A Good Year for Animated Films

We're only half way through the year and there's been two amazing films so far (Coraline, Up), and plenty more on the horizon before the year's end, I'm looking forward to Mr. Fox and Ponyo especially, here's a list of the 2009 line up:

CORALINE (2/6/09) Focus Features. (stop-motion puppets) D: Henry Selick. A young girl walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. Box office gross (as of 03/01/09): $61,145,000

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS (3/27/09) Dreamworks (Paramount). D: Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon. When a meteorite from outer space hits a young girl and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years.

BATTLE FOR TERRA (5/1/09) Lionsgate. D: Aristomenis Tsirbas. A peaceful alien planet faces annihilation, as the homeless remainder of the human race sets its eyes on Terra. Mala, a rebellious Terrian teenager, will do everything she can to stop it.

UP (5/29/09) Disney/Pixar. D: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson. By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. He soon learns he isn't alone on his journey.

ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (7/1/09) 20th Century-Fox. D: Carlos Saldanha.

PONYO (8/14/09) Walt Disney Pictures. D: Hayao Miyazaki. (hand drawn animation) A mermaid runs away from her home in the sea and befriends a five year old boy who lives on a cliff.

9 (9/9/09) Focus Features. D: Shane Acker. A post-apocalyptic nightmare in which all of humanity is threatened.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (9/18/09) Columbia. D: Phil Lord, Chris Miller. A scientist trying to solve world hunger encounters a problem of global proportions, as food begins to fall from the sky.

SITA SINGS THE BLUES (9/ /09) Shadow Distribution/Gkids. 82 mins. D: Nina Paley. Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama; Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by e-mail. An animated interpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana, set to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw.

ASTRO BOY (10/23/09) Summit Entertainment. D: David Bowers. Based on Osamu Tezuka's famous character about a super-powered robot created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, Astro Boy embarks on a journey in search of acceptance.

THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX (11/6/09) D: Wes Anderson. 20th Century-Fox. Angry farmers, tired of sharing their chickens with a sly fox, look to get rid of their opponent and his family.

PLANET 51 (11/20/09) Tri-Star. D: Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad. The inhabitants of Planet 51 live in fear of alien invasion. Their paranoia is realized when an astronaut arrives from Earth. Befriended by a young resident, he has to avoid capture in order to recover his spaceship and try to return home.

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (12/25/09) Disney. (hand drawn amimation) D: Ron Clements, John Musker. A fairy tale centered on a young girl named Princess Tiana who lives in New Orleans' French Quarter during the Jazz Age.