Upcoming Cartoon Movies

There aren't too many original live-action movies coming up. Most of them are based on pre-existing properties (other movies, books, comics, plays, fairytales). If we're looking for originality, cartoons offer the most promise. Even the ones that are adaptations of other works still have an air of freshness about them.  Here are some animated films coming our way.

Epic - From the creators of Ice Age and Rio, a teenaged girl is transported to a forest where a battle rages between the forces of good and evil, starring the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Blake Anderson, Jason Sudeikis, Aziz Ansari, Beyonce Knowles, Johnny Knoxville, and Steven Tyler.

Escape from Planet Earth - An astronaut is caught in a trap after responding to a distress signal from an alien world. The voice talent comes from Jessica Alba, Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jane Lynch, and James Gandolfini.

Frozen - Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel lend their voices to this retelling of a Hans Christian Andersen tale.

The Good Dinosaur - All I know about this animated flick is that it's another Pixar production, it's about dinosaurs, and the voice cast so far includes John Ratzenberger, Joan Rivers, and Lil' Wayne. It's Pixar, how can it fail?

Hotel Transylvania - A human boy discovers Count Dracula's secret monster resort. It stars the voice talent of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Steve Buscemi, Kevin James, David Spade, Fran Drescher, Jon Lovitz, Molly Shannon, and Cee-Lo.

ParaNorman - A little boy sees and talks to dead people and tries to save his town from a curse. John Goodman and Casey Affleck are some of the voices you'll hear.

Rise of the Guardians - Based on the bestselling books by William Joyce, popular childhood characters form a super-team to save the world from the Boogieman. Chris Pine stars as Jack Frost, Alec Balwin plays North (Santa Claus), Hugh Jackman is E. Aster Bunnymund, Isla Fisher is the fairy Tooth, and Jude Law is the evil spirit Pitch.

Wreck-It Ralph - John C. Reilly, Jane Lynch, and Sarah Silverman star in this adventure about a villain from a classic videogame who longs to be a hero, but unleashes a dangerous adversary from a first-person shooter game.

How can live-action movies compare with all that?