'How to Train Your Dragon' sweeps animation awards

 
DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" swept the 38th Annie Awards on Saturday night, winning 10, including best animated feature. DreamWorks alone won 15 of 24 categories.

Though "Toy Story 3" was nominated for best animated feature, the favorite to win the animation Oscar wasn't expected to win at the Annies because Disney and Pixar had dropped out of the International Animation Film Society-Hollywood, which sponsors the awards, last summer due to a dispute over voting procedures. Even so, Pixar's "Day & Night" did win best animated short, though filmmaker Teddy Newton was not on hand at the ceremony at UCLA's Royce Hall to pick up the award.
 
Among the other winners:

Best animated television production: "Kung Fu Panda Holiday"
Best animated television production for children: "SpongeBob SquarePants"
Character animation in a TV production: David Pate for "Kung Fu Panda Holiday"
Character animation in a feature production: Gabe Hordos: "How to Train Your Dragon"
Character animation in a live-action production: Ryan Page, "Alice in Wonderland"
Directing in a TV production: Tim Johnson, "Kung Fu Panda Holiday"
Directing in a feature production: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois, "How to Train Your Dragon"
Music in a feature production: John Powell, "How to Train Your Dragon"
 
The Windsor McCay Award went to Brad Bird, Eric Goldberg and Matt Groening.

For a complete list of winners go to www.annieawards.org.

-- Susan King

Photo: A scene from "How to Train Your Dragon." Credit: Paramount Pictures

Tom Kenny, the voice of Spongebob Squarepants, set to host the Annie Awards

Tom Kenny, the voice of the animated character "Spongebob SquarePants," will host the 38th Annie Awards on Feb. 5 at UCLA's Royce Hall.

The event, which gives out honors in 25 categories, including best feature, production design, character animation, writing, music and voice acting, is presented by the International Animated Film society, ASIFA-Hollywood.

"ASIFA-Hollywood is thrilled to have Tom Kenny serve as host of this year's Annie Awards," ASIFA-Hollywood President Antran Manoogian said in a statement. "Tom's comedic humor and antics should make for a fun and entertaining award ceremony."

-- Susan King

Photo: Tom Kenny. Credit: Anacleto Rapping / Los Angeles Times

Tuesday Round-Up, Part 1: 'Avatar' sickness; Burton's 'Grudge'; Evening Standard Awards and more

Can watching "Avatar" make you sick? A report today on MSNBC.com notes that while the 3-D effects in the Oscar-nominated sci-fi epic are wowing most audiences, there's a significant amount of moviegoers who are left nauseous by the technology (hold your puns, please).

The culprits lay with disruptions in the body's vestibular system -- a system of fluids and nerves and cells that connect the ear to the brain and keep you from toppling over every time you take a step -- that literally inform the brain to clear the decks, so to speak, and vomit. With more 3D titles on the horizon ("Clash of the Titans," "Alice in Wonderland"), the best way to deal with the problem is to watch the 2-D version. Or bring a stomach distress bag.

Speaking of distressing, Movie City Indie has posted the video of Tim Burton's acceptance speech from the Annie Awards, at which he received the Windsor McCay Award (along with Bruce Timm and Jeffrey Katzenberg). Burton was unable to attend the event, but sent along this video which, in typical fashion, is both alarming and amusing. I won't give away the payoff, but if you're a fan of Japanese ghost stories, you'll appreciate the denouement. 

And Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank" continued its winning streak by landing the top prize at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. The Cannes Jury Prize winner was named best film at the annual event, which honors the best in British and Irish films; Andy Serkis' performance as Ian Dury in "Sex & Drugs and Rock & Roll" earned best actor, while Anne-Marie Duff's turn as John Lennon's mother in "Nowhere Boy" trumped Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan.

Another Oscar nominee, "In the Loop," took the screenplay award for director Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Tony Roche and Simon Blackwell, while Academy shutout "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" won best documentary. And "The Hurt Locker" added another laurel to its collection when cinematographer Barry Ackroyd was presented with the London Museum Award for Technical Achievement. 

-- Paul Gaita

Top photo: Michelle Rodriguez in "Avatar." Credit: 20th Century Fox. Bottom photo: Anne-Marie Duff. Credit: Getty Images.

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'Up' wins top Annie Award

'Up' wins top Annie Award

Disney/Pixar's "Up" won best film at the 37th annual Annie Awards on Saturday evening, receiving two awards -- for best film and best director, Pete Docter.

The blockbuster film about an old man, a young boy and a floating house is nominated for multiple Oscars, including best picture and best animated feature. The win Saturday night solidifies its spot as front-runner for the animation Oscar.

