For one night, in one room, "Toy Story 3" was not the best animated film of the year.
The 2011 Annie Awards crowned "How to Train Your Dragon" as the year's Best Animated Feature, an honor that surprised no one familiar with the dispute that led Pixar and Disney to withdraw from the International Animated Film Association (which goes by ASIFA, for Association Internationale du Film d'Animation).
"Toy Story" may be the top-grossing animated film of all time, and it may have have won the vast majority of awards from critics groups and been honored by the Academy with a Best Picture nomination – but in the opinion of a group of voters widely known to be swollen with employees of DreamWorks Animation, "Dragon" now reigns as the Annies' choice.
The results were virtually an exact replay of the biggest Annies scandal ever, which took place two years ago when DreamWorks' "Kung Fu Panda" won 10 awards and Pixar's "WALL-E" was shut out completely. That year, "Kung Fu Panda" won in the identical 10 categories in which "How to Train Your Dragon" took home prizes on Saturday.
And while "Dragon" has a better critical reputation than "Panda," the sweep makes it clear that these particular awards have a serious credibility problem if they wish to be known for honoring the best the art form has to offer.
Pixar and Disney's sole win came in the Best Animated Short Subject category, where the Pixar short "Day & Night" won.
On the television side, honors went to "Robot Chicken," "T.U.F.F. Puppy" and "SpongeBob SquarePants" – but the big winner was once again a DreamWorks production, "Kung Fu Panda Holiday."
Overall, DreamWorks productions won in 15 out of the 24 categories. The only categories in which the studio was nominated but did not win were Best Television Commercial and Storyboarding in a Television Production.
In August, Disney and Pixar pulled out of ASIFA, partly because the organization was unwilling to make further changes to its judging process. Although the group has tightened its rules to restrict voting to those who've been approved by special committees, DreamWorks employees are said by those familiar with the roster to make up as much as 40 percent of the membership.
Disney and Pixar did not submit any films for nomination this year, although the ASIFA rules allow its nominating committees to add any films they deem worthy. DreamWorks had received 39 nominations to seven for Disney and Pixar combined.
No Disney/Pixar nominees or employees attended the show, which took place at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.
One bit of irony: two years ago, animator Bill Plympton decried the sweep by "Kung Fu Panda," calling it a "travesty" and saying that it felt as if the process had been "rigged."
Saturday night, Plympton appeared at the Annies to present the award for Best Directing in a Television Production.
