names in the industry so it's going to be pretty big if they both lose to an Indie film, and frankly it would be kind of amazing.

BEST MUSIC - FEATURE

Hmm, I haven't seen that awful Lord of the Rings movie show up here yet, not complaining, just thought it was worth noting. There's always that one movie you think is going to get some nominations but is almost completely ignored (cough Wish cough). Anyway, we have another movie I haven't heard of here, Kensuke's Kingdom. Piece By Piece also gets its first nominee here, and... I dunno, this one kind of feels like cheating. That Christmas gets another nominee, there is also always that one movie that just gets a lot of nominations. Again, I think the safe pick is The Wild Robot, followed by Wallace & Gromit. I think this is the most thought I've ever put into this category so far.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - FEATURE

Umm... Call me crazy, but I don't think there is really one "Safe Bet" here, I mean sure The Wild Robot is obvious, but it shares the bench with Inside Out 2, Ultraman: Rising and Wallace & Gromit, I think the only safe bet is that That Christmas won't be taking home the award.

BEST STORYBOARDING - FEAUTRE

Holy wow, Despicable Me 4 has a nominee? As does Saving Bikini Bottom? They must have really been desperate to fill this one. It says something when I genuinely think the safest bet here is That Christmas, because Moana 2 and Spellbound do not come off as Annie award winners to me, but I haven't seen either of them so what would I know? I just know that this award might be the least interesting to many viewers.

BEST VOICE ACTING - FEATURE

Mélinée Leclerc gets a nomination for her performance in Chicken for Linda, Maya Hawke gets a nod for Anxiety in Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot has two nominees this year, Lupita Nyong'o as Roz and Kit Connor as Brightbill, and Brian Tyree Henry has a nod for Megatron in Transformers One. Is this really the first nomination Transformers One has? Fascinating. Anyway, I think The Wild Robot is the safe bet again, but Inside Out 2 might be the next pick for me.

BEST WRITING - FEATURE

Wow, Flow got nominated for the category? That is hilarious, wouldn't it be absolutely funny is the movie with no dialogue got this award? And yes, I know that writing doesn't just mean dialogue, but it's heavily associated with dialogue at the very least. Other nominees include Inside Out 2, Kensuke's Kingdom and Memoirs of a Snail. I think I'll take a risk and suggest Memoirs of a Snail will win this award, but that is very much not the safe bet pick here.

BEST EDITORIAL - FEATURE

Oh this category, I never like predicting for this category. Let's see, we have Inside Out 2, Moana 2, The Wild Robot, Ultraman: Rising and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Umm... The Wild Robot, maybe Wallace & Gromit, I don't want to come off as a fanboy championing a movie that has little chance, but like... Ultraman wasn't that good and I didn't watch Inside Out 2, and I have zero interest in anything Moana related, so I wouldn't have any opinions on that.

I think because 2024 was just kind of a "meh" year for animated cinema, the awards do kind of have to nominate the same handful of movies for each category this year. Like, I don't think Kung Fu Panda 4 was bad, but I don't think it will walk away with any awards this ceremony. Same with things like Ultraman, Moana 2, and seriously, how the Hell did Saving Bikini Bottom and Despicable Me 4 get a nomination? How did Transformers One only get one nomination? Okay, to be fair, Transformers One isn't exactly the kind of movie that award ceremonies would be lauding, but still, it could get thrown a bone for Storyboarding? The second worst SpongeBob movie and the most mediocre Illumination movie were more worthy of that award than Transformers One? Anyway, I don't expect The Wild Robot to be a total sweeper like Across the Spider-Verse was, but at the same time, I would not be surprised if it was.

Part 2: The 1990s Annie Awards for Best Animated Feature Are Still Weird (1996-1999)

If you have not read the first part of this post, you can find that link here!

In case you missed the first part, I have a bug up my... sphincter, yeah let's use that word, about award shows, and even though I have a fondness for the Annie Awards, they are still an award show at the end of the day, and award shows are notorious for having weird, off the mark and sometimes just straight up wrong nominees and awards, and the Annie Award is no stranger to nominating stuff that just makes you go... "Eh?". So, inspired by Crash Thompson's Curse of the Best New Artist Grammy videos, which by the way you should absolutely check out, I figured I'd talk about the weird and almost befuddling beginning period of the Best Animated Feature Annie Award, from 1992 until 1999.

So basically, now I'm just gonna wrap up the 1990s, and how... odd the Best Animated Feature Nominees are this decade. I have nothing else to add (Unless there is something I missed in the previous part), so let's get started.

1996

So, a big problem with the Annie Awards in this decade was, like I stated previously, that they didn't really keep their nominees to just "The previous year", I do believe they did have a cut-off date, but because these award ceremonies were often held late in the year, often in November, it meant that they really did have little to no excuses for not nominating certain films. However, even if 1996 was a spectacular year for animated movies (Which we will discuss in a bit), 1995 had a movie that was massive, and changed animation for ever. 1995 was the year that a little animated feature was released to the public, a little animated feature by the name of...

Winner: Toy Story

I mean, come on... this is another case of Beauty and the Beast where literally nothing else could have won that award this year. Unlike 1992 though, there were some other good nominees in 1996, but none of them had the impact as Toy Story did, and the amazing this is, the impact this movie had on animation wouldn't be felt until the 2000s, so Toy Story won based off the quality of the movie alone, though the novelty of it being 3D probably helped a lot.

