[11][12] Other winners included Pan's Labyrinth with three awards, Dreamgirls, An Inconvenient Truth, and Little Miss Sunshine with two, and Babel, The Blood of Yingzhou District, The Danish Poet, Happy Feet, The Last King of Scotland, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Lives of Others, Marie Antoinette, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Queen, and West Bank Story with one.

[1] In an article published in the Los Angeles Times, Ziskin explained the decision to hire DeGeneres saying "Certainly, I believe the presence of Ellen will help the ratings absolutely.

[28] In tandem with the theme, advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day designed the official ceremony poster featuring 75 quotes from several Oscar-nominated or winning films.

[29] To stir interest surrounding the awards, filmmaker Spike Lee released a trailer featuring everyday people around New York City reciting famous film lines.

[33] Other eco-friendly features included the transportation for guests of the awards via hybrid electric vehicles, usage of recyclable paper for ballots and invitations, and serving meals at the Governor's Ball on reusable plates and biodegradable dishware.

[4] Members of the dance troupe and contortionist group Pilobolus performed interpretive shadow figures representing scenes and logos from the nominated films.

[41] Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore assembled a tribute highlighting previous winners of the Best Foreign Language Film.

Only The Pursuit of Happyness (12th), Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (15th), The Devil Wears Prada (16th), The Departed (17th) and Dreamgirls (28th) were nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature or any of the directing, acting or screenwriting awards.

[45] The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (1st), Cars (2nd), Superman Returns (6th) and Happy Feet (8th).

He also wrote that "it was difficult for Ellen's subtle rambling to translate because people want pop and humor and declarative sentences in their Academy Awards.

"[47] The Washington Post columnist Tom Shales gave an average review for DeGeneres but criticized the overall slow and choppy pacing of the program noting that it was "punishingly too long.

Columnist Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times lauded DeGeneres's performance writing that she was "cheeky but good-natured, far less barbed and sardonic than Jon Stewart last year or Chris Rock in 2005."

"[49] St. Louis Post-Dispatch television critic Gail Pennington praised host DeGeneres and producer Ziskin for turning "the evening into an upbeat celebration––and the most entertaining Oscars in years.

"[50] Television editor Dave Kronke of the Los Angeles Daily News gave high marks for DeGeneres commenting, "Her material was amusing but scarcely a laugh riot, yet it was amiable and delineated that the evening was a celebration of all the nominees, not just the winners.

"[51] The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 39.92 million people over its length, which was a 2.5% increase from the previous year's ceremony.