FINDING DORY / LA LA LAND / THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS WIN CAS AWARDS

Saw it coming. The only people who didn't weren't watching. Check out the Cinema Audio Society's nominations here, and their 2016 winners below.

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing - Live Action
James Ashwill, Nicholai Baxter, David Betancourt, Lee Ai Ling, Steven Morrow and Andy Nelson (La La Land)

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing - Animated
Scott Curtis, Doc Kane, Nathan Nance, Michael Semanick and Thomas Vicari (Finding Dory)

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing - Documentary
Dennis Hamlin, Peter Horner and Dimitri Tisseyre (The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble)

2016 ANNIE AWARD NOMINATIONS

The DreamWorks contingent strikes again, as Kung Fu Panda 3 sneaks its way into the Best Animated Feature slate for the 2016 Annie Awards. But that underwhelming and underperforming sequel's success is hardly the main story; that, rather, would be the dominance of Kubo and the Two Strings, with its hugely impressive 10 mentions, and Zootopia, whose lead of 11 is more than distributor Disney's cumulative haul for its fellow two top category nominees, Finding Dory and Moana. Annie Award winners will be announced on the 4th of February.

Best Animated Feature

Finding Dory (Pixar Animation Studios)

Kubo and the Two Strings (Laika)

Kung Fu Panda 3 (DreamWorks Animation)

Moana (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Zootopia (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Outstanding Achievement: Directing in an Animated Production

Claude Barras (My Life as a Courgette)

Michael Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle)

Byron Howard and Rich Moore (Zootopia)

Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Shinkai Makoto (Your Name.)

Outstanding Achievement: Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Jason Bateman (Zootopia)

Auli'i Cravalho (Moana)

Katie Crown (Storks)

Zooey Deschanel (Trolls)

Art Parkinson (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Outstanding Achievement: Writing in an Animated Feature Production

Jared Bush and Phil Johnston (Zootopia)

Chris Butler and Marc Haimes (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Michael Dudok de Wit and Pascale Ferran (The Red Turtle)

Celine Sciamma (My Life as a Courgette)

Outstanding Achievement: Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Mark Garcia (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Trevor Jimenez (Finding Dory)

Normand Lemay (Moana)

Claire Morrissey (Trolls)

Dean Wellins (Zootopia)

Outstanding Achievement: Editorial in an Animated Feature Production

Jeff Draheim (Moana)

Nazim Meslem (April and the Extraordinary World)

Jeremy Milton and Fabienne Rawley (Zootopia)

Christopher Murrie (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Kevin Pavlovic (Sausage Party)

Outstanding Achievement: Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

Kubo and the Two Strings

Kung Fu Panda 3

The Little Prince

Trolls

Zootopia

Outstanding Achievement: Animated Effects in an Animated Production

Kubo and the Two Strings

Kung Fu Panda 3

Moana

The Red Turtle

Zootopia

Outstanding Achievement: Music in an Animated Feature Production

Camille, Richard Harvey and Hans Zimmer (The Little Prince)

Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion and Lolita Ritmanis (Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders)

Alexandre Desplat (The Secret Life of Pets)

Laurent Perez del Mar (The Red Turtle)

Joby Talbot (Sing)

Outstanding Achievement: Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

Kubo and the Two Strings

Moana - Heihei, Kakamora, Lalotai Characters (Realm of Monsters), Maui, Moana, Pua and Tamatoa

The Secret Life of Pets

Trolls - Bergens and Trolls

Zootopia - Bellwether, Chief Bogo, Clawhauser, Doug, Finnick, Flash, Fru Fru, Judy Hopps, Koslov, Miscellaneous characters, Mr. Big, Mr. and Mrs. Otterton, Duke Weaselton, Nick Wilde and Yax

Outstanding Achievement: Character Animation in a Feature Production

Finding Dory

Kubo and the Two Strings

Kung Fu Panda 3

Zootopia - Chief Bogo, Bonnie Hopps, Judy Hopps, Stu Hopps and Nick Wilde

Zootopia - Flash, Judy Hopps, Koslov, Mr. Big and Nick Wilde

Best Animated Feature - Independent

Long Way North (2 Minutes, France 3 Cinema, Maybe Movies, Norlum Studios and Sacrebleu Productions)

Miss Hokusai (Production I.G.)

My Life as a Courgette (Blue Spirit Productions, Gebeka Films, KNM and Rita Productions)

The Red Turtle (Studio Ghibli, Why Not Productions and Wild Bunch)

Your Name. (CoMix Wave Films)

Best Animated Short Subject

Blind Vaysha (National Film Board of Canada)

Deer Flower (Studio ZAZAC)

Path Title Sequence (Acme Filmworks)

Pearl (Evil Eye Pictures and Google Spotlight Stories)

Piper (Pixar Animation Studios)

Best Animated Special Production

Audrie & Daisy (Actual Films for Netflix, and AfterImage Public Media)

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll (DreamWorks Animation)

Little Big Awesome (Amazon Studios and Titmouse, Inc.)