I'm not the biggest fan of Toy Story, I don't really like the kind of story it tells, but even I can't deny that it is a well-made movie that absolutely deserved the award. It's just that there was also a bit of competition this year.

The Other Nominees: Balto, Ghost in the Shell, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, James and the Giant Peach

Yeah, like Balto was going to have a snowball's chance in Hell of winning this award. Say what you want about the movie, standing between Toy Story and Ghost in the Shell is practically a death sentence to any movie, and yes, this makes Ghost in the Shell our second Anime film to be nominated for this award. Enjoy it while you can because it will take five years before another anime film is nominated and an extra year until one actually wins. If your math is correct, or you looked it up, you probably already know what the first Japanese film to win this award is. Honestly, major dark horse candidate Ghost in the Shell, if Toy Story wasn't in the race, I could imagine this one might have won instead, but then again it might have been too much of an out there choice.

Our contemporary nominees this year are The Hunchback of Notre Dame and James and the Giant Peach. Hunchback is definitely an odd candidate, as it was also nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award in 1997 for "Worst Written Film grossing Over $100 Million", even the joke award is an absolute joke sometimes, to be fair though, The Hunchback of Notre Dame was insanely popular at the Annie Awards, being nominated thirteen different times for nine different awards. It won zero awards that night, it had three nominees for Best Achievement in Voice Acting and still lost to Pinky and the Brain, that is just... sad, but don't feel too sad for the movie though, it did win eight awards in 1997 so it didn't finish the year empty handed.

James and the Giant Peach on the other hand, it was nominated for seven awards, again winning none of them, and honestly... I don't think it really warranted the nomination, it's an okay movie but surely there were better movies to nominate, right?

Snubs:

Well the problem is, both Pocahontas and A Goofy Movie were nominated in 1995, that doesn't leave a whole lot for this year right? Well, kind of, but like with the 1995 awards, the stuff that is available is really worth noting, especially in Japan. It makes total sense that Ghost in the Shell was nominated, but you know what else was released in 1995? There was the third Sailor Moon movie, Sailor Moon SuperS, Slayers - The Motion Picture, and this little movie called Whisper of the Heart. You know, it does sting when one of your favourite movies isn't nominated, I get that, but this one especially hurts.

Over on the American side of things, there isn't really too much. Don Bluth is still losing his magic with The Pebble and the Penguin, another movie that is on my "To do list", and there was also the Gumby movie that... are there any Gumby fans reading this? Overall, this year was pretty solid... as long as you lived in Japan. However, Toonami is just around the corner, so Anime will soon get its foot on American shores.

1997

Like I said, the actual domination of Computer Generated Animation would not be felt until the 2000s, so I can't imagine too many people were thinking about how Toy Story would change the animation industry, but if you were, I can't imagine the 1997 Annie Awards to be anything other than either hilarious or just... unimpressive. Like, the most important animated feature film of the entire decade just won the award, what could follow that?

Winner: Cats Don't Dance

Cats Don't Dance? Really!? This is... kind of an odd choice for them, like I haven't watched Cats Don't Dance yet, but my understanding is that it only really became popular with the advent of the animation community on Social Media. Like, it was a box-office failure, was not promoted at the time and it did not receive a Blu-Ray release until 2023, that is absurdly late for any movie to be given a Blu-Ray release. That all being said, the film has received a lot more praise in the modern era, so this was a very... oddly foretelling nomination... especially considering the other nominees this year.

The Other Nominees: Hercules, Space Jam

Straight up, I'm shocked Hercules did not win. Disney was on top, winning this award every year, except for this one, making this the first year that Disney did not win the Best Animated Feature award... It won't even be the last of this decade either. Even despite that though, if I had to guess why they chose Cats Don't Dance instead... Well, maybe the story and the homages to golden era Hollywood resonated more than... Gerald Scarfe and Michael Bolton being involved in a project Musker and Clements got in so they could do something better.

However, this does also mean that there technically is no "Best Animated Feature of 1996", because a movie from 1995 won in the 1996 awards, and a movie from 1997 won in the 1997 awards. However, considering the only contemporary nominee this year is Space Jam... yeah... I'm not shocked that didn't win. Was there anything else in 1996 that could've been nominated?

Snubs:

I mean... not really. Once again, most of the films that could've been nominated were foreign releases. Slayers Return and X are our big anime movies this year, and we actually have something from Brazil this time. Another early CG Animated Feature called Cassiopeia, it doesn't seem like it was ever released in America, but we are starting to see the effects of Toy Story on animation. Though, it does seem like this movie is to Toy Story as Fleischer Studio's Gulliver's Travels was to Disney's Snow White.

As for domestic films, believe it or not, there are only two that I think could have gotten nominated, and one of them is All Dogs Go to Heaven 2. Yeah, I was kinda surprised that this one was released theatrically, but it was. This was apparently the last animated feature released theatrically by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios until the late 2000s. I mean, I don't think it would have won, but it could have been eligible for a nomination. However, you know what movie I'm both really shocked, and absolutely not shocked that it wasn't nominated this year? Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. I mean, on the one hand, it's a pretty good movie, but on the other hand... I mean, it's Beavis and Butt-Head, I can't really imagine Beavis and Butt-Head at any kind of Award show.

