I don't generally approve of this whole animating the mouths of real animals trend. In my mind it is in the same category as animating the mouths of cute babies to make them say hilarious things. Clever, but kind of a one-trick pony.

Perhaps it is childhood nostalgia, but the live-action "Underdog" trailer intrigues me. I should also say that I've recently gotten really, really in to CuteOverload-- and that might predispose me to liking a cute little beagle flying and stopping crime.

When Underdog first appears, Super Man style, I chuckled out loud. It is so nice to see parody making a strong comeback in the kids' movie. Personally, I like puns, and I really like movies that overtly reference other movies. So really, this trailer was made for me.

Everything seems to be going according to plan, Smithers. The animation looks polished and dynamic, all of your favorite characters are present and accounted for, and the story, though ambiguous at this point, looks fittingly large and cinematic. Fox seems ready to deliver the Simpsons movie that America has been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for since 1989.

One ingredient seems to be absent though, and ironically it's the same spice that's been missing from the show since the mid-nineties: wit. The problem with the show over the past 8 seasons was that at certain point the original subversive writers were replaced by fans of the original subversive writers, thus resulting in a show so self-reflexive and esoteric it became stale and worse, unfunny.

It's hard to separate this trailer from the rest of the new Simpsons episodes. Like them, it seems to be resting firmly on the laurels of the sterling first 9 seasons of the show. Also, I can't help but add that the faux-seriousness of the trailer greatly resembles the original trailer for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the film by which this movie will no doubt be judged. But with that movie, we had an R-Rated version of a show not yet in its prime held back by censors; with The Simpsons Movie, we have a longer, PG-13 episode of a show that hasn't been funny in ages. Great. I'm so excited.

For everyone who loved The Devil Wears Prada, here comes... well, another version -- minus the Meryl Streep and fashion, and with a whole lot more baby poop. The Nanny Diaries, in theory, has a lot of promise: Scarlett Johannson sure is pretty, Laura Linney never fails to disappoint, and the co-directors were previously responsible for American Splendor, one of my favorite films. But this trailer is a mess, failing to set up any of the characters, and deviating wildly in tone between satiric farce and romantic comedy. It's hard to imagine this movie working at all, let alone achieving the same success as Prada. Hopefully, future trailers will show that this isn't the greatest abuse of good talent since Norbit.

Julie Taymor's previous two films (the Shakespearean adaptation Titus and the biopic Frida) are in one breath strange and beautiful, filled with surreal touches that enliven normally-dusty genres. So I'm incredibly excited for Across the Universe, a romantic drama set against the turbulent 60s and 70s.

Sure, you might think that the world doesn't need another Forrest Gump, but Across the Universe promises to take a very different approach. Early on, the trailer focuses on the attractive young actors and period settings. But towards the end, as the hints of visual weirdness build into a dazzling little montage of animation, dance, and song, you can't help but be swept away. Maybe this film will be a failure. But man, it'll be a gorgeous failure.

The Larry Sanders Show. The Ben Stiller Show. Freaks & Geeks. Anchorman. The 40 Year Old Virgin. Judd Apatow's filmography reads like a rundown of Jesus's miracles; only Jesus was a boring, preachy shriv, and Apatow is a funny dude who makes good stuff.

But more important than being funny, it seems that Apatow knows what IS funny. He's not just a creator, but a facilitator, with a shockingly keen-eye for talent and a knack for making some of the most unlikely actors into bonafide movie stars.

We can thank him for the omnipresence of Steve Carell, now let's see what he can do with his own chubby, sarcastic protégé Seth Rogen. In this international trailer -- much saltier than the blanded American trailer -- for his new film Knocked Up, Rogen proves that when Apatow has faith in you, it's probably because he thinks you're a funny dude who makes good stuff, too.