Animation, Family | featured news

God bless animation! Only in cartoons could you get a prequel after a dozen years with characters that actually look younger than they did in the first film. Also, while we're at it, hooray for Pixar, because Monsters University looks like the movie that'll re-establish the studio's follow-up bona fides after the critical train wreck that was Cars 2. To begin with, the premise was established organically; rather than following up on the adventures of Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman) after the closing curtain of Monsters, Inc. -- and trying to send them on a new, sequelriffic adventure -- it capitalizes on the duo's easy chemistry by focusing on how they met.

Movie fans have not outgrown the "Toy Story 3" gang. The animated sequel about toys that come to life leaped to the No. 1 spot with a $109 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Has Andy dumped Woody and the gang?

The forecast was bright at the box-office for "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," which earned $30.1 million to lead this weekend's films.

Take a look at the Japanese animation guru's latest film.

Hollywood planned a 2nd straight weekend friendly for family filmgoers who have pent-up demand. With 20% of K-through-12 out of school today, Pixar/Disney's 10th pic and first 3-D movie, Up, was able to get a jump on the domestic box office with busy matinees from 1,534 3-D theaters -- a record -- and a total of 3,766 theatres total.