I guess I can't really be to shocked that there was practically nothing released this year, while Disney was on top of the Animation world this decade, lots of others were trying to copy their success to mixed results. Speaking of Disney!

1998

The year is 1998, I was born, but more importantly... Okay I have nothing to introduce this year. That is a big problem with the Annie Awards being held late in the year and not keeping the nominees to movies from the previous year. You can't really talk about what was going on in animation, especially when you should be talking about animation in 1997, but the award winner is a movie from 1998.

Winner: Mulan

I'm going to be honest, I'm not surprised that Mulan won the award, but I'm also not impressed either. Like, it's kind of a Beauty and the Beast thing, where I feel they purposefully selected nominees nobody would vote for just so they could hand the award to Mulan, and when I say "Nobody would have voted for these nominees", folks... I really do mean nobody would have voted for these movies.

The Other Nominees: Anastasia, Quest for Camelot, I Married a Strange Person!

Okay, to be fair, I can imagine some people voting for Anastasia, Don Bluth was finally getting back on track with his films after a series of bizarre messes, and while I don't think it's a great movie, I can definitely say there are weirder choices, like the sophomore feature by Bill Plympton. I told you to remember that statement because I Married a Strange Person! was nominated for the award this year. This movie has been on my watchlist, but like... there's practically nothing on Wikipedia about this movie, just a literal one sentence introductory line, a plot summary and a cast list, no production history, no reception, no release history, it either says something about the impact of this movie, the fanbase, or just Wikipedia in general.

However, I could still see someone, literally just one or two people, voting for it. I can't see anyone voting for the contemporary nominee that year. I mean, out of all the movies released in early and Mid 1998, why on Earth, with any sense of sincerity, nominate Quest for Camelot? Why?

Snubs:

Well, their might not have been much else to nominate that year. Literally everything I could find that could have been eligible, was also a foreign film that probably didn't see much of a major release in the United States, unless you want to count that direct-to-video Christmas Carol movie that I previously reviewed. There was Pippi Longstocking, which did get a theatrical release, but I doubt that got much attention from the folks at the Annie Awards. Of course, we also have our usual spattering of Anime films that probably would not have been nominated, The End of Evangelion, Princess Mononoke and Perfect Blue all being released in 1997.

Honestly, I think any of these would have probably been a better nominee than Quest for Camelot, but I guess this is just a case of hindsight being 20/20. Wait, no it isn't, Quest for Camelot was a commercial flop and a critical failure, nobody looked at Quest for Camelot and said "Hey, this movie is worthy of winning an award for being the best". Did they really pick it to guarantee Mulan won the award?

1999

Alright, finally, 1999, and I just have to comment, this year's nominees are all really solid. We don't have a case of "Well their just wasn't anything else to nominate" here, every single one of these movies, I feel, could have walked away with the award. So the winner of this award had to be something extra special, and was it?

Winner: The Iron Giant

It has been quite a while since I last watched The Iron Giant, but I can safely say... yeah, this movie earned the award. Frankly, this should have been the movie that made Warner Bros. bounce back from Quest for Camelot, but the box office was arguably worse on this movie. Still, I think this victory makes sense, even if it had some stiff competition.

The Other Nominees: A Bug's Life, The Prince of Egypt, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Tarzan

I'll start with the two movies from 1998 here, A Bug's Life and The Prince of Egypt. Starting with the least likely to win the award, A Bug's Life is honestly one that I'd be shocked if it won, but I'm also a tiny bit shocked didn't win. Again, the whole novelty of being a Computer Generated movie I think would have given it a small edge, but I guess this just goes to show that Toy Story was awarded for the story and not the animation. The Prince of Egypt on the other hand, like I said in my review, is practically an epic, but maybe it was a little bit much to win the award. The Prince of Egypt is a fantastic movie, but it's kind of a movie you really have to be in a proper mood to watch, not just something you throw on for sheer entertainment... honestly, I'd probably have given it the award for that factor alone, but maybe they wanted something a bit more middle ground.

As for the contemporary nominees, I think Tarzan would have been the least likely movie out of all of these to win the award. Not that it's a bad movie, honestly I really like Tarzan, but it's not anything special, like the previous three movies, in their own ways, were special, and even South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is special in some way. Tarzan is just a really solid movie. Though, on that same subject, I am really not at all shocked South Park didn't win the award either, I mean at 399 uses of the F-Bomb, this would have probably been a very controversial win, honestly I'm surprised it was even nominated, but if a movie is really that good, anything is possible I guess.

Snubs:

Frankly, I think all the movies that should have been nominated from 1998, were nominated. There really is not much else that could have been nominated from 1998, like what do we have leftover? Antz and The Rugrats Movie. That is really it on the American side.

Foreign Animated films don't really stand much better to be honest, I think the biggest release from outside of the United States would be Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back, considering this was when the show was starting to air in America, the movie being nominated would have been really confusing at the time. There is also an Italian film named Lucky and Zorba, and a French film called Kirikou and the Sorceress... I may have to give that a look sometime in the future.

But really, everything that should've been nominated from 1998, was nominated if not in 1999 than in 1998, y'know except for Quest for Camelot, yeah that definitely deserved a nod over Antz.

