Sure the Oscars have come and gone, but a sweet tooth is never irrelevant. Bakerella — a site dedicated to fun and easy baking ideas — has showcased a line of goodies centering around the movie award season. The collection includes tributes to Coraline, The Princess and the Frog and Up.

Click through for full baking instructions.

Coraline Cookies

These bite-size peanut butter buttons are super easy to make and fun to eat. Keep your eyes on them, though. They’ll disappear quickly.

Ribbits & Royalty

Frog cake pops! Cute enough to kiss and sweet to eat.

Upcakes

These upcakes will put a smile on the young and old alike. They use miniature multicolored confetti sprinkles to represent balloons and buttercream frosting for clouds.

Disney/Pixar’s heartfelt tale of adventure proved to be the class of the animated feature film category during last night’s 82nd Annual Academy Awards show. The presenters for Best Animated Feature Film were no strangers to the genre, as Cameron Diaz (voice of Shrek’s Princess Fiona) and Steve Carell (voice of Horton Hears a Who’s Mayor of Whoville) introduced an animated short featuring characters from each nominated film comically discussing the Oscars (see video below).

After running down the list of nominees, Diaz opened the envelope and promptly announced Up as the winner. Director Pete Docter accepted the award — which was his first — and gratefully stated “Boy! Never did I dream that making a flip-book out of my 3rd grade math book would lead to this.”

We would like to congratulate Disney/Pixar on their well-deserved win in a field comprised of some of the best quality animated films to date.

The success did not stop there, however. Michael Giacchino secured another Oscar for Up by winning for Best Original Score.

It has been a very efficient night for the team behind Disney-Pixar’s Up.  The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as Best Original Score in the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards –  and walked away the winner of both categories.  In my opinion, this is one of the best crops of animated big-screen offerings ever, so it was no small task to come away victorious against other highly touted films such as Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline, The Princess & The Frog and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs for Best Animated Feature.

We’d like to congratulate everyone involved with making Up one of the most critically acclaimed animated films of all-time.  We are certain there will be even more accolades in the near future.

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has announced its 2010 award nominees and Disney/Pixar’s Up is nominated for Best Picture (period), while also represented in the Animated Motion Picture category along with 9, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Princess and the Frog.

2009 has probably been the strongest year for animated feature films in terms of quality and the gaining of respect from the movie industry.  The PGA awards — which recognize the best film productions and producers — are often an indicator of which films will succeed at the Oscars.

The PGA Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year film award is a reliable bellwether for the Academy Award for best picture. Last year’s PGA winner, “Slumdog Millionaire,” went on to capture Oscar’s top prize. In fact, 13 PGA winners over the last two decades have gone on to win the Academy Award for best picture.

With so many great candidates in the animated category, it’s difficult to say which will come out on top.  Disney Pixar’s Up is gorgeous, hopeful and tugs at your heart strings.  9 goes against most tendencies with animation and ditches the blast of colorful images, instead opting for a dark post-apocalyptic tale — beautiful in its own right.  Coraline is an eery adventure which succeeds with a mixture of macabre and classic fairytale imagery.  Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox nails every single detail in it’s whimsical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book.  The Princess and the Frog breathes life into the stagnant Disney Princess while at the same time honoring its classics with good old fashioned hand-drawn storytelling. Certainly an exciting time for animation fans.

Which movie do you think deserves the PGA award and possibly an Oscar?  Do you think Up has a chance to walk away with “Best Picture?”

The 21st Annual PGA Awards takes place on January 24th at the Hollywood Palladium.

Source(s):
PGA Awards nominate ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Avatar’ for best picture [Gold Derby -- LA Times]

In the “movie” portion of TIME magazine’s “The Top 10 Everything of 2009” list, Disney’s The Princess and the Frog occupies the number one spot — followed in succession by Disney-Pixar’s Up and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Top 10 Movies

1. The Princess and the Frog
   
2. Up
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox
4. The Hurt Locker
5. Up in the Air
6. The White Ribbon
7. A Single Man
8. Of Time and the City
9. District 9
10. Thirst

Animation is thought of as a cash cow for the studios and a niche category for the Oscars. Yet a straight-faced argument could be made — and is, here — that 2009 boasted a richer crop of animated features than of live-action movies. We acknowledge the cartoonucopia with our top three selections, each in a different format.

]]> http://www.drawnthatway.com/2009/12/15/time-magazine-ranks-top-10-movies-of-2009-top-3-are-animated/feed/ 0 http://www.drawnthatway.com/2009/12/01/37th-annual-annie-award-nominations-announced/ http://www.drawnthatway.com/2009/12/01/37th-annual-annie-award-nominations-announced/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:45:41 +0000 Mark Williams, Jr http://www.drawnthatway.com/?p=1956

ASIFA has released their list of nominations for its February 6 Annual Annie Awards ceremony to be held in Los Angeles, CA.  Walt Disney Animation Studios leads the way by garnering 17 total nominations.

