32nd Annual ANNIE Awards Given Out
Sunday night, the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California played host
to black ties and evening gowns, limousines and a red carpet. Those in
attendance weren’t your typical Hollywood celebs though, these were the
men and women who are responsible for the other half of the television
and movie industry, a division that has taken 60 years to come into its
own as an adult form of entertainment. The ANNIES are given to the
individuals and companies who produce the most outstanding in every
facet of the animation world. The awards are handed out annualy by the
International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, industry experts
to both television and film nominees.
These are the cartoon
Oscars and a lot more fun, especially when this year’s master of
ceremonies was Tom Kenny, voice actor extraordinaire, best known as
Spongebob Squarepants’ shrill alliterator. The night was filled with
humor, as Tom took jabs at the recent comments from Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings and director James Dobson that certain animated
characters, including Kenny’s Spongebob, were blatantly homosexual.
Kenny asked seriously that they stop looking for the fruity and “just
find the funny.”
The nights clear winner was last year’s
Incredibles, the computer animated look at a super hero family trying
to live in the suburbs from Pixar Animation Studios. The film received
16 nominations in 10 categories, winning each and every one of them. At
one point Kenny brought a chair out on stage for Brad Bird, so he
wouldn’t need to keep coming up on stage. The transverse however took
the form of Brittany Murphy, whose win for best voice acting in an
animated television production revealed…no one. No Brittany, no one
to accept the award for her and no word where she might be.
Here are the winners:
Best Animated Short Subject
Lorenzo – Walt Disney Pictures
Best Animated Television Commercial
United Airlines Interview – Acme Filmworks
Production Design in an Animated Television Production
Richard Daskas – Samurai Jack
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Lou Romano – The Incredibles
Music in an Animated Television Production
Robert J. Kral – Duck Dodgers
Music in an Animated Feature Production
Michael Giacchino – The Incredibles
Writing in an Animated Television Production
Etan Cohen – King of the Hill, Ceci N est Pas Une
Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Brad Bird – The Incredibles
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Tony Fucile – The Incredibles
Character Design in an Animated Television Production
Patrick Mat
