Kung Fu Panda sweeps Annies, Oscar next?

DreamWorks Animation Kung Fu Panda and Furious Five dominate 36th Annual Annie Awards

By Gabrielle Pantera

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 1/30/09 – The ASIFA Animation Awards or Annies were held last night at Royce Auditorium on the campus of UCLA. The feature Kung Fu Panda and its short Secrets of the Furious Five won a total of 15 Annie Awards. Billy Crystal presented Disney Pixar’s John Lasseter an award for career contributions to the art of animation.

The Awards were presented by the Los Angeles chapter of ASIFA, the Association Internationale du Film D’Animation. The Annie Awards honored achievement and excellence in 24 categories, including Best Animated Feature Kung Fu Panda, Best Animated Television Production Robot Chicken, and Best Animated Video Game Activision Kung Fu Panda.

Kung Fu Panda won eleven Annie Awards: Best Feature, Production Design, Storyboarding, Dustin Hoffman for Voice Acting, Writing, Best Animated Video Game, Animated Effects, Character Animation, Character Design, Directing, and Music.

Secrets of the Furious Five won four awards: Character Animation, Character Design, Music, Production Design.

Other multiple Annie Award winners were Avatar and Robot Chicken.

Avatar: The Last Airbender “Sozin’s Comet Pt. 3” won for Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children and for Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

ShadowMachine  Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II won for Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form, to Ahmed Best for the voice of Jar Jar Binks and for Best Animated Television Production.

Complete List of Nominees
(winners in bold)

Best Animated Feature
Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation*
Bolt – Walt Disney Animation Studios
$9.99 – Sherman Pictures/Lama Films
Wall·E – Pixar Animation Studios
Waltz With Bashir – Sony Pictures Classics, Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films

Best Animated Home Entertainment Production
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs – The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment*
Batman: Gotham Knight – Warner Bros. Animation
Christmas Is Here Again – Easy To Dream Entertainment in association with Renegade Animation
Justice League: The New Frontier – Warner Bros. Animation
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning – DisneyToon Studios

Best Animated Short Subject
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death – Aardman Animations Ltd.*
Glago’s Guest – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Hot Dog – Bill Plympton Studio
Presto – Pixar Animation Studios
Sebastian’s Voodoo – Joaquin Baldwin

Best Animated Television Commercial
United Airlines “Heart” – Duck Studios*
Giant Monster – Curious Pictures
Long Legs Mr. Hyde – Curious Pictures
Rotofugi: The Collectors – Screen Novelties/RSA Films
Sarah – Z Animation

Best Animated Television Production
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II – ShadowMachine*
King of the Hill – 20th Century Fox TV
Moral Orel – ShadowMachine
Phineas and Ferb – Disney Television Animation
The Simpsons – Gracie Films/Fox TV

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Nickelodeon*
A Miser Brothers Christmas – Warner Bros. Animation in association with ABC Family & Cuppa Coffee Studios
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” – Cartoon Network Studios
The Mighty B! – Nickelodeon
Underfist: Halloween Bash – Cartoon Network Studios

Best Animated Video Game
Kung Fu Panda – Activision*
Dead Space – Electronic Arts
Wall·E – Heavy Iron Studios, a division of THQ, Inc.

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects
Li-Ming Lawrence Lee “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*
Alen Lai “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios
Fangwei Lee “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” – DreamWorks Animation
Kevin Lee “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Enrique Vila “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Feature Production
James Baxter “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*
Jeff Gabor “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios
Philippe Le Brun “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
Victor Navone “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios
Dan Wagner “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form
Pierre Perifel “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation*
Sandro Cleuzo “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation
Joshua A. Jennings “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” – ShadowMachine

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Nico Marlet “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*
Valerie Hadida “Igor” – Exodus Film Group
Sang Jun Lee “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios

Character Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Nico Marlet “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation*
Bryan Arnett – Mighty B! “Bat Mitzah Crashers” – Nickelodeon
Ben Balistreri – Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Mondo Coco” – Cartoon Network Studios
Sean Galloway “The Spectacular Spider-Man” – Sony Pictures Television
Jorge Gutierrez – El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “The Good, The Bad, The Tigre” – Nickelodeon