BURBANK, CA (December 1, 2009) – The International Animated Film
Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced nominations today for its 37th Annual Annie
Awards recognizing the year’s best animated features, television productions,
commercials, short subjects and outstanding individual achievements in the field of
animation. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “The Princess and the Frog” received
eight nominations, including Best Animated Feature and individual nominations for
animated effects, character animation, production design and voice acting, while its
“Prep and Landing” received nine nominations including Best Animated Television
Production and individual nominations for character animation, character design, music,
production design, storyboarding and writing.

DreamWorks Animation received 11 nominations, including Best Animated
Television Production for “Merry Madagascar.” Laika received a total of 10 nominations
including Best Animated Feature “Coraline” and Pixar Animation Studios received a
total of nine nominations including Best Animated Feature “Up.” Completing the list of
Best Animated Features nominated are: “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” Sony
Pictures Animation, “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” 20th Century Fox and “The Secret of Kells,”
Cartoon Saloon.

Nickelodeon leads the field in television with 12 nominations, including three
for Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children: “SpongeBob
SquarePants,” “The Mighty B!,” and “The Penguins of Madagascar.” Completing
the nominations in this category are Disney Television’s “Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse” and Cartoon Network Studio’s “The Marvelous Misadventures of
Flapjack.” Nominees for the Best Animated Television Production are “Glenn
Martin, DDS,” Torante, Cuppa Coffee Studios & Rogers Communications, “Merry
Madagascar,” DreamWorks Animation, “Prep and Landing,” ABC Family/Walt
Disney Animation Studios, and “The Simpsons,” Gracie Films.
Winners will be announced at the 37th Annual Annie Awards ceremony on Saturday,
February 6, 2010, at UCLA’s Royce Hall, in Los Angeles, CA. For a complete listing
of Annie Award nominations and event information, please go to
www.annieawards.org.

Special juried awards honoring career achievement and exceptional
contributions to animation will also be awarded: Winsor McCay award – Tim
Burton, Bruce Timm and Jeffrey Katzenberg for career contributions to the art of
animation; June Foray award – Tom Sito for significant and benevolent or
charitable impact on the art and industry of animation; Ub Iwerks award –
William T. Reeves for the development of particle systems for computer
animation. This system has led to the ability to simulate such effects as fire,
explosions, smoke, moving water, sparks, falling leaves, clouds, fog, snow, dust,
meteor trails, hair, fur, grass and abstract visual effects such as glowing trails
and magic spells; Special Achievement Annie award – Martin Meunier and
Brian McLean for the development and use of the Rapid Prototyping (RP)
process for stop motion animation. Starting with hand crafted sculpts as a guide,
CG artists built the characters in the computer and animate key expressions. The
RP system then builds 3-dimentional objects that are finished by hand and
placed on the stop motion figures; and Certificate of Merit award – Myles
Mikulic, Danny Young, Michael Woodside for their service to the art, craft and
industry of animation.

“I congratulate all of the 2009 Annie Award nominees and award recipients for
their outstanding work,” said ASIFA-Hollywood President Antran Manoogian.
“This has been an unprecedented year for animation and I look forward to an
exciting ceremony in February.”

The Annie Awards’ black-tie ceremony will feature a lively mix of animation
luminaries, celebrity presenters and comedic talent to celebrate this year’s best
of the best. A pre-reception begins at 5:00 pm with the awards ceremony
following 7:00 pm. A post-show celebration immediately follows at UCLA’s
Royce Hall. More than 1,500 entertainment industry insiders are expected to
attend the annual Annie Awards.

ASIFA-Hollywood is the largest of an international network of chapters and
supports a range of animation initiatives through its membership. Current
projects include an animation archive, library and museum, classes and
screenings, and animated film preservation efforts.

The industry’s oldest and most prestigious award, The Annie Award is
considered an important industry benchmark and an annual predictor of the
Academy Award for best animated feature.

Source(s):
The Annie Awards (Official Site) via StitchKingdom

Freelance artist, Paul Conrad has posted some very cool examples of the design concepts behind Disney-Pixar’s Up.  Conrad collaborated on various projects during his time with Up, including Russell’s Wilderness Explorer logo and Carl & Ellie’s mailbox — to name a few.

In conjunction with the release of Pixar’s Up on DVD/Blu-ray I’m showing some of the work that I did ( graphic design and illustration for the production). I also thought that it might be interesting to show not only the pieces as they made it into the finished production, but also some of the process and development along the way.

Early sketches of the Wilderness Explorer logo

The final Wilderness Logo design and placement on Russell's backpack

Please head over to Paul Conrad’s blog to view a ton more images along with his description of the creative process involved with the tasks.  Some very interesting information.

My head hurts just thinking about all of the goodies available as of today.  Short of calling November 10th a national Pixar holiday, I will run down the new products that you will be able to check off of your list:

First up, is…well…Up.  Disney-Pixar’s Oscar-worthy tale which became the studio’s first foray into the world of digital 3-D is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.  In true Pixar fashion Up has heart and amazing story depth, while still satisfying its core audience — the kiddies.

Buy from Amazon.com

The next big release for today is the already gorgeously animated Monsters, Inc. making its debut on Blu-ray format.  If you happen to be a fan of shear awesomeness, then this is definitely a must-have for your stockpile.

