The 47th Annual Annie Awards nominations were announced. The prestigious Annies are the golden standard for animation and have been called the “Oscars for animation” more times than I can remember, but it’s an apt description for this very important voting body, which has been celebration toon filmmaking since 1972.
Leading the fray for the 47th edition of the Annie’s were Disney’s mega-hit “Frozen 2” and Laika’s Yeti adventure, “Missing Link,” with eight nominations each. Netflix’s “Klaus” and DreamWorks’ “How to Train Your Dragon: Hidden World” nabbed an impressive seven noms and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” with six. All the above-mentioned films landed a Best Feature nomination.
More importantly, the actual best-animated movie of the year, would be French import and Netflix selection, “I Lost My Body,” surprised with six nominations including one for Best Indie Feature. Alas, despite it being a considerably better film than those chosen for Best Feature, Annie rules separate indie/foreign with domestic releases. That’s also why Japan’s excellent “Weathering With You” had to also settle with an “Indie Feature” nomination.
Although you will hear many in the media touting 2019 as a great year for animation, I would have to disagree. Just look at the five nominees for “Best Feature.” “Frozen 2” has a 65 Metascore and has been universally touted as inferior to its original 2013 installment. “Missing Link,” a 68 Metascore, was undoubtedly not the best content Laika could produce, as the toon company has done much better in the past (“Coraline,” “Kubo and the Two Strings,” “ParaNorman”). The inclusion of “Klaus” (63 Metascore) could only be made possible in a weak year for animation, and “How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” (71 Metascore) was the weakest of the three films in the series. Ditto “Toy Story 4,” which was actually well-reviewed, but which I negatively reviewed in June as an “unnecessary” addition to the ‘Toy Story’ franchise
Best Feature
“Frozen 2”
“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”
“Klaus”
“Missing Link”
“Toy Story 4”
Best Indie Feature
“Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles”
“I Lost My Body”
“Okko’s Inn”
“Promare”
“Weathering With You”
At a Q&A this morning, Gray said "Two Lovers" was the first film he made with creative control. He was far less kind about the three before it, "Little Odessa," "The Yards" and "We Own the Night."