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 - KUNG FU PANDA 3 (ALESSANDRO CARLONI AND JENNIFER YUH)

A good idea is only good for so long. It needs sustenance, replenishment, if intended to yield rewards past its natural expiry date. And so the Kung Fu Panda franchise withers on, accepting an ever-diminishing yield, predicated upon the eternal supply of artistic worth promised by that one good idea. It fuelled the first film, and held the second one up; now, it serves as an excuse for Kung Fu Panda 3, an excuse that looks ever more tired the longer it lingers around. This film rather seems to have its fate accepted from its very first scene, proceeding to skip swiftly through a straightforward plot with an emphasis on comedy, not creativity. The film's animators possess a lovely way with colour, for example, but are prone to overloading it; vibrant flashes of editing invention here and there may momentarily enliven the film, but they're sparingly employed, and largely only stylistic hangovers from the first Kung Fu Panda. We're otherwise on animation autopilot, with interest maintained mainly by the family-friendly fast pace (smartly skimming over the thematic and narrative familiarity) and a moderate comedic hit rate. The ambition behind that good idea has been buried beneath the desperation to merely keep it alive, and there's no sign of the replenishment necessary to provide Kung Fu Panda 3 with the vitality and the singularity it needs; the very same features of which the 2008 original serves as a beacon for the American industry.