RottenTomatoes.com has wrapped up the decade with a categorical review of the best films, using atypical categories like Best Remake and Best Directorial Debut. In their Best of the Decade piece, Animated films stood out proudly, taking the top spot in two categories and placing high in others. Here’s how it sorted out:

BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE
The Incredibles (first place)

BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
Finding Nemo (4th place for Andrew Stanton)
Chicken Run (5th place for Nick Park and Peter Lord)

BEST CHILDREN’S BOOK ADAPTATION
Fantastic Mr. Fox (1st place)
Coraline (2nd place)
Shrek (3rd place)

In a reader poll on the last page, The Incredibles also holds the top spot as best of the best.

As Matt Groening’s series The Simpsons marks it’s 20th anniversary this Thursday, the media ponders the show’s future. CNN is running an article by Todd Leopold that sounds more like a Death Panel. Titled Is it time for ‘The Simpsons’ to ‘g’oh’?, Leopold’s article repeats what I often hear amongst fans: that the series ain’t what it used to be. What a picky lot, eh? I’m just happy to have more episodes, even if they’re not world-class. What I liked from the CNN piece was the influences graphic (inset), which lines up where The Simpsons stands in the recent history of comedy.

What do you think? Should The Simpsons forge on for another 20 seasons?

I feel like I’ve seen this same report a half-dozen times about Pixar’s amazing studio space and John Lasseter’s playful office, but it’s still kinda fun to watch. In this 4-minute video piece, CNN’s Douglas Hyde goes up to Emeryville and talks to folks like Ricky Nierva (production designer on Up) and Bryn Imagire (shading art director on Up).

If you’re within range of Hollywood this coming Monday night, consider attending a cast and crew screening of Waking Sleeping Beauty. The film centers on the revival of Walt Disney Animation that started in 1984. Tickets are going fast, so get your RSVP sorted out now.

Monday, November 23, 2009 at 7:00pm
El Capitan Theatre
6838 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028-6102 [map]
RSVP by Thursday, November 19th
to (818) 560-5550 or elaine.lazelle [at] disney.com

[Invite - PDF]

CTN-X (the CTN Animation Expo) kicks off this Friday in Burbank, and runs through to Sunday, November 22nd. There’s heaps of great panels and speakers over the 3-day event, and I was lucky enough to be invited to participate. I’m hosting a panel titled 1 + 3 + 5 = The Making of 9, where I’ll be quizzing a number of crew members about this feature film. Shane Acker, the creator and director of the CG-project will be on stage, and afterwards the team will be available for Q&A.

After 300+ votes over the last day, we’ve got a pretty clear picture of the front-runners in this race for the 5 Best Animated Feature slots. With 20 animated films eligible for the Oscar nominations this year, it looks like a dog-fight for that 5th spot. However, two of these films haven’t been open to the public yet; The Princess and the Frog (Nov 25th), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (select theaters today, wide on November 25th).

As you may have read yesterday, 20 films are in the race for the Best Animated Feature Oscar this year. That’s significant for two reasons: 1) that’s alota animated features in one year and 2) this means 5 films will likely be nominated this year, as opposed to 3, which has been the case in every year except 2002.

To celebrate, let’s see which ones are your favorites. Pick 5 films in the poll below which you think deserve a nomination. Obviously, films like Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Princess and the Frog that haven’t released yet are hard to vote on, but maybe you’ve read some reviews, eh?