Although this year's awards were riddled with controversy including rumors of unfair voting practices and Disney pulling out as a sponsor, I still managed to have a great time. Which, as we all know, is the most important thing. The evening was just stunning and one of the most fun times I have had on Annie night.
First of all, it was great to have Tom Kenny back at the podium as host. He took a year off last year to hand the reigns off to William Shatner, but was back this year for his sixth run at hosting. He held the show together nicely with some really funny bits along the way, including a bit about this place:
The show ran smoothly and felt shorter than previous years, and the after party was overrun with animations high rollers and heavy hitters including Matt Groening, Bill Plympton, Jim Cummings, and Billy West. This was the first time I've gotten to meet Jim in person and it was thrill to shake his hand and tell him that much of my love of cartoons started watching Darkwing Duck. I think that How to Train Your Dragon was deserving of many of its awards including Best Animated Feature. It certainly, for my money, surpassed all of the other nominees in achievement, including The Illusionist, which I loved, and I have never really been on the Toy Story train. I like Toy Story, I don't love Toy Story. I stand firm in that, though I know some people who want to crucify me for saying it.
Do I feel, though, that it deserved the sweep it had? Eh...Let's just say I'm starting to see why certain former sponsors of the Annies are starting to get their panties in a twist. All I know is by the end of the evening, when dinner was imminent, all I could think of was, "Jesus, we're thirty seconds closer to dinner if you don't even bother opening the envelope."
CG
No comments:
Post a Comment