Penguins: More Vulnerable Than They Appear

For at least a month it has seemed like everyone assumed that Happy Feet would trounce its animated competition for this year's Animated Feature Oscar. If they did, it'd be the second year running that penguins captured a specialty division Oscar (they won the documentary prize last year with March of the Penguins) But is the assumption a safe one?


Though Cars took in more money, Happy Feet's loot has been remarkable securing it a solid place smack dab in the middle of the year's top ten hits. In terms of critical reception the story is also a good one. For the animated films of '06 it's second only to A Scanner Darkly on critical top ten lists. So what's with the ANNIE Nominations? It scored only 2. That can't be a good sign... that tally is easily bested by a number of titles including Ice Age, Open Season, Monster House, Flushed Away and Over the Hedge. Maybe I should change the rankings on my animated predictions page? Might Carzzz win this after all?