Furry Movie Award Watch: December

The Annies announced their nominees earlier this month, so for once that award will be first up in the rundown. The last month has also been full to the brim with critic’s awards, which can influence the Academy.

crossie’s Best Guesses

The Annies

The Annies announced their nominees earlier this month; they went with ten, which is ridiculous. Remember, there were 18 films submitted to the Academy for consideration, total. Even taking into consideration movies like The Lion of Judah which were not submitted, over 50 percent of the field was nominated. To put this in perspective, if the Oscars Best Picture list of nominees followed this pattern, approximately 200 films would be nominated.

Kung Fu Panda 2 got the most nominations in various categories, so I feel confident about it winning.

Critics’ awards

December is the critic’s month; next month is the guild’s turn. The critics go first; while these awards may influence the Oscars, the guilds (which often share membership with the Academy) are more useful as a prediction of where the various branches of the Academy’s hearts lie. The Annies are an example of a guild award, with crossover membership with the Animation branch.

Last year, only one critic’s group gave their biggest prize to The King’s Speech; I’m not sure if this means you should take the Oscars or the critics with a grain of salt. Probably both.

Since the inception of the Best Animated Feature award, most critics’ associations have added their own animated award; following is a breakdown of every animated movie that gained a nomination, runner-up or award by a critics association as of December 29. Furry animated movies come first, followed by the non-furry spoilers.

Rango leads with 15 wins, followed by The Adventures of Tintin with five. Arthur Christmas has a lone win, and Puss in Boots won the Women Film Critics Circle “Best Animated Females,” which is that group’s apparent equivalent of Best Animated Feature, and also sounds funny.

Furry movies in the animated hunt

Happy Feet Two
Best Animated Film Nominations: Houston Film Critics Association, San Diego Film Critics Society

Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil
Other Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists “Sequel or Remake that Shouldn’t Have Been Made”

Kung Fu Panda 2
Best Animated Film Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Houston Film Critics Association, Online Film Critics Society, San Diego Film Critics Society
Best Animated Film Runner-Up: Utah Film Critics Association
Other Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists “Best Woman Director,” Alliance of Women Film Journalists “Best Animated Female”

Puss in Boots
Best Animated Film Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association, Houston Film Critics Association, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association
Other Wins: Women Film Critics Circle “Best Animated Females”
Other Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists “Best Animated Female”

Rango
Best Animated Film Win: Black Film Critics Circle, Boston Society of Film Critics, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, Houston Film Critics Association, Indiana Film Journalist Association, Las Vegas Film Critics Society, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Board of Review, Phoenix Film Critics Society, San Francisco Film Critics Circle, Southeastern Film Critics Association, Utah Film Critics Association, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association
Best Animated Film Runner-Up: St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association
Best Animated Film Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Online Film Critics Society, San Diego Film Critics Society
Other Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists “Best Animated Female”, St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association “Best Comedy”

Rio
Other Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists “Best Animated Female”

Winnie the Pooh
Best Animated Film Runner-Up: Indiana Film Journalist Association
Best Animated Film Nominations: Chicago Film Critics Association, Houston Film Critics Association, Online Film Critics Society, Phoenix Film Critics Society, San Diego Film Critics Society, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association

Non-furry animated spoilers

The Adventures of Tintin
Best Animated Film Win: New York Film Critics Online, Oklahoma Film Critics Circle, St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association, Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Animated Film Runner-Up: Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, Florida Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Southeastern Film Critics Association, Utah Film Critics Association
Best Animated Film Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association, Houston Film Critics Association, Online Film Critics Society, Phoenix Film Critics Society, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association
Other Nominations: Houston Film Critics Association “Best Score”

Arthur Christmas
Best Animated Film Win: San Diego Film Critics Society
Best Animated Film Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Broadcast Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association, Online Film Critics Society, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics

Cars 2
Other Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists “Sequel or Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made”

Gnomeo & Juliet
Other Nominations: Alliance of Women Film Journalists “Best Animated Female,” Broadcast Film Critics Association “Best Song”

In other news…

• The New York film critics suck
• The Smurfs are no longer animated
• Rango is a sure thing for Best Animated Feature … but don’t just take my word for it