WTF: WALL-E Completely Snubbed at Annie Awards?

WALL-E got completely snubbed at the 36th Annual Annie Awards. For those of you who don’t know, the Annie Awards is an all-animation award show presented by the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972. The awards range form Character Animation in a Feature Presentation to Production Design in an Animated Feature Production, the the more obvious, more prestigious Best Animated Feature award.

DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda beat WALL-E in every single category, including Best Animated Feature, Animated Effects, Character Animation, Directing in an Animated Feature, Production Design, Storyboarding, and Voice Acting categories. WALL-E didn’t even receive nominations in the Writing, Music, and Character Design categories. In Fact, Kung Fu Panda ended up taking home 15 statues in all (including the short film spin-off). Now I understand that Kung Fu Panda completely surprised everyone. It’s an awesome movie, no question about it. But the story is essentially a pared down version of Star Wars, the supporting voice acting is passable at best, and some of the character designs are just sloppy.

I’m sure the commentators will just write my rant of as being a WALL-E/Pixar fanboy (which I’ll freely admit). But I think everyone will agree that an award show for animation (the Annies are basically consider the Oscars of animation) to award Kung Fu Panda a whopping 15 statues, and present WALL-E with not even one, is completely ridiculous. You can read the full list of results after the jump.

36th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2008)

Winners in bold*

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature

  • Bolt – Walt Disney Animation Studios

  • Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation*

  • $9.99 – Sherman Pictures/Lama Films

  • Wall·E – Pixar Animation Studios

  • Waltz With Bashir – Sony Pictures Classics, Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films

Best Animated Home Entertainment Production

  • Batman: Gotham Knight – Warner Bros. Animation

  • Christmas Is Here Again – Easy To Dream Entertainment in association with Renegade Animation

  • Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs – The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment*

  • Justice League: The New Frontier – Warner Bros. Animation

  • The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning – DisneyToon Studios

Best Animated Short Subject

  • Glago’s Guest – Walt Disney Animation Studios

  • Hot Dog – Bill Plympton Studio

  • Presto – Pixar Animation Studios

  • Sebastian’s Voodoo – Joaquin Baldwin

  • Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death – Aardman Animations Ltd.*

Best Animated Television Commercial

  • Giant Monster – Curious Pictures

  • Long Legs Mr. Hyde – Curious Pictures

  • Rotofugi: The Collectors – Screen Novelties/RSA Films

  • Sarah – Z Animation

  • United Airlines “Heart” – Duck Studios*

Best Animated Television Production

  • King of the Hill – 20th Century Fox TV

  • Moral Orel – ShadowMachine

  • Phineas and Ferb – Disney Television Animation

  • Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine*

  • The Simpsons – Gracie Films/Fox TV

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children

  • A Miser Brothers Christmas – Warner Bros. Animation in association with ABC Family & Cuppa Coffee Studios

  • Avatar: The Last Airbender – Nickelodeon*

  • Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” – Cartoon Network Studios

  • The Mighty B! – Nickelodeon

  • Underfist: Halloween Bash – Cartoon Network Studios

Best Animated Video Game

  • Dead Space – Electronic Arts

  • Kung Fu Panda – Activision*

  • Wall·E – Heavy Iron Studios, a division of THQ, Inc.

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects

  • Alen Lai “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios

  • Li-Ming Lawrence Lee “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*

  • Fangwei Lee “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” – DreamWorks Animation

  • Kevin Lee “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

  • Enrique Vila “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Feature Production

  • James Baxter “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*

  • Jeff Gabor “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios

  • Philippe Le Brun “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

  • Victor Navone “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios

  • Dan Wagner “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form

  • Sandro Cleuzo “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation

  • Joshua A. Jennings “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” - ShadowMachine

  • Pierre Perifel “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation*

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

  • Valerie Hadida “Igor” – Exodus Film Group

  • Sang Jun Lee “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios

  • Nico Marlet “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*

Character Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

  • Bryan Arnett – Mighty B! “Bat Mitzah Crashers” – Nickelodeon

  • Ben Balistreri - Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Mondo Coco” – Cartoon Network Studios

  • Sean Galloway “The Spectacular Spider-Man” – Sony Pictures Television

  • Jorge Gutierrez – El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “The Good, The Bad, The Tigre” – Nickelodeon

  • Nico Marlet “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation*

Directing in an Animated Feature Production

  • Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures

  • Ari Folman “Waltz With Bashir” – Sony Pictures Classics, Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films

  • Tatia Rosenthal “9.99” – Sherman Pictures/ Lama Films

  • John Stevenson & Mark Osborne “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*

  • Andrew Stanton “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

  • Bob Anderson - The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XIX” – Gracie Films/Fox TV

