Competition

Which one is best “Toy Story 3” vs. ‘How to train your dragon” has long been a sometimes heated debate amongst the moviewallas.  With two of the wallas adoring “Toy Story 3” and the other backing the “How to Train Your Dragon” train all the way to the Oscars.  Needless to say, this will be a hard fight to the end since both animations are extremely good.  Methinks this could turn into a replay of the “Big Mac vs. Whopper” debate of Ye Olde time (PS, who won that by the way?).

However at the 38th Annual Annie Awards held on Saturday, February 5 at UCLA’s Royce Hall a choice was made and DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” won top honors as the Best Animated Feature. Often a predictor of the annual Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Annie Awards honor overall excellence as well as individual achievement in a total of 25 categories ranging from best feature, production design, character animation and effects animation to storyboarding, video games, writing, music and voice acting.  (A complete list of the 38th Annual Annie Award winners can be viewed at www.annieawards.org.)

I decided to think of some of the merits of each of these terrific submissions to see if there was any way to separate the two:

So there you have it, both animations, both excellent and little to separate them.  Even in trying to rate the two against each other, I found the choice so difficult.  But remember, I loved “Toy Story 3” and sobbed uncontrollably at the end…for me I think what it comes down to was the familiarity and joy I felt seeing Woody, Buzz, Mr. Potato Head and the rest of the gang for the third time.  That intertwined with Pixar’s amazing talent to tell the story of a young boy all grown up and leaving home for the first time and the impact it has on all of those you leave behind.  Gosh, I’m tearing up just thinking about what a GREAT story this was as I write.  Whatever your preference, “Toy Story 3” or “How to Train your Dragon” what more could we ask for than two brilliant animations in one year that are both deserving of the title “Best animation”