Annie Award Nominations

So, the Annie Award nominations (for animated films) were announced today and I'm ecstatic that they didn't give any love to Ponyo in the Best Animated Feature category. Sure, I had my problems with Up and Coraline, but I realize I'm (nearly) alone in that consensus.

Here's their major categories:

Best Animated Feature:

• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Princess and the Frog
• The Secret of Kelis
• Up

Directing nods go to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ponyo, and Up.

Writing nods go to Astro Boy, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Up.

I'm quite happy with the love shown to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Fantastic Mr. Fox and am slightly disappointed that A Christmas Carol didn't get nominated for a darn thing. Obviously, I haven't seen The Princess and the Frog yet, and I've never even heard of The Secret of Kelis.

Nevertheless, take the Annies with a grain of salt. Last year there was some big controversy that if you pay enough, you'll get nominated (Dreamworks was apparently the culprit of the big payouts), so they've lost a bit of their luster.