For our ninth Rundown article, we look at two categories where art truly does express itself. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Animated Feature & Best Animated Short Film as well as general commentary about the race. Friday, we’ll cover big names who aren’t big in their films.

Best Animated Feature

Winner Predictions

• Anomalisa
• Boy and the World
• Inside Out (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Shaun the Sheep Movie
• When Marnie Was There

Runner-Up Predictions

• Anomalisa (WL O) (TB O) (TL O)
• When Marnie Was There (PP O)

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Wesley Lovell: There’s really no point of assigning a runner-up in this category. Inside Out will easily run away with this award. Had Anomalisa earned a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, the competition might be a bit closer, but few people will want to award such an incredibly adult film over the other four contenders.
Peter J. Patrick: 2015 was the year of Inside Out. Nothing else can win, but this is my last chance to give a shout out to my favorite animated feature of the year, When Marnie Was There, so it’s my runner-up even though there isn’t a runner-up with the remotest chance of winning.
Tripp Burton: If you are going to bet the mortgage on anything Oscar night, Inside Out winning should be it. It is definitely deserving, but I hope others take the time to realize how strong this lineup is and check out some of the smaller, but equally wonderful films.
Thomas La Tourrette: Inside Out has been the dominant film in the category since last summer. It has won more than four times the number of awards as Anomalisa which is its closest competition. Getting the win from the Producers Guild cemented its position as the film to beat, and its dominant showing at the Annie Awards shows that it will be difficult to unseat. Inside Out wins easily.

Best Animated Short Film

Winner Predictions

• Bear Story
• Prologue
• Sanjay’s Super Team (TB O)
• We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
• World of Tomorrow (WL O) (PP R) [New](TL O)

Runner-Up Predictions

• Sanjay’s Super Team (WL O)(TL O)
• We Can’t Live Without Cosmos (PP R) [New]
• World of Tomorrow (TB O)

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Wesley Lovell: I’ve seen two of the five nominees here. World of Tomorrow is, undeniably, the most captivating of the two. The problem is that it’s not terribly uplifting. Cynical films don’t tend to do well at the Oscars, especially in a category filled with joyous, bright, happy films. I would love to see Don Hertzfeldt’s pic win, but I suspect Sanjay’s Super Team could take the top prize, but I’ve heard great things about the others as well. I genuinely have no idea what will win. I want to lean towards Pixar, but their recent history in this category has been poor.
Peter J. Patrick: Actually I have no idea what will win this award. These are just wild guesses.
Tripp Burton: Since they changed the voting here three years ago, and let anyone vote for the winner, Disney has won two awards for their short films, which all happened to be the most seen shorts on their lists. This year, Disney’s Pixar has Sanjay’s Super Team, which, in addition to being widely seen in theaters, was also almost more talked about than the film it was attached to. My guess is that carries the film to the stage Oscar night, but don’t overlook World of Tomorrow: it was critically praised, it is from an animation legend and if enough voters check out all the nominees it could upset here.
Thomas La Tourrette: Until the Annie Awards, I figured the glossy Sanjay’s Super Team would be the likely winner, even if it was not my favorite. The emotions on the faces of the father and son were impressively well done, but the story did not seem that new or interesting. World of Tomorrow has much simpler animation work, but tells such a bizarre tale that I found it fascinating. The animated nominees are decent this year, but it was not a great year for them. World might not have won in a stronger year, but I hope it prevails this time. Bear Story has lovely animation, but its melancholy story may keep it from winning. We Can’t Live Without Cosmos was interesting, but the simpler line work will not help it succeed. Prologue had lovely pencil work, but both the shortness and the violence of the piece will act against it. It seemed an odd choice for a nominee. That leaves Pixar’s Sanjay against World, and I hope that World wins.

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