‘Wallace & Gromit’ Sweeps Animation Awards

An eccentric, cheese-loving inventor and his loyal -- and brilliant -- four-legged companion are the toast of the animation industry as “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” cleaned up Saturday at the 33rd annual Annie Awards.

The movie earned best animated picture honors, along with kudos for animated effects (Jason Wen); character animation (Claire Billett); music in an animated feature production (Julian Nott); character design in an animated feature production (creator Nick Park); directing in an animated feature production (Park, Steve Box); production design in an animated feature production (Phil Lewis); storyboarding in an animated feature production (Bob Persichetti); voice acting in an animated feature production (Peter Sallis, who voices Wallace); and writing in an animated feature production (Box, Park, Bob Baker and Mark Burton).

The other honorees were:

* Best home entertainment production: “Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch,” DisneyToon Studios.

* Best animated short subject: “The Fan and the Flower,” Atomic Television/Plymptoons Productions.

* Best animated TV commercial: United Airlines, “Mr. Pants,” Acme Filmworks.

* Best animated TV production: “Star Wars: Clone Wars II,” Cartoon Network Studios.

* Best animated video game: “Ultimate Spider-Man,” Activision/Treyarch.

* Character design in an animated TV production: Ernie Gilbert, “The Fairly OddParents -- ‘The Good Old Days,’ ” Nickelodeon.

* Directing in an animated TV production: Peter Shin, “Family Guy -- ‘North by North Quahog,’ ” Fox TV Animation.

* Music in an animated TV production: James L. Venable and Jennifer Kes Remington, “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends -- ‘The Duchess of Wails,’ ” Cartoon Network Studios.

* Production design in an animated TV production: Mike Moon, Craig McCracken, Dave Dunnet and Martin Ansolabehere: “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends -- ‘A Lost Claus,’ ” Cartoon Network Studios.

* Storyboarding in an animated TV production: Lauren MacMullan, “AVATAR: The Last Airbender -- ‘The Deserter,’ ” Nickelodeon.

* Voice acting in an animated TV production: Seth MacFarlane, voice of Stewie, “Family Guy -- ‘Brian the Bachelor,’ ” Fox TV Animation.

* Writing in an animated TV production: C.H. Greenblatt, Paul Tibbitt, Mike Bell and Tim Hill, “SpongeBob SquarePants -- ‘Fear of a Krabby Patty,’ ” Nickelodeon.