Wreck-It Ralph dominates Annie Awards

We knew people loved Wreck-It Ralph but I don't know if people anticipated it would practically demolish the competition at the 2013 Annie Awards. The Disney Animation film walked away with 5 awards (out of 10 nominations) including Best Animated Feature.

Best Animated Feature:
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Director:
Rich Moore - Wreck-It Ralph

Best Writing:
Phil Johnston & Jennifer Lee - Wreck-It Ralph

Best Storyboarding:
Johanne Matte - Rise of the Guardians

Best Voice Acting:
Alan Tudyk as King Candy - Wreck-It Ralph

Best Editing:
Nicholas A. Smith, Robert Graham Jones, and David Suther - Brave

Best Music:
Henry Jackman - Wreck-It Ralph

Best Character Animation:
Travis Knight - ParaNorman

The full list of winners can be seen on Gold Derby.

2012 Annie Award Nominees

The Annie Awards, which celebrates achievement in animation, announced the Best Picture nominees for 2012. Nominated this year are:

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
Wreck-It Ralph
Hotel Transylvania 
Rise of the Guardians
The Rabbi's Cat
The Pirates! Band of Misfits 

As you can see, a majority of the nominees were wide release films. Movies like The Lorax and Ice Age missed out this year... bummer haha.

21 films submitted for Best Animated Feature

The competition for the Best Animated Feature category at the 2013 Academy Awards just got a little more intense. A total of 21 animated films were submitted into the category.

The list of potentials:

Adventures in Zambezia 
Brave
Delhi Safari
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax
Frankenweenie 
From Up on Poppy Hill 
Hey Krishna 
Hotel Transylvania
Ice Age Continental Drift
A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman 
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted 
The Mystical Laws 
The Painting 
ParaNorman 
The Pirates! Band of Misfits 
The Rabbi’s Cat 
Rise of the Guardians 
Secret of the Wings 
Walter & Tandoori’s Christmas 
Wreck-It Ralph 
Zarafa


In my opinion... my final nomination list would be this:

Brave
Frankenweenie 
ParaNorman
Wreck-It-Ralph
Rise of the Guardians

Granted, I have not seen Rise of the Guardians yet but from what I have observed from the trailers the animation alone deserves recognition. I foresee Brave winning it just because Disney/Pixar has dominated the Oscars for years so I don't see why this upcoming awards show would be any different. However, I think ParaNorman and Frankenweenie will give Pixar a run for their money this time around. Both of those films were incredible.

The 2013 Oscar nominations will be released on January 10th, 2013.

ParaNorman - Review

ParaNorman tells the tale of a young boy who has the ability to see and talk to ghosts. After a series of scary confrontations with his spirit friends, Norman must later use his gift to try and lift the curse of a witch placed on the citizens of his small town over 300 years ago.



I have wanted to see ParaNorman since I first saw a trailer a couple months ago for a couple reasons. The first reason being, I love horror movies and/or horror-themed movies even if they are kids movies. The second reason is the simple fact that I thought the animation looked fantastic. I chose not to read or listen to reviews before seeing it for myself so I could fully judge it for myself because kids movies always seem to be such a toss up. I am happy to say that I was not disappointed.
The plot was fairly simple but you have to remember that it is a movie for children. I'm not saying all kids are stupid, but they tend to enjoy things that have a simple plot line with a conflict and a villain. This movie had both conflict and a villain so it fit the general criteria. I thought the plot was carried out nicely despite a few minor bumps and minor rushes. The script had a few adult parts to it that I didn't think kids would quite get but most kids movies have that to keep the parents entertained. It's just how it is. With that said, I do think it could have received a PG-13 rating over the PG but let's face it... PG isn't what it was when I was a kid. PG-13 is what R-ratings used to be.
The animation was truly fantastic. I am a big fan of stop-motion and I thought this had real smooth transitions and effects. The characters were very animated and their movement was extremely easy on the eyes. The voice matching to the animation was also very well done. I also thought the general tone of the movie was very classic horror. There were zombies but it gave a feel of an old drive-in type horror aura instead of a bloody slasher type. They utilized scenery nicely and had a lot of set dressings that helped develop the creepy feel of things. Norman's bedroom was fantastically decorated and accessorized.

I won't talk much about spoilers because I feel it is a little pointless and I covered most of why I personally wanted to see the movie, but I did like it overall. If you have a kid that likes things a little more on the Haunted Mansion side of things, or even if you are an adult like me who does, I think ParaNorman would be a fun movie to see. I enjoyed it a lot.

*I also can't review the 3D aspect because I chose not to see it in 3D. Sorry.