ASIFA-Hollywood gives out its annual Annie Awards for the best in animation. While they aren’t always harbingers, a strong performance can goose a film’s chances with the Oscars, especially when their awards are in alignment. Typically, it’s when they aren’t that things get dicey in terms of carry-over. This group also streams their awards live every year and they are often worth watching just for the fun of it. Great hosts and great presenters make for a fun evening. You’ll be able to watch it live here: Annie Awards: Watch It Live!

ANNIE AWARDS

Best Animated Feature

Anomalisa (RU:Wesley, RU:Peter)
Inside Out (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Thomas)
Shaun the Sheep Movie
The Good Dinosaur (RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)
The Peanuts Movie

Wesley Lovell: There’s little sign that Inside Out will ascend to the Oscar and this will solidify that. It used to be that DreamWorks dominated these awards, but they were reduced to few nominations at all, thus the power of Disney/Pixar is back.
Peter J. Patrick: I suppose the only question for the Annie Awards this year is how many awards can one film win, that one film being Inside Out. Maybe it’s not as many as one might think.
Tripp Burton: Inside Out has won every prize up to now, so why vote against it now?
Thomas LaTourette: Inside Out has been trouncing the competition, and that should continue with a win here. I can’t see anything else winning and almost did not list a runner-up.

Best Animated Feature – Independent

Boy and the World (Wesley, Tripp, RU:Thomas)
Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet (RU:Peter, RU:Tripp)
The Boy and the Beast
When Marnie Was There (Peter, Thomas, RU:Wesley)

Wesley Lovell: Of these four films, two of them are Oscar nominees. Between them, I think that the more inventive of the two, Boy and the World, may ultimately be the winner.
Thomas LaTourette: The lush work of Studio Ghibli’s When Marnie Was There will probably take it to a win. The brilliant colors of Boy and the World and the differing styles of animation used in Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet will give it a run for its money, with the colorful Boy probably having the strongest chance of producing an upset.

Best Animated Short Subject

Carface
DISSONANCE
If I Was God
On Ice
Sanjay’s Super Team (Tripp, RU:Wesley, RU:Peter, RU:Thomas)
World of Tomorrow (Wesley, Peter, Thomas, RU:Tripp)

Wesley Lovell: I’m not terribly familiar with all of these, but the two Oscar nominees in the race should finish one-two (if we know who finishes second). While most would give the nod to the Pixar short, I’m leaning towards Don Hertzfeldt’s effort to triumph simply because I think this group is more likely to appreciate the sheer audacity and simplicity of the superlative and richly detailed effort. While I think the Academy will reject the world view, this group won’t care one wit about disturbing delicate sensibilities.
Thomas LaTourette: Sanjay’s Super Team will probably win, though it was not my favorite of the animated films. It did convey great emotion on the faces of the father and son, but it did not feel like anything that new. World of Tomorrow was unlike anything I had seen before, so, even though it had simpler animation, I am hoping that it triumphs.

Best Animated Special Production

Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas (Peter)
He Named Me Malala (Thomas, RU:Peter)
I Am A Witness
Kite
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (Wesley, RU:Thomas)
Niko and the Sword of Light (RU:Wesley)

Wesley Lovell: I’m only partly familiar with some of these, so I have little clue as to which will triumph, so I’m picking relatively randomly. This is also a new category, so it’s impossible to know what this group will do.

Best Animated Effects, Animation

Home
Hotel Transylvania 2
Inside Out (Peter, Tripp, RU:Wesley, RU:Thomas)
Minions (RU:Peter)
The Good Dinosaur (Wesley, Thomas, RU:Tripp)
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Wesley Lovell: I’m going with The Good Dinosaur‘s eye-popping backgrounds over Inside Out‘s more traditional offerings.

Best Animated Effects, Live Action

Jurassic World (Wesley, Peter, RU:Tripp)
Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (Tripp, Thomas, RU:Wesley, RU:Peter)
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (RU:Thomas)

Wesley Lovell: Jurassic World was likely close to getting an Oscar nomination, so I believe it likely to triumph here, but I won’t be surprised if any of the others (except maybe Maze Runner) wins.

Best Character Animation, Animated Feature

Home – Animation Supervisor: Mark Donald, as Various
Inside Out – Animator: Allison Rutland, as All Characters (Wesley, Peter, Thomas)
Inside Out – Animator: Travis Hathaway, as All Characters (Thomas, RU:Wesley, RU:Peter)
Minions – Animator: Hichem Arfaoui, as Herb & Scarlet Overkill, Kevin, Stuart & Bob
The Good Dinosaur – Animator: Mark C. Harris, as All Characters (Tripp, RU:Thomas)
The Good Dinosaur – Animator: K.C. Roeyer, as All Characters (RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)
The Peanuts Movie – Lead Animator: BJ Crawford, as Multiple Characters

Wesley Lovell: Thomas didn’t pick separate selections in Inside Out vs. The Good Dinosaur, so I split them. I would agree that The Good Dinosaur has a good chance to win, but I put my stock in Inside Out since its characters are much more convincing and lively. As for which of the two will win? I have no idea, so I picked one for the top and the other for runner-up.