And that wraps up the Best Animated Feature Annie Award for the 1990s, honestly, this was kind of a fun little look back on the award, and the history of animated cinema. It was fun looking at what movies won, what else was nominated, what got snubbed and why. I definitely would like to carry on into the 2000s and 2010s, and maybe look at other awards as well, maybe also do some speculating on years previous for what movies could have been nominated, what movies might have won, and what movies I think should have won. Though, right now, I think I want a small break from the Annie Awards, so I'll see you next time.

Part 1: The 1990s Annie Awards for Best Animated Feature Are Weird (1992-1995)

So... Award Shows are stupid right? I mean we know at this point it's all just advertising so they can say "This was nominated for and/or won a prestigious award" and it's all just nonsense, yes even the Annie Awards are nonsense. I still got to love them though, this is often how I learn of many animated projects, movies to check out, shorts to look up, TV shows to... put on my back burner and ultimately never get around the watching them, but that does not change the fact that at the core, the Annie Awards are still just an award show, and it's all unnecessary and pointless. I made comments about how Across the Spider-Verse swept the award ceremony and that it was boring that it happened, but at the end of the day, I don't really care. Nimona is still the better movie, fight me, and we would still go flock to the theatres to see the next Spider-Verse movie, even if it didn't win a single award because that is just what we do.

But one of the things I do have to admire about award shows is that they are such a great window into the past. You look at the awards that were given to which movies or shows or music or what have you and you just have to think, "What made them pick this?". You notice this a lot with the really big awards, notably the Oscars and the Grammy Awards, they have some really big categories that everyone pays attention to because they always get it wrong and there was always something better they could have chosen. I hate to say it but... sometimes the Annie Awards are like that too, and I want to try something new. I'm going to look at the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, year by year, and kind of discuss why I think the films that won the award did so, what else was nominated and any movies that could have been nominated but weren't, and why they might not have been. Kind of like what Crash Thompson is doing with the Best New Artist Grammy, except not as funny.

With all of that said, let's start with the 1990s, because this is the year the Annie Awards began and... this is when the weirdest things happened. I'll be specifically looking at the "Best Animated Feature" category, but maybe in the future I'll look into the other categories. So, let's begin with 1990... my mistake, the Best Animated Feature Category didn't exist until the 20th Annie Awards in 1992... Even though the award has existed since 1972, this is a topic for another day, 1992!

1992

So, 1992 was the first year the Best Animated Feature award was a thing, so this very monumentous first award had to be given to a very special movie, a movie that really gives the medium of animation a good name, something big, important, high quality. Now, the good news is that a movie of that status was awarded that night, the problem is that the movie in question was released in 1991.

Winner: Beauty and the Beast

Now this isn't a knock against Beauty and the Beast, I mean I'm dumb but not dumb enough to anger a bunch of animation fans and invite them to trample me to death. Beauty and the Beast absolutely deserved this win, I mean it was the first animated movie to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, it was the first animated feature to win the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in the Musical or Comedy category, I mean, this movie was a pretty big deal, so why is the 1991 release date a problem? Well, the other two nominees of that year, weren't 1991 releases, they were 1992 releases.

Stuff like this happens for multiple reasons, and in this case it's because the Annie Awards were usually held in November, but for the sake of simplicity, when I talk about the "Snubs", I'm only going to talk about movies from 1991. However, what were those two movies from 1992 that absolutely needed that "early" nomination?

The Other Nominees: Bebe's Kids, FernGully: The Last Rainforest

Does anyone else think that they picked these movies specifically to ensure that Beauty and the Beast won the award? I've never seen Bebe's Kids, but from my understanding it's one of those animated movies that... people forgot about, y'know until internet morons remembered it so we didn't have to, and as for FernGully, I've already reviewed that movie, so you know exactly my thoughts on the matter, but to summarize, FernGully is a boring, preachy, slog of a movie. What I'm saying is, I don't think these movies really deserved the nomination, I mean, wasn't there anything else from 1991 that could've been nominated?

Snubs:

So, 1991 wasn't an absolutely barren year for animated movies, but... it wasn't a particularly great one. I think the biggest snubs from this year were mostly movies that were released in Japan, stuff like Only Yesterday, which didn't get any release outside of Japan until 2006, and Roujin Z, which would not be released outside of Japan until 1994. Otherwise, there is a Ranma ½ movie, a Doraemon movie, and a couple Dragon Ball Z movies, I dunno, are Cooler's Revenge and Lord Slug considered high points in the DBZ movie series?

Outside of Japan though... it's pretty slim pickings, Don Bluth fully looses control of what made his work so great with Rock-a-Doodle, another movie I reviewed, Rover Dangerfield was also released that year, and it's another movie people forgot about until some critic reviewed way back when, and as far as I can tell, the only other movies that anyone might know anything about from '91, were The Princess and the Goblin, a Hungarian and British co-production based on a book from 1872, and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West... I mean, this one might have been a nominee, but you only know of this one if you had it on VHS because your Mom thought the first movie was too much for you as a kid.

So really, Beauty and the Beast was like, the only pick for 1991. Maybe if they released them in the U.S. earlier, Only Yesterday and Roujin Z could have been nominated, I guess An American Tail: Fievel Goes West could have gotten a nod to, but it sure as hay would not have walked away with that award. I'm also really confused at why they didn't nominate any other movie from 1991, I mean... what does that leave for next year?

