Annies and Scripters: Up, Up in the Air
It’s funny that last year the International Animated Film Society snubbed one of the best Pixar films, WALL-E, in favor of the entertaining but middle-of-the-road Kung Fu Panda while this year they overlooked the superior Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox for Pixar’s second-string Up.
Up was fine, but if you take away the first 10 minutes (on its own a worthy animated short candidate), you have a very ordinary cartoon.
Up also won Best Director for Pete Docter. Meanwhile, Henry Selick’s Coraline and Disney’s The Princess and the Frog took three individual awards each: music, character design and production design for Coraline and voice acting, animated effects and character animation for Princess.
Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox took a well-deserved writing award.
Check out all the winners including television at the Annie Awards website.
Also last night, Up in the Air beat Crazy Heart, An Education, District 9 and Precious for the USC Libraries Scripter Award given to the best screenplay adaptation and its original source.
Filed under: Awards
Tags: Animated Film Society, Annie Awards, Annies, Scripter Award, USC Libraries
Love love love the poster! Awesome job with the Photoshopping.
That poster is indeed fantastic, lol.
I’m actually glad to see “Up” winning. To be honest, I thought “Coraline” was a bit . . . boring. Perhaps that’s too strong a word, but it just felt like it went on too long and wasn’t particularly captivating. I connected emotionally to “Up” straight away with that incredible opening sequence. Just beautiful.
While we’re on the topic — I saw “The Princess and The Frog” and thought it was wonderful. I actually found it to be even better than “Up.” I don’t know how much it has to do with my experience growing up, but it felt so magical and disarming. Heck, I even liked the songs!
Next up is “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” so we’ll see how it stacks up. I have high hopes.
Wow Craig, your photo-shopping technical expertise is really impressive. And you put it to perfect use by cleverly combining these two films.
It’s a testament to the terrific software that someone such as I with no training and only rudimentary skills can make it do amusing things.
But thanks!
Dorothy, I’m not against Up. It was enjoyable, but I don’t think it’s Pixar’s best and it they were going to be overlooked by the Annies, this would’ve been the year to do it instead of last year.
As for Coraline… well I wasn’t 100% crazy about it either, but I thought it was refreshingly imaginative and I nice break from the ordinary.
I hope you like Fox though…
Have you seen “The Princess and the Frog” yet, Craig? I was pleasantly surprised by it.
I haven’t seen it Dorothy, but I meant to and definitely will eventually.
The Princess and the Prog is a better musical than Nine and, if you know New Orleans, it’s also a bit sad.
Ok, I’m sold. I was charmed by NO in the mid 90s.
“The Princess and the Frog is a better musical than Nine”
Fact. I couldn’t agree more, Paul. “Nine” was such a disappointment.
I wasn’t as disappointed by Nine as some of us here, though I must say I enjoyed the nonmusical parts more than the musical ones.
Seems as if the Annies reflected the diverse slate of animation in 09 by spreading the wealth. Everyone’s happy, but I suppose Pixar most of all with the two top prizes.
I WILL get to Up sometime soon. Guess that’s a connection worth seeking.