The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is given each year for the best animated film. An animated feature is defined by the academy as a film with a running time of more than 40 minutes in which characters' performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique, a significant number of the major characters are animated, and animation figures in no less than 75 percent of the running time. The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was first awarded in 2002 for films released in 2001.
Tangled is a 2010 American animated musical adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale "Rapunzel" in the collection of folktales published by the Brothers Grimm, the film was directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, and produced by Roy Conli, from a screenplay written by Dan Fogelman. Featuring the voices of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, and Donna Murphy, Tangled tells the story of Rapunzel, a lost young princess with magical long blonde hair who yearns to leave her secluded tower. She accepts the aid of an intruder, the outlaw Flynn Rider, to take her out into the world which she has never seen.
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney after the closure of Laugh-O-Gram Studio, it is the longest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 63 feature films, with its first release being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which is also the first hand drawn animated feature film, and its most recent release was Moana 2 (2024), and hundreds of short films.
Bolt is a 2008 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay written by Williams and Dan Fogelman. The film stars the voices of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell, James Lipton and Greg Germann. This was also one of the final film roles for Lipton before his death in 2020, the other being Igor which was released the same year as Bolt.
Richard L. Moore is an American film and television animation director, screenwriter and voice actor. He is best known for serving as a director on primetime animated television series such as The Simpsons, The Critic and Futurama as well as directing the films Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Zootopia (2016) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) for Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is a two-time Emmy Award winner, a three-time Annie Award winner and an Academy Award winner.
Rapunzel is a fictional character in Disney's animated film Tangled (2010). Based on the title character from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, Rapunzel is a young princess kept unaware of her royal lineage by Mother Gothel, a vain woman who kidnaps her as a baby to hoard her hair's healing powers and remain young forever. Raised in a secluded tower, Rapunzel escapes with a wanted thief who promises to help her see the elusive floating lights in time for her 18th birthday, in exchange for a crown she has hidden from him. She is voiced by actress and singer Mandy Moore.
Clark Spencer is an American film producer, businessman and studio executive best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and for winning the Oscars for Best Animated Feature for his work on Zootopia and Encanto.
Mother Gothel is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' animated film Tangled (2010). The character is voiced by actress and singer Donna Murphy in her voice acting debut; Murphy auditioned for the role spontaneously upon learning from her agent that Disney was auditioning actresses for the film's villainous role. Loosely based on Dame Gothel from the German fairy tale "Rapunzel", Mother Gothel is a vain old woman who hoards the strong healing powers of a magical gold flower to live for many, many years and remain perpetually young and beautiful. When the flower is harvested to heal the kingdom's ailing queen, its powers are inherited by the king and the queen's beautiful young daughter Rapunzel, removing Gothel's access. With her life suddenly endangered, Gothel attempted to take a single tendril from Rapunzel, but the tendril loses its power when cut, so she kidnaps the infant, imprisoning the princess in an isolated tower for eighteen years while posing as her mother to exploit her powers. To ensure Rapunzel does not leave, she tells her the outside world is dangerous and full of people who might steal her hair to use for themselves.
"I See the Light" is a song written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater for Walt Disney Animation Studios' animated film Tangled (2010). A duet originally recorded by American recording artist and actress Mandy Moore and American actor Zachary Levi in their respective film roles as main characters Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, the folk-inspired pop ballad serves as both the film's love and theme song. Lyrically, "I See the Light" describes the developing romantic relationship between Rapunzel and Flynn, and is featured as the seventh track on the film's soundtrack album.
Eugene Fitzherbert, born Horace and known by the alias Flynn Rider, is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Animation Studios' animated film Tangled (2010), its short 2012 film Tangled Ever After, and the 2017 television series Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. The character is voiced by American actor Zachary Levi, who decided to audition for the role upon learning that he would also be providing the character's singing voice. Levi's duet with singer and co-star Mandy Moore, "I See the Light", would go on to become the actor's first professionally recorded song and musical debut.
The Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Directing in a Feature Production is an Annie Award, awarded annually to the best animated feature film and introduced in 1996. It rewards directing for animated feature films. The recipients are directors as well as co-directors.
Nathan Greno is an American film director, story artist, and writer best known as the co-director of Walt Disney Animation Studios' film, Tangled (2010).
Zootopia is a 2016 American animated buddy cop action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore, co-directed by Jared Bush, and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay written by Bush and Phil Johnston, and a story by Howard, Moore, Bush, Johnston, Jim Reardon, Josie Trinidad, and Jennifer Lee. The film stars the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J. K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, and Shakira. The film follows a rookie police officer rabbit and a con artist fox as they work together to uncover a conspiracy involving the disappearance of predators.
Pascal and Maximus are a pair of animals who first appear in Walt Disney Pictures' animated film Tangled (2010) as supporting characters, and subsequently star in its short Tangled Ever After (2012), television film Tangled: Before Ever After and television series Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. Created by screenwriter Dan Fogelman, both characters are usually left unvoiced, although in Tangled Ever After, Nathan Greno provides the voice of Maximus while Dee Bradley Baker voices both characters in the continuity presented in Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. A comedic chameleon and horse duo, Pascal and Maximus serve as sidekicks to main characters Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, respectively.
Jared Bush is an American screenwriter, producer, and director, who served as the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2024. He is best known for co-writing and co-directing the Walt Disney Animation Studios film Zootopia (2016) and its upcoming sequel Zootopia 2 (2025), writing the film Moana (2016), its sequel Moana 2 (2024) and the 2026 upcoming live-action remake, and writing, directing, and winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for the film Encanto (2021), besides co-creating and executive producing the Disney XD animated series Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero.
Encanto is a 2021 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, co-directed by Charise Castro Smith, and produced by Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer, with original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and an original musical orchestral score composed by Germaine Franco. The screenplay was written by Castro Smith and Bush, both of whom also conceived the film's story with Howard, Miranda, Jason Hand, and Nancy Kruse. The film stars the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitán, Diane Guerrero, and Wilmer Valderrama, with Rhenzy Feliz, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Adassa, and Maluma in additional roles. Encanto follows a multigenerational Colombian family, the Madrigals, led by a matriarch whose children and grandchildren—except for Mirabel Madrigal—receive magical gifts from a miracle, which they use to help the people in their rural community, called the Encanto. When Mirabel learns that the family is losing their magic, she sets out to find out why and save the family and house.
Zootopia+ is an animated miniseries based on Zootopia by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush. Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, the series was released on Disney+ on November 9, 2022.
Isabela Madrigal is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Animation Studios' animated film Encanto (2021). Isabela is depicted as seemingly perfect but entitled, possessing the ability to make flowers grow. However, Mirabel—her youngest sister—discovers that she struggles under the expectations of perfection. With Mirabel's help, she realizes her imperfections and begins growing plants other than flowers.
Yvett Merino is a film producer who served as a main producer for the film Disney's Encanto. As producer, she won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, with Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Clark Spencer.
Zootopia, also known as Zootropolis or Zoomania in various regions, is a Disney media franchise that originally started in 2016 with the release of the American animated feature film Zootopia, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The series takes place in the titular city where anthropomorphic animals consisting of predators and prey coexist with one another.