1993

Okay, it is now 1993, we had out big inaugural award to give out, now we gotta actually start taking this category a bit more seriously, right? Right?

Winner: Aladdin

Okay, I'm not going to say Aladdin is a bad choice, it's not my favourite of the Disney animated canon, or even of the Disney Renaissance, but it's a solid movie, I like it fine. I dunno, they'd really have to have nominated some really lesser movies to make me think this was the only choice.

The Other Nominees: Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, Once Upon a Forest

Okay, for those of you who are thinking "But Little Nemo was originally released in 1989", you're right, but this is a technicality, Japanese animation wasn't as big in the nineties as it is now, so it took a while for their movies to cross over, so while Little Nemo was a 1989 release in Japan, in the United States it was released in 1992, so it is a bit "rules lawyering" but by technicality it counts. Otherwise, I haven't seen this movie either, I've heard it's not good, even from a fan of the Little Nemo comics, it is on my list of movies to review.

What I have seen is Once Upon a Forest and... I mean it's not the worst movie ever but... it's not very good. Also, it's a 1993 release, get used to this because the Annie Awards wouldn't have consistency in this department until 2004, I wish I was kidding.

Snubs:

1992 was also a slow year in terms of animated movies, like I can't think of very many "Big" animated movies from this year, there was Porco Rosso, which wouldn't hit the U.S. Shores until 2005, and there was the Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation movie, but that was Direct-to-Video so it probably wouldn't count anyway.

I think the only other "Well known" movies from this year would be Ralph Bakshi's Cool World, which... boy would that have been a wild choice, and Freddie as F.R.O. 7 which... you only know because small time animation reviewers talked about it, if you know it at all. Otherwise, there was a Japanese and Indian co-production called Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, might add that to the watchlist, Comet in Moominland , the first full-length Moomin film, but it doesn't seem like it was released in America at all, and there's a Bill Plympton musical-comedy called The Tune. Boy would I love to see the day Bill Plympton is nominated. Remember that statement.

So, 1992 was a bit of a bad year for animated movies, but still, I can imagine the Tiny Toon Adventures movie could have been nominated if they took direct-to-video films into account, Cool World would have been such an "out there" choice, and again some foreign films that never seemed to make it to the U.S., but surely the next year has to be better, right?

1994

The year is 1994, we're looking at the movies of 1993, there might not be much, but surely we can keep some kind of consistency here right? 1992 had a movie from 1991, 1993 had a movie from 1992, so 1994 has to have a movie from 1993 win the award, right?

Winner: The Lion King

Oh you are kidding me, right? Okay, well I guess The Lion King fell into the parameters of being eligible for this year, even if it's not at all consistent with the established norm, but again, an established norm wouldn't happen until 2004 so... bear with me here. I mean, I guess it's fair that this movie won the award, but if we're looking for movies from 1993, you had two really good choices alongside this one!

The Other Nominees: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, The Nightmare Before Christmas

Okay, so I've reviewed both of these movies, Mask of the Phantasm is an absolutely fantastic Batman adventure, and it's kind of a shame it didn't win the award, but I mean if you're going up against the Highest Grossing Animated Movie of the time, of course you're gonna lose, especially if you didn't even make your budget back at the box office. However, if there was no Lion King nomination for that year, I am absolutely certain the award would have gone to The Nightmare Before Christmas, because of just how unique it was at the time. Alas, The Lion King managed to eek in there, so it practically got handed the golden zoetrope on a silver plate.

Snubs:

Okay, straight up, 1993 was actually not a good year for animated movies. Yes, Mask of the Phantasm and Nightmare Before Christmas we're released, but you know what else was released in 1993? The Thief and the Cobbler, at least the version that was released as "The Princess and the Cobbler", the version that I reviewed, which was released as "Arabian Knight", was released in 1995, so the worst version wouldn't be up for nomination this year, but still. Also released in 1993 was We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, also on my "to review" list, and two other infamous movies that I have also previously reviewed we're also released this year, in America anyway. 1993 was the year that American audiences we're able to see the glorious garbage fires known as The Magic Voyage and Tom and Jerry: The Movie. Yeah, I know all sources say it Tom and Jerry was released in 1992, but that was in Germany and it didn't reach U.S. shores until 1993.

Was there anything good released in '93 outside of what was nominated? Well, there was Ninja Scroll, which I've heard good things about, but again it wouldn't be released in America that year, so it's tough to really consider it as a nominee. It's actually kind of dumb that the Annie Awards wouldn't really incorporate foreign animation until later, but I guess that is just what happens when world-wide communication is not at its peak yet.

1995

Okay, so 1995, the year that The Lion King should have been the winner, which technically means that there is no "best animated feature of 1993", but hey it's a new year, and a bunch of new movies are bound to get some attention. So, if The Lion King doesn't the award this year, what movie from 1994 does get it?

Winner: Pocahontas

Oh... so our second winner that is actually from the year the ceremony is held. Really, Pocahontas? This movie has a bit of a reputation to it, and frankly... it's kind of one that I don't want to review, because I am really not prepared to talk about this movie. Let's move on before I say something stupid.

