Precursor: 28th Annie Awards Nominations (2019)

A couple of noteworthy/surprising things happened in this year’s Annie Awards nominations and a couple of the surprises aren’t a good sign. Let’s start with what we expected. Frozen II was sure to clean up here and Toy Story 4 was also supposed to do well and they did. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World continues the Annie love for DreamWorks’ most popular series. Missing Link was thought to be inferior Laika because of its more kid-like appeal; however, it not only did better than expected, it managed to tie Frozen II for most nominated. Though it will ultimately lose, it shows that the film is on its way to keep Laika’s perfect record going at the Oscars.

Now for the surprises that weren’t expected: Klaus and I Lost My Body became huge players in spite of historical perspectives. Netflix hasn’t earned its due with Annie voters the way Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks, and Laika have, making their inclusion something of a surprise. Several years ago, there was a major issue between Annie voters and Disney causing DreamWorks to dominate while Disney wasn’t getting many nominations at all. That has since been reversed. However, it seems like something similar might be at play here as Netflix surely greased some palms to get this strong a showing for two films that were barely blips on the radar a month ago. I Lost My Body had been tossed around as a potential nominee, but Klaus wasn’t. Further, the normally dominant GKIDS had a miserable showing this year, which is further suspicious, since they actually have paid their industry dues.

Nominations Tallies

(8) Frozen II, Missing Link
(7) Klaus
(6) How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, I Lost My Body, Toy Story 4
(4) Abominable, Weathering with You
(3) The Addams Family, The Secret Life of Pets 2, Spies in Disguise

The Nominations

Best Animated Feature

Frozen II
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Klaus
Missing Link
Toy Story 4

Best Animated Feature – Independent

Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles
I Lost My Body
Okko’s Inn
Promare
Weathering with You

Best Animated Short Subject

Acid Rain
Don’t Know That
Je Sors Acheter des Cigarettes
Purpleboy
Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days

Best Animated Special Production

Guava Island – “Titles and Prologue”
How to Train Your Dragon Homecoming
Infinity Train – “The Perennial Child”
SpongeBob SquarePants – “SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout”
Zog

Best Animated Effects

Abominable
Frozen II
Missing Link
Toy Story 4
Weathering with You

Best Character Animation, Animated Feature

Frozen II – Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, Sven
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – Toothless, Light Fury, Hiccup, Deathgrippers
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – Grimmel, Ruffnutt, Toothless, Light Fury, Hiccupy, Baby Furies
Klaus – Alva
Missing Link – Multiple

Best Character Animation, Live Action Feature

Alita: Battle Angel
Avengers: Endgame
Game of Thrones – “The Long Night”
Pokemon Detecitve Pikachu
Spider-Man: Far from Home

Best Character Design

Abominable – All
The Addams Family – Multiple
Frozen II – Earth Giants, Mattias, King Runeard, Young Agnarr, Young Iduna, Gale, Ryder, Honeymaren, Soldier
Klaus – All
Spies in Disguise – Killian, Katsu Kimura, Lance Pigeon

Best Directing

Frozen II – Chris Buck
I Lost My Body – Jeremy Clapin
Klaus – Sergio Pablos
Missing link – Chris Butler
Weathering with You – Makoto Shinkai

Best Music

Away – Gints Zilbalodis
Frozen II – Christopher Beck, Frode Fjellheim, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez
I Lost My Body – Dan Levy
Spies in Disguise – Mark Ronson, Theodore Shapiro
Toy Story 4 – Randy Newman

Best Production Design

Abominable
The Addams Family
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Klaus
Missing Link

Best Storyboarding

I Lost My Body – Julien Bisaro
I Lost My Body – Jeremy Clapin
Klaus – Sergio Pablos
Missing Link – Julian Narino
Missing Link – Olvier Thomas

Best Voice Acting

Abominable – Tenzing Norgay Trainor
Frozen II – Olaf
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus – Richard Horvitz
The Secret Life of Pets 2 – Jenny Slate
Toy Story 4 – Tony Hale