Best Character Animation, Live Action Feature

Jurassic World – Indominus Rex
Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron – The Hulk
Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron – Ultron (Tripp, RU:Peter, RU:Thomas)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Azog (RU:Tripp)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Smaug (Thomas, RU:Wesley)
The Revenant – Judy (Wesley, Peter)

Wesley Lovell: While all of these are interesting choice, The Revenant‘s uber-realistic bear attack may impress this group more than any others, but I think Smaug may be a sleeper.

Best Character Design

Hotel Transylvania 2
Inside Out (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Thomas)
Minions (RU:Peter)
The Good Dinosaur (RU:Wesley, RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)

Wesley Lovell: Again, Inside Out‘s character designs were easily superior to all the other nominees. If ,em>The Good Dinosaur had one problem, it’s that the characters weren’t as photorealistic as the backgrounds, which creates a nagging difference.

Best Directing

Anomalisa – Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson (RU:Thomas)
Extaordinary Tales – Raul Garcia
Inside Out – Pete Docter (Wesley, Tripp, Thomas, RU:Peter)
Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet – Roger Allers
Shaun the Sheep The Movie – Mark Burton, Richard Starzak
The Peanuts Movie – Steve Martino
When Marnie Was There – Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Peter, RU:Wesley, RU:Tripp)

Wesley Lovell: Pete Docter is a legend, so I have no problem predicting him to win. As for the runner-up? I lean towards Hiromasa Yonebayashi, but it could also go to another, though I think neophyte animation director Charlie Kaufman isn’t a likely runner-up.

Best Music

Anomalisa – Carter Burwell (Peter, RU:Wesley, RU:Tripp)
Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem – Kevin Riepl
Boy and the World – Ruben Feffer, Gustavo Kurlat, GEM Grupo Experimental de Música, Emicida (Thomas)
Inside Out – Michael Giacchino (Wesley, Tripp, RU:Peter, RU:Thomas)
The Good Dinosaur – Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna

Wesley Lovell: Michael Giacchino knows how to manipulate an audience and his frequent scoring of animated features means he’s incredibly well known with this group. For runner-up, I go with the more recognizable Carter Burwell, though Mychael and Jeff Danna could also win.

Best Production Design

Boy and the World (Peter)
The Good Dinosaur (Wesley, Tripp, RU:Thomas)
He Named Me Malala (RU:Peter)
Home
Inside Out (Thomas, RU:Wesley, RU:Tripp)
Minions
Shaun the Sheep The Movie

Wesley Lovell: For those backgrounds alone, I give this prize to The Good Dinosaur, but Inside Out may be supported by this group’s penchant towards sweeps.

Best Storyboarding

Extraordinary Tales – Antonio Santamaria
Hotel Transylvania 2 – Mike Smukavic
Inside Out – Tony Rosenast (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Thomas)
Inside Out – Domee Shi (Tripp, RU:Wesley, RU:Peter, RU:Thomas)
Minions – Habib Louati
The Good Dinosaur – Bill Presing (RU:Tripp)
The Good Dinosaur – Rosana Sullivan (RU:Tripp)
The Good Dinosaur – J.P. Vine, Tony Rosenast, Enrico Casarosa (RU:Tripp)

Wesley Lovell: I don’t have access to the drawing boards for all of these, so I’m not quite sure which could triumph. My choices are a stab in the dark. Tripp did the same thing here that Thomas did in the prior category.

Best Voice Acting

Anomalisa – Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lisa Hesselman (Peter, Thomas)
Inside Out – Amy Poehler as Joy (Tripp, RU:Peter)
Inside Out – Phyllis Smith as Sadness (Wesley, RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)
Minions – Pierre Coffin as The Minions (RU:Wesley)
Minions – Jon Hamm as Herb Overkill
The Peanuts Movie – Alex Garfin as Linus
The Peanuts Movie – Hadley Belle Miller as Lucy
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Tom Kenny as SpongeBob

Wesley Lovell: You might think that awards giving bodies would go for a more recognizable name, but for the Annie Awards, they either go with an in-house choice or whatever character seemed like the most fun. While that might be noted Pierre Coffin, I’m going slightly outside the norm and giving it to Phyllis Smith who seems like the kind of character actress these folks could go for.

Best Writing

Inside Out – Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley (Wesley, Tripp, Thomas, RU:Peter)
Shaun the Sheep The Movie – Mark Burton, Richard Starzak (RU:Thomas)
When Marnie Was There – Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Peter, RU:Wesley, RU:Tripp)

Wesley Lovell: The sheer originality of Inside Out should mean a clear victory here. After all, it’s an Oscar nominee for Best Original Screenplay and none of these others are. One caveat, though, this has been a place for the Annie voters to recognize Studio Ghibli efforts, so I wouldn’t count out Yonebayashi.

Best Editing

Anomalisa (RU:Wesley)
Inside Out (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Thomas)
Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet (RU:Peter)
Shaun the Sheep The Movie (RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)

Wesley Lovell: I’m not quite sure how to judge editing in animation, at least how these folks will judge it, but American Cinema Editors voters went with Inside Out, so I don’t see a reason to go against the grain.