If any of you had the opportunity to attend the Annie Awards, I would
love to read a first-hand report, as I'm sure the rest of the group
members would.

The list of voice actor-related awards at ASIFA-Hollywood's 28th
Annual Annie Awards is below. I've added a bit of editorial following
them, and if any would like to offer additional comments, please do.

This list comes courtesy of http://www.animationartist.com/

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting By a Female
Performer in an Animated Feature Production
Joan Cusack As the voice of Jessie - Toy Story 2

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting By a Male
Performer in an Animated Feature Production
Tim Allen As the voice of Buzz Lightyear - Toy Story 2

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting By a Female
Performer in an Animated Television Production
Christine Cavanaugh As the voice of Dexter - Dexter's Laboratory -
"Ego Trip"

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting By a Male
Performer in an Animated Television Production
Dan Castellaneta - voice of The Postman - "Olive, The Other Reindeer"

*And one that AnimationArtist failed to mention:
Outstanding Achievement for an Animated Production
Produced for Electronic Media
"Elmo Aardvark, Outer Space Detective" Renegade Animation, Inc.
(Elmo Aardvark is created, written and voiced by Will Ryan.)

My comments:

- I think Batman Beyond was slighted in the "Daytime Animated
Television Program" category. The quality of "Mickey's Mouseworks"
can't even begin to compare with "Batman Beyond". But then, it's
Disney - it's to be expected, I suppose. (Incidentally, Warner Bros
didn't win in a single category this year - last year, they swept the
Annies with "The Iron Giant".)

- On the "Animated Home Video Production": as an Animaniacs fan, it's
hard to see "Wakko's Wish" lose. It's possibly the conclusion to
Animaniacs, and a decent one. I loved the music for it, but the
nitpicker in me found other flaws. But since I didn't see "Bartok The
Magnificent", and only parts of "An Extremely Goofy Movie", I can't
objectively say "Wakko's Wish" was any better than either of them. But
I will say that it was better at least than both "Scooby-Doo & The
Witch's Ghost" and "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas".

- Hated to see "Chicken Run" not win even once in all 3 categories it
was nominated for. It was such a great movie, but the presence of "Toy
Story 2" was an imposing challenger. And the awards to "Toy Story 2"
were well deserved. But it would have been nice to see "Chicken Run"
win something, at least. It really was an entertaining movie.

- As usual, the celebrities were favored over noted animation voice
actors. But if you've been a voice actor enthusiast for any length of
time, you tend to expect this. I will agree that Joan Cusack delivered
a great performance as Jessie in "Toy Story 2", and it's difficult for
me to be completely objective and say it on any kind of level above or
below Tress MacNeille's performance as Dot Warner in "Animaniacs:
Wakko's Wish".

I feel the same way about Tim Allen winning for his role as Buzz
Lightyear in "Toy Story 2", edging out Maurice LaMarche from his
performance in "Animaniacs: Wakko's Wish". But in my opinion, it was
Rob Paulsen who delivered the finest performance in "Wakko's Wish" -
no other moment in that movie was more poignant and emotional to me
than when Pinky sang with tear-filled eyes - even moreso than Dot's
"dying scene". But Rob's won an Annie before (as well as an Emmy), and
Moe's won an Annie too. In spite of the fact that I've met Bill Farmer
and he's an awfully talented guy and all around nice-person, I guess
I'd have to say that the award in that category deservedly went to Tim
Allen, but only because Moe's won an Annie before.

- As much as I enjoy Dan Castellaneta's work, I cannot agree that his
role as The Postman in "Olive, The Other Reindeer" was better than
David Warner's performance as Ra's Al Ghul in "The New Batman/Superman
Adventures". David Warner is a high-quality, underrated actor who has
always delivered an air of class and dignity even to the
lesser-quality films he's appeared in. Warner's performance as Ra's
has been consistently exceptional throughout his appearances in
Batman. His performance served to heighten the drama for an already
excellent series, and he added an element of stage quality as well.
And no one offered him the opportunity to use his comic abilities to
their full potential until he got the role of The Lobe in
"Freakazoid!". (For the only other example I know if, pick up a copy
of "The Man With Two Brains".) I really do wish David Warner had been
recognized for his work on Batman with this award - in a world where
voice actors are underrated enough already, you have an underrated
"celebrity" voice actor who continually delivers a grand performance,
only to be overlooked on account of a comedic one.

At any rate, congratualations to Dan Castellaneta, despite my personal
feelings on the matter.

- As for Christine Cavanaugh - I couldn't be more happy for her. When
"Dexter's Lab: Ego Trip" first aired, I commented on the message board
at Toon Zone that Christine's performance in it was an award-winning
one if I'd ever heard one. Not only is Dexter a great character voice
to begin with, but in the same movie she also voices Dexter as a young
nerdy adult, and reprises her "Old Man Dexter" voice as well. It was a
much-deserved award and I'm extremely pleased that she won in that
category. She certainly earned it.

For the full list of this year's Annie Winners:
http://www.animationartist.com/News/Nov2000_03.html#Nov14

And for a list of the nominees:
http://www.asifa-hollywood.org/annies00.html


Craig Crumpton
Assistant Editor "Gookie" for http://www.toonzone.net
Editor "Voiceroy" for http://zip.to/thevault
The Voice Actors Ultimate Links Treasury
Exclusively at Netscape's Open Directory
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