The First Annual Clays

Since we're in the thick of awards season, and we keep seeing voting bodies honoring the same (very good) bunch of movies -- Memoir of a Snail, Flow, The Wild Robot, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and Inside Out 2 -- I thought I would jump in with my own awards. So commences the first (of hopefully many) edition of the Clays, where I highlight all the wonderful achievements in animation from last year. (You can also check out my Top 10 of 2024 here.)

Memoir of a Snail

A few things to note: only animated movies are eligible (with one exception in Documentary, where I decided to include The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, which has a lot of animation but isn't fully animated). Sometimes, on my personal lists, movies are in weird years. So, a couple movies that are considered 2024 releases (such as Chicken for Linda! and Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds) were considered 2023 releases for me. A lot of the movies I'm including here haven't gotten US releases yet. Some never will. It is what it is.

Rather than doing separate nomination and winner posts, it's all included here. Five nominees per category with the winner bolded and *starred*. Let this be a post to encourage you to expand your horizons with regards to animation. There's so much good stuff to see!

Best Picture
The Concierge
Mars Express
*Memoir of a Snail*
No Dogs or Italians Allowed
Pelikan Blue

Best Director
László Csáki, Pelikan Blue
*Adam Elliot, Memoir of a Snail*
Yoshimi Itazu, The Concierge
Jérémie Périn, Mars Express
Alain Ughetto, No Dogs or Italians Allowed

Best Actress
Yuumi Kawai, Look Back
Natsumi Kawaida, The Concierge
*Lupita Nyong'o, The Wild Robot*
Sarah Snook, Memoir of a Snail
Atsumi Tanezaki, SPY x FAMILY CODE: White

Best Actor
Eric Bauza, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Gerard Butler, The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland
*Billy Corbett, Boys Go to Jupiter*
Kodi Smit-McPhee, Memoir of a Snail
Ben Whitehead, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Boys Go to Jupiter

Best Supporting Actress
Maya Hawke, Inside Out 2
Candi Milo, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Artemis Pebdani, Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation
Jennifer Saunders, 200% Wolf
*Jacki Weaver, Memoir of a Snail*

Best Supporting Actor
Mooroo, The Glassworker
Mirai Moriyama, Ghost Cat Anzu
Issey Ogata, The Imaginary
*Pedro Pascal, The Wild Robot*
Reece Shearsmith, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Best Ensemble
Boys Go to Jupiter
*The Concierge*
Memoir of a Snail
Inside Out 2
The Wild Robot

Best Writing -- Original
Art College 1994 - Shan Lin, Jian Liu
Mars Express - Laurent Sarfati, Jérémie Périn
*Memoir of a Snail - Adam Elliot*
No Dogs or Italians Allowed - Alexis Galmot, Anne Paschetta, Alain Ughetto
Pelikan Blue - László Csáki

Best Writing -- Adapted
*The Concierge - Tsuchika Nishimura, Satomi Ôshima*
The Imaginary - Yoshiaki Nishimura
Look Back - Kiyotaka Oshiyama, Tatsuki Fujimoto
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl -Mark Burton, Nick Park
The Wild Robot - Chris Sanders

The Concierge

Best Editing
The Concierge
Look Back
*Mars Express*
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Best Original Score
Flow - Rihards Zalupe, Gints Zilbalodis
The Glassworker - Carmine Di FLorio, Usman Riaz
Memoir of a Snail - Elena Kats-Chernin
*The Most Precious of Cargoes - Hans Zimmer*
The Wild Robot - Kris Bowers

Best Original Song
*"Amen, I'm Going Somewhere," The Colors Within*
"I Always Wanted a Brother," Mufasa: The Lion King
"Kiss the Sky," The Wild Robot
"Naritai Jibun," Trapezium
"The Rider," The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Best Documentary
Black Butterflies
Knit's Island
Papercuts: My Life as an Indie Animator
*Pelikan Blue*
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin

Funniest Movie
Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation
Boys Go to Jupiter
*Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl*
The Wild Robot
Yumi's Cells: The Movie

Best "For Kids" Movie
Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation
Dounia: The Great White North
The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland
*Rosa and the Stone Troll*
Tummy Tom and the Lost Teddybear

Rosa and the Stone Troll

Best Sequel, Prequel, Remake, Spin-off, Etc.
Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Solo Leveling: -ReAwakening-
SPY x FAMILY CODE: White
*Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl*

Best "Not in the US Yet" Movie
Journey of Shadows
Olivia & the Clouds
*Pelikan Blue*
Rosa and the Stone Troll
Tender Metalheads

The "Eye-Popper" Award for Best Visuals
The Colors Within
The Imaginary
Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain
*Olivia & the Clouds*
The Wild Robot

The "WTF" Award for Biggest Mindfuck
The Greatest Surf Movie in the Universe
*Harmonie*
Journey of Shadows
Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain
When Adam Changes

Best Movie That is Actually Just a Bunch of Episodes of TV
DAN DA DAN: First Encounter
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training-
Rocket Club: Across the Cosmos
*Solo Leveling -ReAwakening-*

Best Multi-Part Movie
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie
*Watchmen*

Best Short Film
*Corpus and the Wandering*
LUKi & the Lights
Magic Candies
Me
Wander to Wonder

Corpus and the Wandering

The Tearjerker Award
The Concierge
*The Imaginary*
Look Back
Memoir of a Snail
The Wild Robot