OK, I liked "Kung Fu Panda," but ... 17 award nominations? Really?

The DreamWorks animated feature, starring the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and others, received more than a dozen nominations in various categories from the Annies, annual awards that are given out by the International Animation Film Society.

Among the nominations the martial-arts, funny-animal spoof received were for Best Animated Feature Production, Writing in an Animated Feature Production (Jon Aibel and Glenn Berger) and Directing in an Animated Feature Production (John Stevenson and Mark Osborne).

And performers James Hong (Mr. Ping), Ian McShane (Tai Lung) and Hoffman (Shifu) all received nominations for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production.

Of course, the 17 nominations were twice as many as those received by Disney/Pixar's "WALL*E," which was a far better movie.

By comparison, the digitally animated tale about a lonely, trash-compacting robot received eight nominations — Best Animated Feature, Best Direction (Andrew Stanton) and Best Voice Acting (Ben Burtt, the "voice" of the title character).

But still. This makes it sound like the selection committee thought "Kung Fu Panda" was twice as good as "WALL• E." Which it's not.

Other films nominated for Best Animated Feature include Disney's "Bolt" (which received five nods), the Israeli animated documentary "Waltz With Bashir" and the Australian-made cartoon "$9.99."

It has been a pretty good year for animated films. For the first time it feels like there are several strong awards candidates.

I am a little perplexed as to why Universal's cartoon version of "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" didn't get much love from the Annie selection committee whatsoever, though. It was at least as good as "Kung Fu Panda" and was definitely better than "Bolt."

The group will announce the Annie Awards winners Jan. 30. For a full list of nominees, visit www.annieawards.org.

• SCORE ONE FOR THE LOCALS!

Kudos to former Utahn Mark Walton. The animator-turned-actor received an Annie nomination for his performance as the voice of the demented hamster Rhino in "Bolt."

Considering whom he's up against in the Best Voice Acting category, I'm sure he's just honored to be a nominee. But still ... good luck!

• AND OF COURSE ...

One of the last animated movies released this year may be the worst. It's "Delgo," a combination of hideous animation and inept

storytelling, as well as nondescript voice work (Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt are the "stars").

Sadly, the film features Anne Bancroft's final big-screen performance. She recorded her voice part as Sedessa, the film's main villain, shortly before her death in 2005. Sigh!

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com