The Nominees:

Howl's Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki)
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Dirs. Tim Burton and Mike Johnson)
Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Nick Park and Steve Box)

The Winner:

Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Nick Park and Steve Box)

The speech: Polite, British, and nearly perfect. Much like the film it's being made on the behalf of. Some may say it's a little presumptuous to bring a bow tie for the Oscar you hope to win, but it's also charming, in a goofy way. This is the first Oscar for Box, and Park's 4th win out of 5 nominations. It's also the best possible choice, in a year where poor-quality animation was churned witlessly out of computers  -- and where even some high-quality animation (like the other two nominees, to be blunt) lacked fresh or coherent stories.