  • Joaquim Dos Santos – Avatar: The Last Airbender “Sozin’s Comet Pt. 3” – Nickelodeon*

  • Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti - Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” – Cartoon Network Studios

  • Chris McKay – Moral Orel “Passing” – ShadowMachine

  • Alan Smart - SpongeBob SquarePants “Penny Foolish” – Nickelodeon

Music in an Animated Feature Production

  • Kevin Manthei – “Batman: Gotham Knight” – Warner Bros. Animation

  • John Powell – “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios

  • Max Richter – “Waltz With Bashir” – Sony Pictures Classics, Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films

  • William Ross – “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures

  • Hans Zimmer & John Powell – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*

Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

  • Carl Finch & Brave Combo - Click and Clack’s “As the Wrench Turns” – CTTV Productions

  • Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer & John Powell – “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation*

  • Kevin Kiner – “Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rising Malevolence” – Lucasfilm Animation Ltd.

  • Guy Moon – Back at the Barnyard “Cowman: The Uddered Avenger” – Nickelodeon/Omation

  • Guy Michelmore – “Growing Up Creepie: Rockabye Freakie” – Taffy Entertainment LLC

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

  • Ralph Eggleston “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios

  • Paul Felix “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

  • Tang Heng “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*

  • Evgeni Tomov “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures

  • Raymond Zibach “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

  • Andy Harkness “Glago’s Guest” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

  • Tang Heng “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation*

  • Seonna Hong – The Mighty B! “Bee Patients” – Nickelodeon

  • Dan Krall – Chowder “The Heavy Sleeper” – Cartoon Network Studios

  • Raymond Zibach “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

  • Alessandro Carloni – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

  • Ronnie Del Carmen – “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios

  • Joe Mateo “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

  • Jen Yuh Nelson – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*

  • Rob Stevenhagen – “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

  • Butch Hartman – Fairly OddParents “Mission: Responsible” – Nickelodeon

  • Andy Kelly – Ni Hao, Kai-Lan “Twirly Whirly Flyers” – Nickelodeon Productions/Nelvana

  • Andy Schuhler – “Secret of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation

  • Eddie Trigueros “The Mighty B! “Name Shame”– Nickelodeon

  • Chris Williams “Glago’s Guest” – Walt Disney Animation Studios*

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

  • Ben Burtt – Voice of Wall·E – “Wall·E” – Pixar Animation Studios

  • Dustin Hoffman – Voice of Shifu – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*

  • James Hong – Voice of Mr. Ping – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

  • Ian McShane – Voice of Tai Lung – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

  • Mark Walton – Voice of Rhino – “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

  • Ahmed Best – Voice of Jar Jar Binks – “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” - ShadowMachine*

  • Seth MacFarlane – Voice of Peter Griffin – Family Guy “I Dream of Jesus” – Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions

  • Dwight Schultz – Voice of Mung Daal – Chowder “Apprentice Games” – Cartoon Network Studios

Writing in an Animated Feature Production

  • Jon Aibel & Glenn Berger – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation*

  • Etan Cohen and Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath – “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” – DreamWorks Animation

  • Ari Folman – “Waltz With Bashir” – Sony Pictures Classics, Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films

  • Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio – “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios

Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

  • Joel H. Cohen – The Simpsons “The Debarted” – Gracie Films/Fox TV

  • Scott Kreamer – El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “Mustache Love” – Nickelodeon

  • Paul McEvoy and Todd Berger – “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation

  • Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Wells, Breckin Meyer – “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” – ShadowMachine*

  • Chris Williams – “Glago’s Guest” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

JURIED AWARDS

  • Winsor McCay recipients - Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park for career contributions to the art of animation
  • June Foray award - Bill Turner for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation
  • Certificate of Merit award - Amir Avni, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner, Alex Vassilev

Thanks to /Film reader Nicholas S for the tip.

  • illegalprelude
    Having just seen Wall*E as recently as last night on Blu-ray and Kung Fu Panda on Blu-ray as early as last week again on Blu-ray, I can safely say, Kung Fu Panda is fun and im a huge jack black fun but it stops there. Thats the thing with most animated movies. they are good, but you forget them after that. Wall*E and Pixar movies have deep meanings and their characters have true emotion. Plus, on a pure technical standpoint, Wall*E is FARRR superior to Kung Fu Panda. This is just horrible horrible snubbing.
  • anon
    The Annie awards are voted on by members of ASIFA. You can buy membership for $50. DreamWorks buys each of it's 1200 employees a membership and requires that they vote for the Annies.

    DreamWorks also make sure to have as many as possible Chairs on the nomination committee - which explains why three DreamWorks artists were nomintated in the 'best animation' category and only two other studios received mention.