The animation awards were presented by the International Animated Film Society on Saturday night at UCLA’s Royce Hall. William Shatner was the host.

"Coraline" and "The Princess and Frog" won three awards each. Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" won for best writing.

-- Susan King

Photo: Disney / Pixar

Complete list of winners after the jump.

Monday Roundup: Izzard hosts Spirit Awards, Shatner does the Annies; 'Prophet' leads Cesar noms

Refusing to be outdone by the one-two punch of Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin at the 82nd Academy Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards and the Annie Awards, which honors the best in animation, have landed high-profile, water-cooler-quality hosts for their respective ceremonies. Comedian and actor Eddie Izzard will emcee the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards, which takes place March 20 at L.A. Live's event deck in downtown Los Angeles, while living pop culture icon William Shatner will bring his particular brand of ... Shatner-ness to the 37th Annual Annie Awards, which happens Feb. 6 at UCLA's Royce Hall. Both gents are charming, irreverent and deeply eccentric, which should make for an entertainment evening on both occasions. The Annies, however, do have one up on the Spirit Awards by announcing that the legendary June Foray — the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel, among countless other characters, and the creator of the Annies, no less — will be in the house for that ceremony. Shatner and Rocky? Clearly, the decision as to which event to attend has already been made for you.

Oh, and for a full list of the Annie-nominated features, television shows and DVD projects, click here, while the Spirit noms can be found here.

Meanwhile, in the jet-set world of international award shows, the nominees for France's Cesar Awards were announced Friday. Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet" led the pack with 13 nominations, including best film and best director; the noms are the latest laurel for the crime drama, which netted the Grand Prix at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival and top prize at the 53rd London Film Festival. It's also the official selection from France for the foreign film Oscar. 

"Avatar" fever appears to have infected the French Academy voters as well; the James Cameron blockbuster is nominated for best foreign film alongside Michael Haneke's Golden Globe-winning "The White Ribbon" and Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire," with Gallic fave Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino," "Milk," the Canadian indie drama "I Killed My Mother" and "Panique au Village" from Belgium rounding out the pack. "Avatar" star Sigourney Weaver will also be on hand at the Feb. 27 ceremony to hand out a Cesar of Honor to Harrison Ford. 

A full list of Cesar nominees can be found after the break.

— Paul Gaita

Photo: Eddie Izzard. Credit: Getty Images. 

'Kung Fu Panda' wins big at Annie Awards

“Kung Fu Panda” was the big winner at the 36th annual Annie Awards Friday evening, capturing 11 awards, including best animated feature and voice acting in an animated feature for Dustin Hoffman.

The DreamWorks Animation hit about a roly-poly panda who dreams of becoming a martial arts master of kung fu bested its competition, especially including Pixar/Disney’s “Wall-E,” which has recently won the Golden Globe award for best animated feature and is considered to be the front-runner for an Oscar in the outstanding animated feature category.

The animation awards were announced by the International Animated Film Society at a ceremony Friday evening at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Tom Kenny, the voice of Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob Squarepants, was the host.

“Kung Fu Panda” also won Annies for best animated video game, animated effects for Li-Ming “Lawrence” Lee, character animation in a feature production for James Baxter, character design in an animated feature production for Nico Marlet, directing in an animated feature production for John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, musical score for Hans Zimmer and John Powell, production design in an animated feature for Tang Heng, storyboarding in an animated feature for Jen Yuh Nelson and writing in an animated feature production for Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger.

Other winners announced Friday:

Home entertainment production: “Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs”

Short subject: “Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death”

Character animation in TV production or shot form: Pierre Perifel, “Secrets of the Furious Five”

Character design in an animated TV production or short form: Nico Marlet, “Secrets of the Furious Five”

Music in an animated TV production or short form: Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer and John Powell, “Secrets of the Furious Five”

Production design for an animated TV production or short form, Tang Heng, “Secrets of the Furious Five”

TV commercial: United Airlines “Heart”

Television production: “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II”

Television production produced for Children: “Avatar: The Last Airbender”

Directing in an animated TV production or short form: Joaquim Dos Santo, “Avatar: The Last Airbender — Sozin’s Comet Pt. 3”

Storyboarding in an animated television production or short form: Chris Williams, “Glago’s Guest”

Voice acting in an animated television production or short form: Ahmed Best, the voice of Jar Jar Bainks, “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II.”

Writing in an animated TV production or short form: Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Welles, Breckin Meyer-“Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II”

Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park also received the Winsor McCay special award for career contributions to the art of animation; Bill Turner was the recipient of the June Foray Award for "significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation"; and Amir Avini, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner and Alex Vassilev were given a certificate of merit award.

--Susan King

Photo courtesy DreamWorks Animation