Oscar Nom Nom time...

Animated Feature Film
• Coraline Henry Selick
• Fantastic Mr. Fox Wes Anderson
• The Princess and the Frog John Musker and Ron Clements
• The Secret of Kells Tomm Moore
• Up Pete Docter

Again, Ponyo gets shut out. The Secret of Kells is a surprise, although the small distribution company, Cartoon Saloon, that did a small release of the movie in December pushed it and pushed it hard. Kells is already a winner if it wins or not for the nomination.

My pick is Up, though. I mean Princess and the Frog is a sentimental favorite because it's the return to form of Disney traditional animation and also the first 2D Pixar film. But Up is just masterful, affecting, effective and powerful. Up also was nominated for BEST PICTURE, and it deserves it. This is one freaking POWERFUL movie. The game-changing possibility of Ed Asner being nominated as Best Actor for his voice performance in Up did not materialize, sadly.

Short Film (Animated)
• French Roast Fabrice O. Joubert
• Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
• The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) Javier Recio Garcia
• Logorama Nicolas Schmerkin
• A Matter of Loaf and Death Nick Park

Another example of the disconnect between Annie Awards and Academy Awards short-subject nominations. If you did a Venn diagram of the nominations for the same category in each horse race, there would be no intersection. It is shocking that Nick Park didn't get nominated by the Annie nominators. Aardman Animation is usually an Annie favorite, and would have easily trounced those in the field for the Short Subject Annie, especially considering the weakness of the field. Pups Of Liberty WTF???

Music (Original Score)
• Avatar James Horner
• Fantastic Mr. Fox Alexandre Desplat
• The Hurt Locker Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
• Sherlock Holmes Hans Zimmer
• Up Michael Giacchino

Randy Newman's song-oriented score for Princess and the Frog was disqualified about a month ago, so the lack of score nom was not a surprise. Joe Hishaishi's brilliant score for Ponyo, however, was shut out. :P

Music (Original Song)
• “Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Loin de Paname” from Paris 36 Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
• “Take It All” from Nine Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
• “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from Crazy Heart Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Love that song "Almost There." But "The Weary Kind" is the favorite. Too bad, Randy Newman deserves some love for his authentic take on the musics of New Orleans.

Skiddoosh! It's a shocker at the Annies as Kung Fu Panda lays the smack down on Wall-E

Kung Fu Panda dominated the Annies, surprising all who expected Wall-E in a similar position. Here's the list of winners:

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES
Best Animated Feature
Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Best Animated Home Entertainment Production
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs – The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Best Animated Short Subject
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death – Aardman Animations Ltd.

Best Animated Television Commercial
United Airlines “Heart” – Duck Studios

Best Animated Television Production
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Nickelodeon

Best Animated Video Game
Kung Fu Panda – Activision

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES
Animated Effects
Li-Ming Lawrence Lee Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Feature Production
James Baxter Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form
Pierre Perifel Secrets of the Furious Five – DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Nico Marlet Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Nico Marlet Secrets of the Furious Five – DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Feature Production
John Stevenson & Mark Osborne Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Joaquim Dos Santos – Avatar: The Last Airbender “Sozin’s Comet Pt. 3” – Nickelodeon

Music in an Animated Feature Production
Hans Zimmer & John Powell – Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer & John Powell – Secrets of the Furious Five – DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Tang Heng -- Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Tang Heng -- Secrets of the Furious Five – DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Jen Yuh Nelson – Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Chris Williams -- Glago’s Guest – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Dustin Hoffman – Voice of Shifu – Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Ahmed Best – Voice of Jar Jar Binks – Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine

Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Jon Aibel & Glenn Berger – Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation

Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Wells, Breckin Meyer – Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II – ShadowMachine

JURIED AWARDS
Winsor McCay recipients - Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park for career contributions to the art of animation
June Foray award - Bill Turner for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation
Certificate of Merit award - Amir Avni, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner, Alex Vassilev