WTF: WALL-E Completely Snubbed At Annie Awards?

By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 31, 2009 1:06 pm EST

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 20^th 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 – 20^th 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.