    The Annies will no longer reflect the true measure of industry excellence any more. The audience at the Awards ceremony was greatly saddened by the DreamWorks presence and manipulation of the once joyful event.

    Pixar showed up to be gracious - they already knew they were shut out.

    -An Insider
  • I'm sure Kung Fu Panda was well deserving for what it received at the 36th Annual Kung Fu Panda Awards... I mean, the 36th Annual Dreamworks Awards... I mean, the 36th Annual Hate Wall-E Awards... I... well, you know what I mean.
  • _$pinster_
    YES i hate Wall-E now getting snubbed by kung fu panda is a good thing
  • Trevor
    I totally agree! I was there in the Green room most of the time and alot of people were disappointed with Kung Fu winning everything. Wall-E deserved more than Kung Fu. Although Kung Fu was entertaining, it fell short in the story and character development to wall-e. The visuals of wall-e force are above and beyond my wildest imaginations of space, Truly an overall beautiful movie.
  • Rody
    Annie Awards are FAIL! While Kung Fu Panda is quite an enjoyable movie it comes nowhere near WALL-E in almost each of these categories... That's some very sad snubbing...
  • No love for Bolt either? WTF?
  • Wow I'm just shocked. Sure Kung Fu Panda was the best thing to come out of Dreamworks in years, but you will never convince me that it comes close to Wall-E, which I would argue should have been a contender for even best picture.
  • Coleman
    Just visited the Annie Awards website.... DREAMWORKS is one of their GOLD sponsors....now it all makes sense.... what a travesty....
  • Are you kidding? Now I know the Annies a crock...
  • Mr. Pendragon
    Holy crap. The Annies are now meaningless until they remove sponsorships from the same companies that are being nominated. THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Awards of recognition mean nothing unless they are given out independently of studio/creator interference.
  • Aaron
    Sponsorship has nothing to do with it. The Annies are voted on by the Animation Guild community and Dreamworks is the largest animation studio.
  • Bob Elms
    Dreamworks has been a gold sponsor for years, including when ratatouille sweeped last year.
  • Henrik
    Its nice to see you still can pay off some award shows. This is just bullshit.
  • This is David Chen's fault for putting Kung Fu Panda ahead of WALL-E in his Top 10 list.
  • Isaiah Everin
    Wow, this almost seems like a joke. What a hack of an awards system.

    Kung Fu Panda was NOT a good movie. It was definitely worse than Shrek, probably worse than the Shrek sequels, and not even remotely creative.
  • kwon
    Kung Fu Panda was superior
    Wall e = OVERRATED
  • Baconface
    do they have something against Pixar/Andrew Stanton?
  • They were both great films. Wall-E had a truly original concept and the first half was the first time an animated film had ever done that kind of storytelling. However, there wasn't a whole lot of action. There were the robots running around the ship with crazy hijinks and then... the Captain wrestling with the steering wheel.

    Kung Fu Panda had the opening dream sequence, the prison breakout, the training montage, the rope bridge battle, the chopstick battle, Shifu's battle with Tai Lung, and Po's battle with Tai Lung. Quite a lot of action scenes. All married with a gorgeous aesthetic that faithfully represented traditional Asian art and Kung Fu styles. And even on the storytelling front, Kung Fu Panda was awe-inspiring at times. Maybe not as good as Wall-E's first half, but think about that scene of Master Oogway disappearing in a swirl of cherry blossoms. You can't say that Kung Fu Panda was light years behind Wall-E.

    I thought Wall-E was the better picture, but the Annie guys might've just been more impressed with Kung Fu Panda's action.
  • Andrew
    while that may or may not be true, it shouldn't be about the action in a movie.
  • johnathan
    Can anyone seriously say that the effects in Kung Fu Panda was superior to Wall-E??????? I mean you can say Kung Fu Panda was a better film, but for christ sake Wall-E was just on an entirely different level technology wise! They hired the most well respected cinematographer in the business to get their camera and lighting to look right! LOOK AT THE PARTICLE EFFECTS IN WALL-E!!

    Oh and your telling me Horton Hears a Who had Better music than WALL-E? BULLSHIT.
  • Snub? Yeah. I could handle the upset for Kung-Fu i don't care that much as Kung Fu Panda was solid. Even stuff like music and short film. But direction, cinematography and character design should go to Wall-E. I mean it was shot perfectly. Plus Wall-e was designed so well that every part of his body could emote expression and still have a purpose for what the robot was designed to do.

    Agreed this was because Dreamworks sponsored these "awards".
  • I know you will hate me from this.

    Character design was well deserved for kung fu panda, Walle- was a copy of "short circuit" from the 80's you HAVE to admit this, just google it up.
    And Eve was a flying Mac.
  • If you look at how much detail is in the Wall-e character design, you might change your mind.
    Also check out the background characters for each. Kung Fu Panda basically copy and pastes the same characters in the background (the same pigs, rabbits and ducks everywhere!). Wall-e seemed to put more effort into every character shown.