Directing in an Animated Feature Production
John Stevenson & Mark Osborne “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*
Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures
Ari Folman “Waltz With Bashir” – Sony Pictures Classics, Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
Tatia Rosenthal “9.99” – Sherman Pictures/ Lama Films
Andrew Stanton “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Joaquim Dos Santos – Avatar: The Last Airbender “Sozin’s Comet Pt. 3” – Nickelodeon*
Bob Anderson – The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XIX” – Gracie Films/Fox TV
Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti – Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” – Cartoon Network Studios
Chris McKay – Moral Orel “Passing” – ShadowMachine
Alan Smart – SpongeBob SquarePants “Penny Foolish” – Nickelodeon

Music in an Animated Feature Production
Hans Zimmer & John Powell – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*
Kevin Manthei – “Batman: Gotham Knight” – Warner Bros. Animation
John Powell – “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios
Max Richter – “Waltz With Bashir” – Sony Pictures Classics, Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
William Ross – “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures

Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer & John Powell – “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation*
Carl Finch & Brave Combo – Click and Clack’s “As the Wrench Turns” – CTTV Productions
Kevin Kiner – “Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rising Malevolence” – Lucasfilm Animation Ltd.
Guy Moon – Back at the Barnyard “Cowman: The Uddered Avenger” – Nickelodeon/Omation
Guy Michelmore – “Growing Up Creepie: Rockabye Freakie” – Taffy Entertainment LLC

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Tang Heng “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*
Ralph Eggleston “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios
Paul Felix “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Evgeni Tomov “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures
Raymond Zibach “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Tang Heng “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation*
Andy Harkness “Glago’s Guest” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Seonna Hong – The Mighty B! “Bee Patients” – Nickelodeon
Dan Krall – Chowder “The Heavy Sleeper” – Cartoon Network Studios
Raymond Zibach “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Jen Yuh Nelson – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*
Alessandro Carloni – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
Ronnie Del Carmen – “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios
Joe Mateo “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Rob Stevenhagen – “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Chris Williams “Glago’s Guest” – Walt Disney Animation Studios*
Butch Hartman – Fairly OddParents “Mission: Responsible” – Nickelodeon
Andy Kelly – Ni Hao, Kai-Lan “Twirly Whirly Flyers” – Nickelodeon Productions/Nelvana
Andy Schuhler – “Secret of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation
Eddie Trigueros “The Mighty B! “Name Shame”– Nickelodeon

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Dustin Hoffman – Voice of Shifu – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*
Ben Burtt – Voice of Wall·E – “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios
James Hong – Voice of Mr. Ping – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
Ian McShane – Voice of Tai Lung – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
Mark Walton – Voice of Rhino – “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Ahmed Best – Voice of Jar Jar Binks – “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” – ShadowMachine*
Seth MacFarlane – Voice of Peter Griffin – Family Guy “I Dream of Jesus” – Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions
Dwight Schultz – Voice of Mung Daal – Chowder “Apprentice Games” – Cartoon Network Studios

Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Jon Aibel & Glenn Berger – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*
Etan Cohen and Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath – “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” – DreamWorks Animation
Ari Folman – “Waltz With Bashir” – Sony Pictures Classics, Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio – “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios

Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Wells, Breckin Meyer – “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” – ShadowMachine*
Joel H. Cohen – The Simpsons “The Debarted” – Gracie Films/Fox TV
Scott Kreamer – El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “Mustache Love” – Nickelodeon
Paul McEvoy and Todd Berger – “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation
Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano,
Chris Williams – “Glago’s Guest” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

JURIED AWARDS

Three Winsor McCay recipients – Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park for career contributions to the art of animation

The June Foray award went to Bill Turner for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation.

Four Certificate of Merit to Amir Avni, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner (Bill Turner’s mother) and Alex Vassilev.