The longlist of films eligible for the 2012 Best Animated Short Oscar was announced earlier this month by The Academy - and in among the 45 shorts that will eventually be whittled down to a handful of nominees (via a shortlist), I'm delighted to see that The Monster of Nix has made it. Along with, bizarrely, two different films about hamsters.

The Monster of Nix turned up at the 2011 London Film Festival in one of the International Animation Panoramas. It's got Terry Gilliam and Tom Waits both on vocals. And it really is quite staggeringly unique, both in terms of visuals and story. It stuck with me for weeks afterwards. Here's the first trailer:

And here's the main song from the Monster of Nix soundtrack, Lost in the Woods:

Can you name another film that includes the sentence "What good is a rolling nudist giant"? I'll be seriously rooting for this one next year (even over Pixar's effort) - presuming it makes it through to the next stage.

Read on for a full list of all 45 nominees (warning: contains The Smurfs) - or check out our Monster of Nix review instead. 

After the phenomenal success of The Lion King in 3D (now showing in UK cinemas), Disney announced last week that it would re-release several of its classics in three dimensions, including Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid.

It was hardly a shocking move from the studio, but there's one key thing that everyone is forgetting: Ariel. The sexiest fish-woman in the world.

HELLOOOO, 3D

NANTS... INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA...

Yes, that's the sound of me singing in South African as I continue my relentless quest to re-watch all the VHS tapes gathering dust in my attic. This week, the greatest Disney video in my childhood collection: The Lion King.

It's being released in UK cinemas in 3D this week (the trailer's this way) - no surprise really, given how gorgeous it looks in good old low-def, analogue 2D:

After gawking in wonder at the many facial expressions of superb concert pianist Lang Lang during The Last Night of the Proms on Saturday, I found myself in the mood for some classical entertainment. Which, of course, led me straight to Fantasia - that 1940s fusion of orchestra and animation. Missed the BBC Proms? Don't have iPlayer? Pick this up for 50p and you're sorted.

Fantasia is a string of eight classical pieces performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, each accompanied by a separate cartoon vignette. It's undoubtedly a revolutionary work both in terms of content and form. I distinctly recall being the only child in my family who enjoyed Fantasia - the young Ivan was obviously as pretentious as the old Ivan. He probably referred to himself in the third person too.

I've always wanted a pet dog. I was never allowed a pet dog as a child. Instead, I was plonked down by my parents in front of this battered old VHS. Yes, it's 101 Dalmatians. The original, not that live action remake.

Watching it back now, it's as twee as memory serves, from the cute architecture of our lead couple's house to the voice-over offered by Rod Taylor's dog, Pongo. Look at him with his little doggy face. Awww. And listen to him calling his human owner his pet. Awww. And observe him as he eyes up women in the street for suitable sexual partners. Awww.

"She's fancy. Hmmm, perhaps a little too fancy.... That one's too old... Too young..." Yes, 101 Dalmatians, that family-friendly classic, opens with a scene in which a dog perves over some women. This, apparently, is the first step in securing true love.

With Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Project Nim approaching, this week I turned to the first animal-based VHS I dug out from the stash in my attic: Homeward Bound, the remake of Disney's 1963 film, The Incredible Journey.

"What's the matter, did you get up on the wrong side of the litter-box?" So said the talking animal to the other talking animal. Because animals use litter-boxes. And these animals can talk. It's not the worst joke of the film (there are lots of "sniffing butt" gags), but it sums up Homeward Bound quite well: it's certainly no Finding Nemo, but hey, it sure ain't Zookeeper.

I used to hate cats when I was a kid, something that couldn't have been helped by watching Blofeld in all those James Bond films. These days I'm a well-adjusted adult and am as fond of felines as I am dogs. And that's something that could well have been caused by this VHS that has long sat gathering dust in my attic.

What Disney movie inspired such love for nature's most evil creatures (not including ducks)? Naturelemente, it's The Aristocats.

Note the witty wordplay used to create the title in the opening credits. Disney's The Aristocrats would be something very different entirely...

If my stash of VHS tapes in the attic taught me anything as a kid, it's that animated films always have sequels. Especially those made by Disney. So while Kung Fu Panda 2 hits cinemas and shows everyone how it's done, I can't help but pick up my old battered copy of another animated sequel: The Return of Jafar.

Now, I used to love this as a kid. Maybe it was the lingering adoration for Aladdin, which I've gone on about before, or maybe it was the fact that the box boldly proclaimed it to be a Disney Video Premiere (OMG! Get the red carpet!) but I distinctly remember thinking Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar was a decent follow-up to the 1992 classic. I even (half-seriously) heralded it as a good animated sequel in my review of Kung Fu Panda 2 yesterday.

I was obviously an idiot child.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides sailed to the top of the UK Box Office this weekend, pillaging its way to a treasure hoard of £11.63m. 

That's the biggest opening of the year so far, and also Disney's fourth biggest opening of all time. It's a fair bit behind At World's End's debut of £13.4m back in 2007, especially given the boost in 3D ticket revenue, but Disney will be pleased that Jack Sparrow still has some pirate gold in him after several (wrong) negative reviews. Yo ho and all that.

You can tell it's blockbuster season just by glancing at the rest of the UK Top Ten. Fast & Furious Five is still at full throttle in second place (continuing to beat its hairy rival Thor) but took just £587k. Marvel's superhero, meanwhile, hammered together a meagre £528k. 

Neither are very big figures for such large films, but they're far from failing (a £17m running total for Fast Five is way ahead of the rest of the series). It's just that there's no room for them. Pirates 4 has commandeered 569 sites across the UK. That's more than The King's Speech at its peak of dominance. As a result, Disney's franchise is earning around 20 times the amount of its closest runner-up.

After last week's brilliant animated swear-fest, I picked something a little more child-friendly from the stash of VHS tapes in my attic: A Bug's Life.

This oft-forgotten 1999 film was the brainchild of Pixar legends John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, both of whom went on to make bigger, better Pixar movies. Why does this get overlooked by the hordes of Toy Story and WALL-E fans? Well, mainly because it's pretty average stuff. It's not as bad as Cars, but it's hardly a classic.