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (CBS Films, J. P. Entertainment and Participant Media)

Pear Cider and Cigarettes (Massive Swerve Studios and Passion Pictures Animation)

Best Student Film

The Abyss (Huang Li Ying)

Citipati (Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg)

FISHWITCH (Adrienne Dowling)

Twiddly Things (Adara Todd)

The Wrong End of the Stick (Terri Matthews)

Outstanding Achievement: Animated Effects in a Live Action Production

The BFG

Deepwater Horizon

Doctor Strange

Ghostbusters

Warcraft

Outstanding Achievement: Character Animation in a Live Action Production

Captain America: Civil War - Spider-Man

Game of Thrones (Battle of the Bastards)

The Jungle Book (Peta Bayley, Andrew R. Jones, Benjamin Jones and Gabriele Zucchelli)

The Jungle Book (Andrei Coval, Andrew R. Jones, Paul Story, Eteuati Tema and Dennis Yoo)

Warcraft - Orcs

June Foray Award

Bill Kroyer and Sue Kroyer

Winsor McCay Award

Dale Baer

Caroline Leaf and Oshii Mamoru

UB Iwerks Award

Google Spotlight's virtual reality platform

Certificate of Merit

Leslie Ezah

Gary Perkovac

Special Achievement Award

Life, Animated

REVIEW - FINDING DORY (ANGUS MACLANE AND ANDREW STANTON)

Though the days when Pixar made one masterpiece of artistry after another may now be gone, and though its recent rate of producing animated classics may be poor, even today there are few who'd dispute the studio's astonishing ability in filmmaking. These folks know how to tell a story; Finding Dory is no masterpiece of artistry, nor is it an animated classic, but it's funny, touching, beautifully animated, and just about idiosyncratic enough to save face when set against its justly celebrated predecessors. Most pertinent of those predecessors is obviously 2003's Finding Nemo - what this film needs for structural stability and overall uniqueness, that film needed for emotional depth and tonal inhibition, and thus Dory makes for an equally satisfying swim, and a worthy sequel in spite of the 13-year gap (entirely imperceptible in watching). The four-strong writing team doesn't attempt to render their story - with its shift in perspective from Nemo's plight and his father's rescue mission to Dory's quest - particularly relevant to the first film's, though the two cross paths early on. Instead, they focus almost wholly on their new narrative, albeit with numerous diversions due to our protagonist's thorough lack of focus. This gives Finding Dory a vital sense of purpose and identity (a characteristic of all Pixar sequels); it also places huge faith in the legitimacy of this new central character and the audience's attachment to her. Dory is as dotty and as charming as ever, and Ellen DeGeneres' voice performance as enjoyable. With a general increase in comedy, this is a film defined by affable abandon, with Dory at its heart. But that heart is also heavier this time, and Dory packs an emotional punch that's absent from Nemo; as someone living with a permanent mental condition myself, it struck an acute chord with me. A slow opening act aside, this film swiftly settles into a lovely groove and earns its place in the Pixar pantheon.

FINDING DORY: TRAILER #3

Drag SeaWorld! Drag it to the bottom of the ocean and let it drown! Much as I, unlike many, do not consider Finding Nemo to be among Pixar Animation Studio's best works, it's nevertheless a lovely adventure movie, so my hopes and expectations are understandably high for the sequel, Finding Dory. Pixar are being their usual irritating selves with the release date strategy, though: out on the 17th of June in the US and on the 29th of July in the UK. Check out the first and second trailers for Finding Dory too.

NEW TRAILER FOR FINDING DORY

Pixar looks to bounce back from the underperformance of last year's The Good Dinosaur with Finding Dory - the sequel to one of their most popular films, 2003's Finding Nemo. With the exceptional popularity of their other film from last year, Inside Out, still in the minds of audiences, however, this film ought to have no problem in hitting high numbers at the box office when it's released in the US on the 17th of June. UK release date will be the 29th of July.

PIXAR'S FINDING DORY - TEASER TRAILER

It's been a while since we've heard from Pixar about Finding Dory - they've had a packed (and, thus far, pretty successful) 2015, with both Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur hitting theatres worldwide. Now we have a first look at the sequel to 2003's Finding Nemo, this time focusing on Ellen DeGeneres' beloved character Dory. The film is due to be released through much of the world next June, including the US on the 17th, though a typically long wait is in store for British Pixar fans, as we'll receive Finding Dory on the 29th of July.