The Other Nominees: A Goofy Movie, The Swan Princess

A Goofy Movie is also from 1995, so you would think this year would be when they finally decided to have some consistency with this, but it's not. Still, A Goofy Movie is an interesting choice here, it's actually kind of like the opposite of Pocahontas, with Pocahontas becoming less popular overtime, while A Goofy Movie has kind of become more beloved. So, I'd say good on them for nominating this, but it's also kind of like the only good choice this year because the only nominee from 1994 is The Swan Princess, and that movie sucks.

Snubs:

To be absolutely fair, it's not like 1994 had a killer line-up, but it had some good stuff that... if they were able to nominate them, would've been really cool to be nominated. Pom Poko was released in 1994, though stay tuned folks, it won't be long for a second anime film to get a nomination, though it won't be from Studio Ghibli. There was an Asterix movie this year, Asterix Conquers America, mostly a direct-to-video release in Europe but it was a thing. Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie was also released this year, though even if that was nominated, I wouldn't have put money on it winning. Speaking of movies that definitely would not have won the award even if they were nominated, 1994 was the year that a little German animated movie called Felidae was released, and quite frankly, if I were making my own list of nominees, you'd better believe I would be behind this movie one-hundred percent.

However, 1994 was also the year of Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park and The Pagemaster, so it obviously wasn't that great a year. Still, there was a good selection of films released in 1994, it's just that none of them were released in America, or at least not released in that year. Which is a shame because, I absolutely would have loved it if Felidae got a nomination.

And I think I'm gonna stop it here for now, trust me we still have a lot of weird stuff to go over, so I'm not done. However, I do need to keep this to a reasonable length, and four years is the half-way point for the Annie Awards in the 1990s, again they didn't have this category in 1990 or 1991, so what could have been the nominees for those years, we just have to speculate. Actually, put a pin in that idea, I may do that speculating some day in the future. As for now, let's put this little blast from the past on hold. See you guys for 1996 to 1999.

The 2024 Annie Award Nominees Have Been Announced

 

I had a lot of fun with the 2023 Annie Award Predictions blog last year, and since I don't have much else to talk about in January, why not do this again? I mean, SAG-AFTRA getting into A.I? Okay yeah that is really bad, like seriously what the Hell? That was literally a massive part of the strikes, this is just stupid. Anyway, last year I did check out the Annie Awards, so I actually am kind of excited for them this year. I don't really care for a lot of discussion around award shows, but in a historical sense, it is kind of fun. So, I'm gonna make my predictions, and as a bonus if I am wrong, or the award winner is one I disagree with, you don't have to read about my complaining about it.

As usual I'm only going to talk about the awards for Features, because I don't watch a lot of TV so this just makes it easier on myself, plus with all the categories, this makes it less to read. If you read my blog from last year you know how this will work, if not, I'll introduce each category, talk about the nominees and who I think will win and who I want to win. You can check out the Nominees for this year here: https://annieawards.org/nominations

With that said, let's talk Nominees!

BEST FEATURE:

All in all I would say that this year's Best Feature awards are looking really strong, literally any movie could walk away with this award and I think everyone would understand. While I think Suzume is a strong, if a bit of a dark horse candidate, I think it will ultimately be down to The Boy and the Heron, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Nimona. If I had to pick which is most likely to win, it's kind of tough, I mean last year was pretty clear that it was gonna be Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, but this year I think those three have equal chances of winning. Into the Spider-Verse won the award in 2018, but at the same time only two sequels won the award alongside their predecessor, those being Toy Story 2 and How to Train Your Dragon 2. I dunno, I wouldn't be surprised if Spider-Verse was the third franchise in this list.

How did Kung Fu Panda 2 lose to Rango? Anyway, I think Across the Spider-Verse is the most likely to win this one, but you know which movie I would love to see win this award? Nimona, and not just because it's my pick for best animated movie of 2023, I want it to win for more... spiteful reasons? It's pretty common knowledge now that Nimona was allegedly cancelled as a Blue Sky movie because of Bob Chapek's homophobia, and I'm just saying if it does win Best Feature and the Annies, I mean I was already hoping he is kicking himself after how successful the movie became, but this would just add salt to the wound.

I wouldn't be surprised if Boy and The Heron Won, giving Studio Ghibli their second Best Feature award since Spirited Away, but I think it will ultimately go to Across the Spider-Verse, and I would prefer it go to Nimona. Oh yeah, there's also some Turtle movie in the list, I don't know.

BEST INDIE FEATURE:

Um... I didn't watch any of these movies so I don't really have any predictions or opinions about this one. Last year I did have some views because looking back on it, I was definitely way to hard on 2022, that year had a great selection of animated movies, and it showed with the fact that I managed to watch two of the five nominees for this category that year. I was surprised Marcel The Shell With Shoes On took home the award, but I was super happy it did because that was my favourite movie of the year.

I guess if I had to pick I'd probably pick Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia, but that's like the only nominee I've heard about. I dunno, maybe Four Souls of Coyote or Robot Dreams or The Inventor or White Plastic Sky will take home the award and I'll look like a fool, but I won't be surprised if Ernest & Celestine take the award this year. They lost to Frozen in 2013, so did the Wind Rises actually, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is the movie most people expect to win this award.

