Derivative as all get out and plainly concocted by a committee, “Epic” is a children's animated film that is more entertaining and emotional than it has any right to be.

Ben Stiller's Alex the lion reviews “Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted” so we don't have to. Halfway into the third animated tale about New York City zoo animals on their overseas adventures, Alex tells some new circus friends that their act was not too entertaining for families “because you were just going through the motions out there.”

The familiar team of three — Manny the mammoth, Sid the sloth and Diego the saber-tooth tiger — are back to brave the harsh conditions of the Ice Age once again. Oh, and let's not forget Scrat the squirrel, whose determined pursuit of his beloved acorn, as always, launches the entire plot into motion.

It's impossible not to be charmed by “Dr. Seuss' The Lorax,” a 3D animated rendering of the Seuss tale of environmental activism and the power of one person to make a difference. (Or in Seuss' words: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot / Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”)

DreamWorks' cunning casting of the silky Spaniard Antonio Banderas as a swashbuckling Puss in Boots pays off, brilliantly, in “Puss in Boots,” a star vehicle for the nursery rhyme kitty cat from the “Shrek” movies.

Puns like these would be unforgivable coming from a human. From high-pitched rodents, they prompt calls for an exterminator.

A ruthless corporate-style monolith corners the market on Christmas holiday retail, cruelly displacing its outmoded work force and crassly insisting that any individual who falls through the cracks is part of the cost of business.

“Happy Feet Two” is to 2006's “Happy Feet” what “Babe: Pig in the City” (我很乖，因為我要出國) was to “Babe” (我不笨，我有話要說), a clever and adorable original film remade with most of the charm wrung out of it.

Filmmakers mess with viewers' childhood memories at their peril, so Steven Spielberg is taking a risk tackling Tintin.

Pixar's track record has been close to impeccable for turning out intelligent, emotionally rich, beautifully detailed animated films, with plenty of humor and heart to appeal to movie lovers of all ages.