"Wreck-It Ralph" wins big at Annie Awards

PanARMENIAN.Net - "Wreck-It Ralph" wrecked the rest of the field at the 40th annual Annie Awards picking up five awards to reinforce its position as the animated film with the most momentum heading into Oscar voting, TheWrap said.

Rich Moore's comedy about a video-arcade bad guy who yearns to become a hero was named Best Animated Feature by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood. Moore was also honored for his directing, and the film won additional awards for its screenplay, music and voice acting in a ceremony at UCLA's Royce Hall.

Fellow Oscar nominees "ParaNorman" and "Brave" each won a pair of awards, the former for character design and the latter for production design and editorial. "Rise of the Guardians" won for its effects and storyboarding.

Genndy Tartakovsky's "Hotel Transylvania," which received eight nominations, did not win anything. Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie" and Aardman Animations' "The Pirates! Band of Misfits," both of which are Oscar nominees, went into the show with five nominations each but were also shut out.

On the television side, the big winner was DreamWorks Animation's "Dragons: Riders of Berk," which won four awards.

"Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem" was named Best Animated Special Production, while the award for animated preschool programming went to "Bubble Guppies." "Robot Chicken" was named Best General Audience Animated Television Production.

Two current Oscar nominees in the Best Animated Short category won Annies. "Paperman" was named Best Animated Short Subject, while "Head Over Heels" won the award for Best Student Film. (A third Oscar nominee, "Adam and Dog," won the short-subject Annie last year.)