BEST FX - FEATURE:

Oh boy, this one is gonna be tough. Well, not really but this is a pretty varied category this year. We have Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Elemental, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Vere, Suzume, and a film called The Peasants. I think Across the Spider-Verse is the most likely to take this one home. The live-action mixing and different art-styles really makes it stand-out amongst the rest of the nominees. I think I would like Suzume to win this one, because I do think it deserves at least one award, and probably won't win one, but I think it will go to Across the Spider-Verse. I mean the first movie didn't get nominated for effects in 2018, so this is their chance to make up for that.

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION - FEATURE:

Oh boy this one is pretty tough. I don't think Nimona will take this one, it's probably the least likely to win this award in my opinion, though it would be awesome if it won. I think this one will come down to Elemental and Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Though my track record is hilariously off with this award, considering that last year I thought that Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was least likely to win this award, since Turning Red and The Bad Guys both had two nominations in the category, but what do you know, I was wrong.

As an aside, I'm so happy The Amazing Digital Circus got nominated for Best Character Animation - TV/Media. Dark horse candidate truly, but hopefully it takes home the award.

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION - LIVE-ACTION:

Cocaine Bear got a nomination in this category, so screw it, GO COCAINE BEAR! I want to live in a world where I can say "The Annie Award winning movie Cocaine Bear"!

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN - FEATURE:

As much as Elemental is a strong contender for this award, I do think it will be down to Nimona or Across the Spider-Verse, again. I think these movies will be neck and neck for a lot of awards this year. Both films were very stylized with a comic book feel so it does seem likely one of them will take the award. I looked up Robot Dreams to see what it looks like, I don't want to be rude, but it doesn't really look like it will be taking home the award, if it does I will genuinely be shocked. As for the final nominee, Merry Little Batman... I don't have many thoughts really.

BEST DIRECTION - FEATURE:

It's tough to really pick for this category because I've only seen three of the five nominees. On the one hand I do think it could be down to Nimona and Spider-Verse again, but at the same time The Boy and the Heron is also a strong candidate, Miyazaki definitely deserves that award too. On the other hand, Robot Dreams could have had amazing direction but I wouldn't know because I didn't watch it. I guess I'll be fair and give it a little leeway with this category, it isn't like the big features are shoe-ins for this category either, but it seems more likely to me that Nimona, Spider-Verse or Boy and the Heron will take home this award.

Also, that Turtle movie is nominated again... hmm.

BEST MUSIC - FEATURE:

I have nothing for this category... umm... I guess I'll pick Elemental as my most likely to win and Suzume as my preferred winner. Spider-Verse, Ninja Turtles and Boy and the Heron will probably also have a chance but uh... yeah I'm pretty useless with this category.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - FEATURE:

Okay, let's not talk about Nimona and Across the Spider-Verse again and talk about the other nominations. Elemental does have a chance, and removing the other two movies, I think it is most likely to win. I jest a lot but I do say Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is also a strong candidate, and The Boy and the Heron is probably my other preferred winner of this category. You know, I think Ruby Gillman might have also stood a chance in this category, just not in any other category.

BEST STORYBOARDING - FEATURE:

Another Robot Dreams nomination... There is always one movie that gets a bunch of nominations that I haven't seen, I'll have to add Robot Dreams to my watchlist. I think I'll say that Nimona, shockingly, if my preferred pick, but as for likely pick... I want to say Nimona as well, but Suzume is also a strong contender in my opinion.

BEST VOICE ACTIONG - FEATURE:

Lets see, we have David Hornsby in Merry Little Batman, Tresi Gazal in Migration, Chloe Grace Moretz in Nimona, Hokuto Matsumura in Suzume and Jack Black in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Is that the first nomination for the Super Mario Bros. Movie? Really? Wow, I thought it would have gotten a couple more by now. Anyway, I'm hoping for Nimona to take home this award, though I wouldn't be shocked if it went to Jack Black. I don't think I'd agree with it though, Jack Black's performance was one of my criticisms of the movie, but still I wouldn't be surprised.

BEST WRITING - FEATURE:

Damn, Nimona's gotten a lot of nominations... or... NIMONA-tions... eh?

Anyway, another Robot Dreams nomination, and Suzume is getting a surprising amount of nominations too. The Boy and The Heron is also likely to win, and more Turtles. I can't really pick one, so I'll just pick Nimona and Suzume.

BEST EDITORIAL - FEATURE:

Finally we have best editorial, which the nominees are... pretty okay. This is Leo's first nomination for an award, which is weird considering all the buzz it got, but I guess being better than a mediocre Disney movie only gets you so far. Elemental has another nomination, and it has a pretty good chance of winning. Again, Nimona and Spider-Verse are neck and neck for this award, I think I'll actually have to give it to Spider-Verse, everything that had to be edited together in that movie was pretty impressive. Oh, and that Ninja Turtles movie got nominated again... so that's neat.

I just realized, I said I would share my thoughts on last years winners. I don't think I ever got around to that... whoops. Well I won't be promising anything this year, I may live-tweet the ceremony but barring that once everything is finished, it'll be finished. The awards will take place on February 17th this year, so hopefully I'll be able to catch them.