    Having said that, if Wall-e wasn't released, i'd be more than happy for Panda to sweep, but Wall-e was released and one of the greatest animated films should have been recognized.
  • Are they similar. For sure, how is the character design for the Panda any different from any other Panda?
  • Are they similar. For sure, how is the character design for the Panda any different from any other Panda? Of course Eve was a floating Mac. Apple loaned their chief product designer to Pixar to design Eve. It's obviously the look they wanted.
  • Are they similar. For sure, how is the character design for the Panda any different from any other Panda? Of course Eve was a floating Mac. Apple loaned their chief product designer to Pixar to design Eve. It's obviously the look they wanted.
  • I dunno.

    It doesn't take much to humanize animals. But to make Wall-E (the character) emote so well, you have to think twice about that award. I mean look at Burn-E, and the frickin' cockroach friend.

    I love that cockroach.
  • [A]
    It's funny how a MEMOIRS OF A SLUMDOG fanboy could get pissed over the fact that KUNG FU PANDA won some awards.. makes *no* sense. Seriously.
  • Palmer
    I declare shenanigans!
  • they probably didnt realize it was animated.
  • anon
    XP nice
  • Mel
    Kung Fu Panda was one of my favourite movies of 2008. WALL-E doesn't appeal to all.
  • troy
    kung fu panda didn't appeal to all either...
  • geoff
    I completely agree, especially cinematography.
  • Guest
    More like "Waltz With Bashir Completely Snubbed at Annie Awards," it is outright embarrassing that an organization honoring the best in animation would overlook a mature, progressive masterpiece in favor of fluff.
  • I don't get how an awards show can be sponsored by those who also finance the movies that are competing for the awards.
  • mike
    personaly i think any thing pixar films is far superior than those full of pop culture refrencing, recycled jokes using, fart jokes dependent dream works films. and as far as effects go pixar is number one on all of it's films especially wall-e but, i think the annie's didn't award wall-e so they could seem diffrent from other awards. that what i fear is going to happen at the oscars that they'll fuck every thing up just to be diffrent from the golden globs. i hhope slumdog millionare and mickey rouke don't suffer for it.
  • These awards shows are overrated bullshit anyway. Does it really make a difference who they award? We all know that Wall-E was better. After The Dark Knight being snubbed at the Oscars and Wall-E at the Annie's, I've given up on these self-loving, rigged/sponsored media circuses.
  • thats weird... i liked kung fu panda alot but for it to win so much that i think wall-e should have got is just weird.
    wall-e was georgeous to look at and to watch where kung fu panda looked really good but was an animated movie that didnt change what an animated movie is. oh well liked both movies but thats weird
  • Rob Merritt
    Wall-E was a message film that wasn't very entertaining and truth be told, it wasn't that interesting as far as animation is concern. I wasn't thrilled with Kung Fu panda either but I can see how it beat Wall-E
  • At the contrary, it was very interesting in Animation, because it was animation at its purest, there were almost no dialog but could convey a lot of emotion.
    I wasn't fan of Wall-E, because of the over buzz it got, but I admit that.
  • I find it pretty strange. I loved Kung Fu Panda, too, but they should at least be sharing awards.
  • Dave
    Well, from a purely animation standpoint...Im Sure Kung Fu Panda was a better film for, Animation, just looking at the trailer I can see a whole load of well animated (although probably mo cap'd) fluid movements in the characters. All Wall-e had for most of the film was tire tracks and hovering.

    Now, Im not saying KFP is better, I havent even seen it and I dont particularly want too, Wall-e is an amazing movie, even though it looked good, there wasnt alot of strict animation in it, so I can see why it didnt win some awards, although I do believe it certainly deserved some for cinematography or sound design.

    Also, the fact that Waltz with Bashir didnt win anything either is just plain stupid.
  • IK!
    You don't mocap monkeys and snakes doing Kung Fu.
  • oats
    what about that shitty movie that came out in dec that ended up being like the biggest bomb of all time. I can't remember the name and its not really relevant to this discussion but I just wanted to make fun of it
  • Zagnut
    uh... "Delgo"
  • Apparently, Uwe Boll will be switching over to terrible animation if the academy still continues refusing to allow him gold sponsorship despite being the only genius in the entire industry.
  • Black
    OK, look at this: Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form
    Pierre Perifel “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation*

    This is funny because all the animation and rendering of this short was done at ReelFX, not at Dreamworks
  • jtf
    Actually, only the CG portion (approx 5mins) of the short was done at ReelFX. The 2D (approx. 17mins) was done at Dreamworks.
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