It's amazing to think about how far animation has come. It was only nine years ago in 2001 that Shrek beat out Monsters Inc. and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius to win the first Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It's especially mind boggling when you consider that those were probably the only animated movies that aired in theaters. And look where we are now. One or two animated movies are released just about every month. New studios are popping up all the time, and even sites like ours here at Aniboom are capable of producing and showcasing films to millions of people around the world. With that said let's take a look at the films that have been nominated for Oscar gold and estimate their chances of winning.

CORALINE

Based on the novel by comic legend Neil Gaiman, this Alice in Wonderlandesque tale has gained a lot of critical acclaim this year. A long shot to win but it definitely deserves its spot among the nominees. Extremely creative visuals in a world that looks like it's made of liquid play-doh.

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Oscar season is among us again which means rich and famous people can finally stop toiling in anonymity and revel in the awards they justly deserve while we watch them do it. And depending on time constraints and the length of time team Avatar will take making all their acceptance speeches some of the awards will likely be given out during commercials. One of the categories most likely to get that treatment is undoubtably Best Animated Short. But they will not be ignored here! So without further ado the nominees for Best Animated Short are...

FRENCH ROAST

The front runner for Oscar glory and according to oddsmakers the heavy favorite. Fantastically staged long takes with clever foreground and background movements. Every minor camera shift is motivated and constantly telling the story. Brilliant.

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Here is our final section of Aniboom's Animations of the Year, the Editor's picks. It touches on a little bit of everything. You get aliens, the apocalypse, internet dating, an old woman, coffee, and green people making friends with red people.

LEGACY

There's two ways of looking at this one. The glass half empty way; humanity destroyed itself, or the glass half full way; humanity pulls off the greatest practical joke on an alien ever. Either way the textures are highly detailed, the lighting makes the world feel cold and desolate, and the special effects look amazing.

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Here we are in our second part of Aniboom's Animations of the Year; our most popular animations. Not exactly the cheeriest group of animations. What's going on out there aniboomers? Does anyone need a hug?

HUMANS!

A 1950's style educational video about the effect of humans on a planet. As you can imagine, it's not so good. What is good however, is this animation. Authentic voice over voice, menacing little ink blots for humans, and rendered as if it's being shown on a old film projector. Nice touch on all the details.

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After much deliberation the Aniboom animations of the year have been determined. The first set we're going to look at were the most viewed animations we had this year. 

ARK

A story about a post apocalyptic Earth. A fantastic tone is set with moody sets, cold lighting and slow pacing. Not to mention a very satisfying twist at the end.

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Team Umizoomi is a new kid’s show, geared toward the preschool set, premiering this week on Nickelodeon. the show’s focus is on teaching preschoolers the basics of math.



This interactive series ,is set in Umi City, a multi-textured world of shapes and colors populated with people, cars, buildings, and just about anything else you’d expect in a big city. Using 2D and 3D animation techniques, the designers have created a colorful, dazzling, math-based world kept safe by young super heroes Milli and Geo as well as their robot.

Read more about this wonderful new world here

By now we've all seen and heard about the level of devastation and loss the people of Haiti are going through since an earthquake ravaged their nation last week. When things of this magnitude happen it's natural to want to help in any way you can. With that in mind we here at Aniboom would urge you to do two things.

The first thing you can do is make a donation. You can visit the link here to go to a crisis response page which gives information on all the different ways that you can make donations. You can also visit helphaitinow.org to donate money for food, water, medicine and education.

The second thing you can do is be animators. Bob Dylan is a songwriter. When he read about a boxer who was unjustly imprisoned, he wrote a song. Hurricane. Upton Sinclair is an author. When he saw the inhumane conditions that existed in the meatpacking industry, he wrote a book. The Jungle. James Hardy Mason is an animator. When he wanted to express the sadness of wanting to make life better for a loved one but never getting the chance, he made an animation. Empty Cans.

This is what we would ask of you. If there's a thought, or a feeling, or any sentiment at all that you have about what happened to Haiti, then be animators. Make an animation. Let the world see.

On behalf of everyone here at Aniboom our thoughts, prayers and well wishes go out to the people of Haiti and their families. 

It was December of 2008 and all was good in the world. For the first time since 1989 someone without the last name Bush or Clinton would be put in charge of America, jetpacks were inching closer to reality courtesy of New Zealand, and 70/30 productions had just released their Frisky Dingo spin-off The Xtacles. Yes, things were good. Then January of 2009 hit. The Superbowl dreams of my beloved Colts were dashed due to an otherworldly punting display and an inability to run the ball, the Icelandic government and economy collapsed, and 70/30 productions disbanded. The Xtacles were gone. There would be no third season of Frisky Dingo. Bon Jovi Friday was at an end... 

But it wound up being the beginning...of Archer...

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DreamWorks Animation , produced and distributed a string of CG animated films over the last 10 years, including Shrek, Madasgar, Kung fu Panda and Bee movie to name a few.

Their 2010 line up looks to be in keeping with the traditional pop culture storylines with a solid lineup, however not mind blowing to say the least.

MegaMind – A super hero verse villain movie starring an impressive cast including Will Ferrel, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey and Ben Stiller.



Shrek Forever After – The 4th installment of the franchise bringing back the gang including Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonia Banderas.



How to Train Your Dragon – A boys initiation and an unlikely lovable hero, written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois.

The nominees have been released for the 67th annual Golden Globe awards. For those of you who don't know what the Golden Globes are, it's better than a MTV movie award, but it's not quite an Oscar. And the nominees are...

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

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