Rife as they are with studio politics, the Annie Awards can sometimes perversely turn against frontrunners in the animated Oscar race, but if you were looking for any such shake-ups this year, you were out of luck. Disney’s all-but-certain Oscar winner “Frozen” was the night’s big winner, taking five awards for Best Animated Feature, Direction, Music, Production Design and Voice Acting for Josh Gad’s irrepressible summer-loving snowman.
But while the blockbuster fairytale was clearly a favorite, it wasn’t a sweeper, as a number of other films got a piece of the pie. It’s particularly sweet to see Hayao Miyazaki’s allegedly final feature “The Wind Rises” receive an award for its delicate, poetic writing. Meanwhile, DreamWorks’ heavily-campaigned “The Croods” took a trio of technical awards, while surprise Oscar omission “Monsters University” received two. (No such luck for “Despicable Me 2,” which led the nominations, but was rewarded only for its broadcast commercial.)
Full list of winners below. Keep up with the season thus far at The Circuit.
Best Animated Feature: “Frozen”
Best Animated Special Production: “Chipotle Scarecrow”
Best Animated Short Subject: “Get A Horse!”
Best Animated TV/Broadcast Commercial: “Despicable Me 2 – Cinemark”
Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children: “Disney Sofia the First”
Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Children”s Audience: “Adventure Time”
Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Futurama”
Best Animated Video Game: “The Last of Us”
Best Student Film: “Wedding Cake”
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES
Animated Effects in an Animated Production: “The Croods”
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production: “Pacific Rim”
Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production: “Toy Story OF TERROR! “
Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production: “The Croods”
Character Animation in a Live Action Production: “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” – Gollum
Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Disney Mickey Mouse”
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production: “The Croods”
Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Toy Story OF TERROR!” (Angus MacLane)
Directing in an Animated Feature Production: “Frozen” (Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee)
Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Disney Mickey Mouse”
Music in an Animated Feature Production: “Frozen” (Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Christophe Beck)
Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “The Legend of Korra”
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production: “Frozen”
Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Toy Story of TERROR!”
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production: “Monsters University”
Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Adventure Time” (Tom Kenny)
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production: “Frozen” (Josh Gad)
Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Futurama”
Writing in an Animated Feature Production: “The Wind Rises”
Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production: “Disney Mickey Mouse”
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production: “Monsters University”
JURIED AWARDS
Winsor McCay Award: Katsuhiro Otomo, Steven Spielberg & Phil Tippett
June Foray Award: Alice Davis
Certificate of Merit: “I Know That Voice” (Documentary)
Ub Iwerks Award: Dragonframe
Special Achievement Award: Creative Talent Network Animation eXpo