Mars Needs Moms is an awesome display of computer animation molded to a standard Disney story template. The soppy moralizing about families and the sanctity of the mother-son bond would be far more difficult to take were it not in the service of some awe-inspiring 3-D work that offers a richly textured, luxuriously detailed vision of life on Mars. I’m no great fan of the artificial incorporation of the third dimension, but Disney’s animators have used here it to produce a veritable theme park ride rendition of a Mars featuring enormous ships, complex technological apparatuses and cavernous loading docks given a sleek, space-age sheen. Director Simon Wells’ stylistic vision might best be described as steam-punk mixed with Kubrick, far more complex and immersive than anything this side of Pixar.

We recently had a chance to visit the luxurious InterContinental Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio and meet with one of the producers of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. And yes, there is a luxurious hotel in Ohio.

It seems like the gang who brought us Crank, and haven’t even yet finished Crank 2, are going to bring us a Crank 3…IN 3-D!