Sick of watching that “Smurfs” DVD over and over again? Fear not, parents — 2012 offers a toybox full of animated and other movies for kids.

3-D is a controversial topic. The extra dimension jacks up ticket prices, some kids refuse to wear the special glasses, and often it doesn’t do much for a film but make it murkier. But we have high hopes for the 3-D conversion of two beloved movies this year. “Beauty and the Beast 3-D” comes out Jan. 13 and “Finding Nemo 3-D” swims into theaters Sept. 14. (3-D versions of “Monsters Inc” and “The Little Mermaid” are coming in 2013.)

Fairy tales are coming to life all over the place these days, what with “Grimm” and “Once Upon a Time” both kicking off on TV this month. On the big screen, classic kids’ tales and nursery rhymes combine in “Puss in Boots,” which spins off Antonio Banderas’ suave feline from the “Shrek” movies into his own 3-D adventure.

“Puss in Boots” starts a little slow, but once it flashes back to the furry friend’s childhood, things start to purr. Seems that Puss once lived in an orphanage filled with other favorites from the storybooks, including a bullyish Little Boy Blue and a dopey Humpty Dumpty, who becomes the cat’s best pal. The cat and the egghead are unlikely buddies, but Zach Galifianakis adds a crafty charm to the bad egg, and it’s easy to root for their up-and-down friendship.

Review in a Hurry: Adapted from a children’s book by Bloom County artist Berkeley Breathed, Mars Needs Moms is visually inventive and occasionally emotionally potent, but feels overly padded in its attempt to stretch such a short story to feature length.

RELATED! Battle: Los Angeles is also in theaters this week

The Bigger Picture: Following a thorough, broccoli-related scolding, young Milo (voiced by Seth Dursky, motion-captured by Seth Green) loudly opines that life would be better if he didn’t have a mom at all.

(EW.com) — The week after Thanksgiving is historically known for its precipitous drops, and in that regard, this weekend didn’t disappoint.

The overall box office was down 54 percent from last week, as Disney’s “Tangled,” armed with a frying pan, bludgeoned its way past “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1″ to claim first place with $21.5 million, according to studio estimates.

They are perhaps more recognizable among children as the funny-looking characters that adorn their daily multivitamin, but today “The “Flintstones” are 50! At first we thought, “How can a family that lived circa 1,000,000 B.C. be just 50?” But then we remembered it was a fictional cartoon.

Hanna-Barbera’s “Flintstones” TV series premiered on ABC on September 30, 1960, and was among the first of a new brand of television series – the hybrid that worked on both child and adult levels. “The Flintstones” centered on a working-class couple “from the town of Bedrock,” Fred and Wilma, who lived next door to their best friends, Barney and Betty Rubble.

LOS ANGELES — Welcome back, Woody and Buzz.

After a decade-plus absence from theaters, the animated heroes of “Toy Story 3″ sold $153.8 million worth of tickets during their opening weekend at the worldwide box office, according to estimates issued Sunday by distributor Walt Disney Co.

Moviegoers in the United States and Canada accounted for $109 million, a new opening record for a film produced by Disney’s Pixar Animation unit. The old mark of $70.5 million was set by “The Incredibles” in May 2004.

LOS ANGELES – James Cameron’s “Avatar” is on a course to sink “Titanic” at the box office.

No. 1 for the sixth-straight weekend with $36 million, the 20th Century Fox sci-fi spectacle lifted its domestic total to $552.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Avatar” raised its worldwide total to $1.841 billion. That’s $2 million shy of first place behind Cameron’s last movie, the 1997 shipwreck epic “Titanic,” at $1.843 billion.

“It defies all superlatives,” said Chris Aronson, head of distribution for Fox.

LOS OSOS, California – Animator Art Clokey, whose bendable creation Gumby became a pop culture phenomenon through decades of toys, revivals and satires, died Friday. He was 88.

Clokey, who suffered from repeated bladder infections, died in his sleep at his home in Los Osos on California’s Central Coast, son Joseph told the Los Angeles Times.

LOS ANGELES — Roy E. Disney, who helped revitalize the famed animation division of the company founded by his uncle, Walt Disney, and who at times publicly feuded with top Disney executives, died on Wednesday in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 79.

“The Princess and the Frog” earned a big wet kiss from family audiences as the animated musical leaped to No. 1 with $25 million in its first weekend of nationwide release, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Disney musical is the studio’s first hand-drawn animated tale in five years, a contrast to the computer-animated films that now dominate the cartoon world.