Most people had never even heard of The Secret of Kells when it was shortlisted in December by the International Animated Film Society's Annie Awards. The Irish-Belgian-French co-production immediately caught our eye for its highly stylized 2-D look and medieval subject matter, and lived up to the promise of its trailer when we caught its one-week qualifying run back in December.
And that run paid off handsomely: Kells was announced this morning as one of the five features up for Best Animated Film, accompanied by such heavy-hitters as Up (nominated too in the Best Picture category), Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Princess and the Frog. It's a feat made all the more impressive when you consider who Kells had to squeeze out of the race to earn its slot: box office behemoths like Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Disney's eleventy billion dollar exercise in dead-eyed Dickenasia, A Christmas Carol.
They say it's an honor just to be nominated. In Kells' case, it's also a multimillion publicity campaign that doesn't cost a cent. Good on ya.
The Secret of Kells will be in U.S. theaters in March.