Ultimately, I think most of the awards will go to Nimona or Across the Spider-Verse, those movies were both just really good, and should get a bunch of awards, and I can't think of any movie that I think shouldn't have been nominated. For as much as I say I'm done with Ninja Turtles, I'm happy it has some nominations, I'm surprised some movies only got nominated once, like Ernest & Celestine, Ruby Gillman and Leo. Still, not much left to do but wait and see, maybe I'll be surprised. Until then, I'll see you in February.

Also, I am absolutely rooting for The Amazing Digital Circus!

Editorial: 2023 Annie Awards Predictions

Truth be told, I really should stop taking breaks from work without a solid plan of what I'm gonna do during that break. Oh well, month's almost over, so what can you do? Anyway, the nominees for the Annie Awards are out. Granted I'm about as enthused for the Annie Awards as any other award show, but since this one is all about animation I'll give it an advantage that the Oscars don't get. Now, the actual awards show won't be until February 25th, so this gives us animation fans plenty of time to speculate which movie will win what award, and complain about some movie getting snubbed, because that just comes with the territory. So, that's what I'm gonna do, because this sounds fun.

To make this easy on myself, and on you, I'm only going to bring up the categories for features, there are a lot of categories even putting aside all the TV and Special Production categories, so there's going to be a lot. For sake of ease, I'm going to introduce the categories and then discuss which of the nominees I think will win. This does mean I'll be overlooking quite a lot of nominees, so if you want to check out the full list of nominees, here's the link for you: https://annieawards.org/legacy/50th-annie-awards

Enough beating around the bush, let's go.

Best Feature:

Ultimately, I think the Best Feature award is gonna come down between two movies, and while my choice would be for The Sea Beast or Wendell & Wild, I think the two movies that are really in the running for this award are Turning Red and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. Of the two movies, I have to go with Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, I feel like that one is the big shoe in for most of the awards this year.

Best Indie Feature:

While I loved Charlotte, and would not be shocked if Inu-Oh or Little Nicholas, Happy As Can Be got the award, I think the two movies that are most likely to win are Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and My Father's Dragon. I didn't watch My Father's Dragon, but I know that the Annie Awards love Cartoon Saloon, and since The Breadwinner and Wolfwalkers were both previously award winners in this category, I'd say it's a safe bet that My Father's Dragon will make the record three for three.

Best FX - Feature:

This is a...weird series of nominations. Not that Lightyear and The Sea Beast aren't worthy of this nomination, but I wouldn't say they were award winning good. The two major movies I think are most likely to win are Avatar: The Way of Water and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. again, I'm positive Pinocchio will take home most of the awards it is nominated for, though Avatar is... Avatar so.. we'll see.

Best Character Animation - Feature:

Two different character animators for both Turning Red and The Bad Guys got nominated here. Meaning this is one of the few categories I doubt Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio will take home.

Best Character Animation - Live Action:

I'm betting on Avatar: The Way of Water for this one.

Best Character Design - Feature:

Somehow Luck got nominated for this category, I really don't see it winning. Also Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie got nominated and after being told I had no taste because I didn't like the first few episodes, I'm pretty much done with Ninja Turtles. I'm hoping this one mostly goes to The Bad Guys or Wendell & Wild, though Puss in Boots: The Last Wish may also be a top contender. I missed out on that one, so I wouldn't know.

Best Direction - Feature:

I think all the nominees for this category are fair choices. Domee Shi for Turning Red, Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson for Pinocchio, Dean Fleischer-Cap, Kirtsen Lepore and Stepehn Chiodo for Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, Nora Twomey for My Father's Dragon, and Henry Selick for Wendell & Wild, all excellent picks. Again, I'm pinning Turning Red and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio as the most likely to win in this category. Though I'm rooting for Marcel The Shell With Shoes On.

Best Music - Feature:

Err... I don't actually remember a lot of the music for most of these movies, and I have not seen Mad God at all so... I'll bet on Turning Red here.

Best Production Design - Feature:

Another Mad God nomination, I may have to check that one out. Anyway, I think this one is likely to go to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. Though The Sea Beast and The Bad Guys would also be solid winners.

Best Storyboarding - Feature:

Two nominations for Minions: The Rise of Gru and Strange World. Because I actually have seen those movies, I'm gonna say Puss In Boots: The Last Wish should win.

Best Voice Acting - Feature:

I feel like this one is likely to go to Gregory Mann in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, but I do hope that it goes to Jenny Slate in Marcel The Shell With Shoes On. To be fair, David Bradley's performance in Pinocchio was also really good, shame Ewan McGregor wasn't nominated.

Best Writing - Feature:

Four nominees this time, and I only watched two of them. I'm positive it's going to go to Turning Red, but it's likely to also go to the other three nominees, ETERNAL SPRING, Inu-Oh, and Marcel The Shell With Shoes On.

Best Editorial - Feature:

Again, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is likely to win this one, but I hope The Sea Beast gets it. I dunno, I really don't pay that much to editing unless it's really distracting.

Well, that was a lot. Either way, come February I'll be looking at the award winners and sharing my thoughts on them. I eager to see which movies take home the awards, even if I'm betting most of them go to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio or Turning Red, but hey, I've been surprised by award shoes before. I'm also excited to see who gets the special awards this year, but until then, I'll see you in February with review number 75. See you then!

Seriously... does John Lassetter still have friends in the Annie Awards Sphere? How else did Luck get a nomination?