Awards Watch: Panda Upset at the Annies

Kung Fu Panda swept last night's Annie Awards, leaving its fellow Oscar nominee WALL-E empty-handed. Not only did the DreamWorks Animation hit win in all ten feature film categories (thereby breaking the record nine wins set by Ratatouille, another Disney/Pixar favorite, last year), its video game and DVD spin-offs picked up an additional five trophies.

No doubt that this surprise Pixar shut-out will stir up some scandal for the International Animated Film Society (I still say DWA bought and paid for each of those awards). Regardless of their past record of matching up with the Academy Award winners (only once since the Animated Feature Oscar was introduced in 2001 have they not), WALL-E is still the front-runner ... and the Annies are now officially irrelevant.