The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced yesterday that 20 films were submitted for consideration as Best Animated Feature of 2009. The list literally goes from the ridiculous to the sublime. Specifically:

“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”
“Astro Boy”
“Battle for Terra”
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
“Coraline”
“Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
“The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”
“Mary and Max”
“The Missing Lynx”
“Monsters vs. Aliens”
“9”
“Planet 51”
“Ponyo”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure”
“A Town Called Panic”
“Up”

Pixar’s conmputer-animated “Up” is guaranteed one of the five spots. And my instincts tell me that the other four nominations will go to the following: the hand-drawn “The Princess and the Frog” (from Disney, opening Dec. 11) and “Ponyo” (from Oscar winner Hiyao Miyazaki) and the stop-motion “Coraline” (from Henry Selick, a hit last spring) and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (from Wes Anderson, opening Nov. 25). But “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”? If that happens, it’s time to call the witch-doctor, because we’re hallucinating.

The five nominees will be announced Feb. 2. The Oscar ceremony is March 7.

Here’s the trailer for “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” featuring voices by Meryl Streep, Bil Murray and honorary St. Louisan George Clooney: