The Animation Commendation

My 89th Academy Awards Predictions!

It’s that time of year again: Oscars season! Like usual, I’ll be making my predictions for which 2016 films I think will win which award. The ones that I think SHOULD win will be colored RED and the ones that I think WILL win will be colored BLUE. If they happen to be the same, then I’ll color them BOTH COLORS! Like usual, I’ll leave the top 6 awards (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Animated Feature) for the end.

Last year, I had my best prediction score: 17 correct out of 24 categories! Can I beat that this year? Let’s see!

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‘The LEGO Ninjago Movie’ Trailer Debuts!

If you thought The LEGO Batman Movie was the only theatrical LEGO movie we’d be getting this year, you thought wrong! On September 22, 2017, The LEGO Ninjago Movie will be hitting theaters. The film features the voice talents of Dave Franco, Michael Peña, Fred Armisen, Jackie Chan, Justin Theroux, Olivia Munn, etc. Check out the recently-released trailer below:

I personally find the trailer and movie to be very…….okay-ish, leaning on boring. I mean, it feels more like a direct-to-DVD kinda film, rather than a theatrical release. And having to ride the coattails of The LEGO Batman Movie, I wonder how well this film will do in the box office. Let me know what you thought in the comments below!

Actor John Hurt Dies at 77!

English actor, Sir John Hurt, has sadly passed away at the age of 77. Sir John Hurt (1940-2017) was known for his roles in many films including The Elephant Man, A Man for All Seasons, I, Claudius, Alien, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, three Harry Potter films, and the recent Jackie, among others.

But, he was no stranger to the world of animation. Some of his voice roles include The Horned King in Disney’s The Black Cauldron,

Hazel in Watership Down,

Aragorn in Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings,

Snitter in The Plague Dogs,

and Mr. Mole in Don Bluth’s Thumbelina.

He shall be missed!

89th Academy Awards Nominations Announced!

Well, the nominations for the 89th Academy Awards have been announced today. And as usual, I’ll list the animated film categories below. If you want to see a list of all the categories and their nominations, then click here.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

-Kubo and the Two Strings

-Moana

-My Life as a Zucchini

-The Red Turtle

-Zootopia

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:

-Blind Vaysha

-Borrowed Time

-Pear Cider and Cigarettes

-Pearl

-Piper

Other related nominations include:

-My Life, Animated (Best Documentary Feature)

-Can’t Stop the Feeling-Trolls (Best Original Song)

-How Far I’ll Go-Moana (Best Original Song)

-The Jungle Book (Best Visual Effects)

-Kubo and the Two Strings (Best Visual Effects)

I’ll post my Oscar winner predictions in the coming weeks, but for now which films do you think will win? Which do you want to win? What do you think of the nominations, in general? Let me know in the comments below!

My Thoughts: THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (2016)

When the trailer for Illumination Entertainment’s The Secret Life of Pets was released, I was honestly surprised as to how positive/optimistic many people seemed to be towards it. Almost everyone I knew said that the film looked cute or funny or had an interesting premise or was a film that they were looking forward to seeing. I, on the other hand, seemed to be in the minority opinion!

I thought the trailer seemed kinda stupid. It seemed to be pushing the ubiquitous “funny jokes for kids” trope that we see in a lot of animation and I didn’t really find any of the jokes funny. The plot seemed very reminiscent of past films such as Toy Story and it seemed that the only reason Kevin Hart, Louis C.K. and Eric Stonestreet were cast as voices were just to have popular celebrities’ names attached to the film. Heck, I’m not even a “pets” person, so I couldn’t even identify with that aspect of the film that many pet owners seemed to readily identify with! I was much more looking forward to Illumination Entertainment’s Sing than this film.

Eventually, I ended up watching this film. Was I as disappointed as I thought I was going to be? Or was I surprisingly impressed? Read on to find out what I thought of The Secret Life of Pets.

By the way, there will be some SPOILERS!

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Menu Improvements!

Hey readers,

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve done some work in making my menus on this site more readable and navigable. Now, if you hover your mouse on the Indexes label located at the top of my blog, a drop-down menu will appear where you can access all the indexes that I have on my blog (My Thoughts, Top 13 Lists, Forgotten/Minor Characters Projects).

Likewise, if you hover your mouse over the WWTBAM-Animation Edition Games label, a drop-down menu will appear where you can access those videos from whichever season you desire.

Hope this helps make navigation and visibility easier! Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Upcoming Animated Films In 2017

As the year comes to a close, it comes time again to prepare ourselves for the animated films being released next year! So read on below to find a list of the theatrical animated films set to be released in 2017! Like usual, I’m only listing the ones that have confirmed US release dates at the moment, hence this list is mostly composed of films from the major animation studios. Enjoy!

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‘Despicable Me 3’ Trailer Debuts!

Regardless of whether or not you’re a fan of the Despicable Me franchise, Illumination Entertainment is making a 3rd film! And the first trailer for Despicable Me 3 has recently debuted!

From what I see in the trailer, I feel that this film will be….okay, at best, something along the lines of Despicable Me 2 quality. The villain seems quite annoying and I know I’m alone in this, but I miss the Minions’ presence in the trailer. (Oh, and I love Gru’s singing voice!) Hopefully the film (which is set to be released on June 30, 2017) will exceed my expectations!

What do you all think of the trailer? Are you interested in a 3rd Despicable Me film? Let me know in the comments below!

My Thoughts: FINDING DORY (2016)

Pixar’s latest film is one that I honestly wasn’t dying to happen! I mean, I wasn’t against a Finding Nemo sequel, but I wouldn’t have been disappointed if we never got a sequel either! So like a true animation fan, I went to see Finding Dory with an open mind. What did I think of it? Well, read on to find out!

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‘Moana’ Podcast!

Since it’ll be a while until I post my review of Disney’s latest film, Moana, you can find out what I thought of the film in this video podcast I did w/Rachel Wagner from 54disneyreviews.com. Let me know in the comments what you think!