something you wrap in yesterday's newspaper.”56 Many complained when the $162 million grossing film scored an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature (along side The Incredibles and Shrek 2). It was a nod which caused Roger Ebert to gripe “The ringer [in the category] is Shark Tale, which has no business being nominated over the brilliant and original The Polar Express.”57 Although it had two nominations for the award, DreamWorks lost out to the Disney/Pixar favorite, The Incredibles (sweet revenge since the original Shrek beat Monsters, Inc. three years earlier). Shrek 2 also scored a nomination for Best Original Song, for the Counting Crows’ “Accidentally in Love”, but lost, surprisingly, to “Al Otro Lado Del Río” from The Motorcycle Diaries. Regardless, the two CG toons helped give DreamWorks their best year ever, with (as stated earlier) a shade under $1 billion dollars. ________________________
The Final Lap before Paramount In 2005, the studio’s final year before merging with Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks reaped a second award for Best Animated Feature, with Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The claymation film opened at number one in early October, and was a favorite with film critics across the board, drawing reviews Gitesh Pandya called “among the best of any film released this year”58 including a rare five star rating from The New York Times. The film was not blockbuster, but grossed a very respectable $56 million, according to final
59