The 34th Annie Awards, celebrating last year’s achievement in animation, get high marks for spirit. Attendees weren’t shy about backing their favorites with whoops and cheers that it was quickly obvious came from blocs of support for Pixar, Sony and hometown favorite DreamWorks. Pixar took home the top prize for Cars—a good sign as the Annie winner has won the animated feature Oscar since the category was adopted—while DreamWorks took home the most trophies with eight.The show began with a reception in the courtyard of the Alex Theatre, complete with performers costumed as Boog and Elliott from Sony’s Open Season. The main event began only 17 minutes late, with host Tom Kenny keeping the proceedings moving quickly even through some minor technical problems. The after-awards event migrated to a tent set up in a parking lot behind the Alex, where dinner and drinks were served. The winners:Best Animated Feature: Cars, Pixar Animation StudiosBest Home Entertainment Production: Bambi II, DisneyToon StudiosBest Animated Short Subject: No Time For Nuts, Blue Sky StudiosBest Animated Television Commercial: United Airlines “Dragon”, DUCK StudiosBest Animated Television Production: Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Cartoon Network StudiosBest Animated Video Game: Flushed Away: The Game, D3 Publisher of AmericaAnimated Effects: Scott Cegielski, Flushed Away, DreamWorks Animation & Aardman FeaturesCharacter Animation in a Feature Production: Gabe Hordos, Flushed Away, DreamWorks Animation & Aardman FeaturesCharacter Animation in a Television Production: Yu Jae Myung, Avatar “The Blind Bandit”, NickelodeonCharacter Design in an Animated Feature Production: Nicolas Marlet, Over The Hedge, DreamWorks AnimationCharacter Design in an Animated Television Production: Mike Kunkel, The Life & Times of Juniper Lee “Party Monsters”, Cartoon Network StudiosDirecting in an Animated Feature Production: Tim Johnson & Karey Kirkpatrick, Over The Hedge, DreamWorks AnimationDirecting in an Animated Television Production: Giancarlo Volpe, Avatar “The Drill”, NickelodeonMusic in an Animated Feature Production: Randy Newman, Cars, Pixar Animation StudiosMusic in an Animated Television Production: James L. Venable & Jennifer Kes Remington, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “One False Movie”, Cartoon Networks StudiosProduction Design in an Animated Feature Production: Pierre-Olivier Vincent, Flushed Away, DreamWorks Animation & Aardman FeaturesProduction Design in an Animated Television Production: Martin Ansolabehere, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Good Wilt Hunting”, Cartoon Network StudiosStoryboarding in an Animated Feature Production: Gary Graham, Over The Hedge, DreamWorks AnimationStoryboarding in an Animated Television Production: Li Hong, The X’s “You Only Sneeze Twice”, NickelodeonVoice Acting in an Animated Feature Production: Ian McKellen, voice of the Toad, Flushed Away, DreamWorks Animation & Aardman FeaturesVoice Acting in an Animated Television Production: Eartha Kitt, voice of Yzma, The Emperor’s New School “Kuzclone”, Walt Disney Television AnimationWriting in an Animated Feature Production: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Chris Lloyd, Joe Keenan & Will Davies, Flushed Away, DreamWorks Animation & Aardman FeaturesWriting in an Animated Television Production: Ian Maxtone-Graham, The Simpsons “The Seemingly Neverending Story”, Gracie FilmsJune Foray Award: Stephen WorthWinsor McCay Award: Bill Plympton, Genndy Tartakovsky, Andreas DejaCertificate of Merit: Bill Matthews, Michael Fallik, Marc Deckter, Eric GrafVenue: Alex Theatre in GlendaleParking: No official parking, but spots could be found fairly easily for free on side streets and nearby lotsOpen Bar?: YesQuality of Drinks: Passable—Trader Joe’s Blanc de Blanc champagne, Sprecher sodas and water; no beer or mixed drinksQuality of Wine: Low—2005 La Boca chardonnay and merlot, from ArgentinaFood: Pre-event reception served up a limited spread of fruit, cheese, crackers shrimp and stuffed mushrooms that was plagued by a lack of utensils to eat them with and trashcans to deposit plates in; after-show reception featured caesar salad, rolls, garlic dill potatoes, roast beef with gravy, pasta, breaded chicken breast and an assortment of pastries for dessertAttire: Mostly black tie, with a scattering of business attire and one or two attendees in black jeans and a sweaterShow Length: 2.5 hoursHost: Tom Kenney, the voice of Spongebob Squarepants, among others, in his third straight year as hostSwag: None for guests, though presenters were seen carrying out pink bags that looked full of stuffed toysHigh Point: Hilarious mid-show impersonation of President George W. Bush by Steve BridgesLow Point: Technical difficulties nixed the reels introducing the winners of the Winsor McKay Awards, though they were shown once the problem was fixedBest Quote of the Night: “Pixar did what Ford and GM couldn’t do in 2006: make money off of Cars!” – host Tom Kenney
Written by Tom McLean