Buy from Amazon.com

Lastly, Pixar has made The Pixar Treasures available today.   The collectible book — which includes removable keepsakes — gives readers an inside look into the early days of the creative studio’s vision. There are also separate chapters covering each of their feature films. (with a preview of Up).

Buy from Amazon.com

The Fentons Ice Cream shop featured in the movie Up, is in fact based on the real-life Fentons Creamery in Oakland, CA.  As such, the iconic Oaktown landmark will be hosting an Up-themed party on Tuesday, November 10 (5-8 PM) to coincide with the film’s DVD/Blu-ray debut.

Pixar animators will demonstrate how they drew the characters, with contests to win the film, Pixar prize packages, and free ice cream from Fenton’s.

There’ll also be a “Spirit of Adventure” sundae served for that occasion and that occasion only. We don’t have any further details on flavors, but if you truly have a spirit of adventure, you can roll with anything.

Source(s): Fenton’s Creamery is Hosting an UP Party [SFweekly.com]

Director: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson Starring: voices of Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer, Delroy Lindo Running Time: 1 hour, 36 minutes Theatrical Release: May 29, 2009 Shop for Up Merchandise

Plot Summary

From the Academy Award®-nominated team of director Pete Docter (“Monsters, Inc.”) and co-director Bob Peterson comes “Up”, a comedic adventure taking off (and lifting spirits) in summer 2009. Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Junior Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life. “Up” takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures. When seeking adventure next summer – look “Up”. (from MovieWeb.com)

Film Review

Pixar Animation Studio has made a name for themselves through making quality and often complex animated feature films (and shorts) since their first feature-length movie, Toy Story, in 1995. Last year, Pixar wowed critics and audiences alike with Wall-E, the unique tale about a garbage collecting robot on a post-apocalyptic Earth that falls in love with a visiting robot and finds adventure on a glorified yacht-like spaceship. Pixar’s latest feature film, Up, is hardly simpler as it follows an elderly man on an adventure through the sky.

It’s tough to dig into talking about Up without giving away much of the story. So if you rather know as little as possible, you should probably just skip to the last paragraph now. But with Up, the story goes a lot deeper than most animated films do. Yes, it’s still funny and entertaining, but Up aims at the heart and hits its mark really early on. We meet Carl Fredricksen at a young age and are introduced to his shy demeanor and fascination with adventure and exploring. We see him meet an outgoing tomboy girl named Ellie who helps break Carl out of his shell a little bit, and from there, we’re treated to a beautiful and emotional montage through the couple’s entire life together — even until Ellie’s passing. After the montage, we see Carl as we’re expecting him to be… a lonely and rather grumpy old man. The film’s trailers and commercials don’t go into too much detail about Carl’s story, so to have his backstory grounded in such heartwrenching reality may be more than some viewers are bargaining for in an animated flick like this. If you want fluffy entertainment, Up isn’t really it.

Up has the look and feel of a classic film. It feels rather original from top to bottom — which is especially tough to accomplish these days — and Ed Asner (who many these days may recognize as having played Santa Claus in Will Ferrell’s Christmas pic, Elf) brings a lot through his voice to Carl Fredricksen. Carl is grouchy but likable, and it’s easy to be able to relate to the man after we know all he’s been through and what he has lost. Up is a bit of a reality check because of how much the characters themselves are grounded in reality. The brief montage through Carl and Ellie’s life reveals all kinds of realistic experiences

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Carl’s unwanted companion, a little boy scout named Russell, also happens to come from a broken home where he lacks a father figure and the pair end up helping each other out a great deal. So through the drama, which can be a bit heavy at times, it’s the kind of story and the kind of material that often feels more sculpted for adults than children, yet there’s still some adventure there for the young ones to enjoy.

Once Carl inevitably lifts his house into the air via a swarm of helium-filled balloons, the film itself gets a bit lighter in mood and tone. There are some intense moments when our heroes encounter a pack of vicious dogs (who can also fly airplanes?!), and then we meet the film’s villain, so it kind of adds a little to the feeling this isn’t the best film for all younger viewers (taking the aforementioned dramatic and potentially boring moments for the kids). Content is squeaky clean, except for two brief moments where we actually see some blood — which comes as quite the surprise. It adds more to the realistic tone Up strives for as well. The first instance is when, out of justified frustration, Carl whacks a truck driver who just broke his mailbox on the head with his walking stick. The man falls and is stunned but seems okay for the most part, but we see a patch of blood on the man’s forehead. Later, after a bird is attacked by a dog, we see some blood through a bandage on its leg.

Visually, Up is yet another masterpiece of artwork from Pixar. Thematically and when it comes to its story, the animation studio has once again achieved something incredible. However, at the same time, I felt like it’s a movie I can’t really see myself wanting to revisit over and over again. The story does have a timeless quality, but if the viewer is looking for something a little lighter in tone for their entertainment, Up may not be the best choice. It’s a fantastic film that exercises a great deal of creativity and displays warmth and heart in spades. Fans of film in general – even if they don’t generally like animated movies – will do well to check out Up. But if you’re looking for a distraction from the realities of life and maybe something a little more upbeat, you may be surprised to find that Up will keep you more grounded than you’d expect.