Movies: A clutch of critters capture the screen

Garden gnomes, adolescent aliens, lizards!

A big bad wolf, a plush-toy beaver, and elephants!

Make way for a menagerie of creatures, big and small, comic and dramatic, as Hollywood tries to fill the gap between the prestige titles released late last year (now jockeying for Oscars) and the big-tent behemoths slated for summer 2011, starting May 6. (Thor? Really?)

Herewith a list of a dozen of the more intriguing contenders, including an animated iteration of a Shakespeare classic, the remake of an early '80s comedy about a lovable drunk, and a mind-trippy Philip K. Dick adaptation with Matt Damon in a hat that looks like it belonged to Frank Sinatra.

Sanctum An epic spelunking adventure, executive-produced by James Cameron and using some of the same 3-D technology he created for Avatar. With a cast of Aussies and Brits diving way down deep into "the mother of all caves." Mother . . . caves . . . Jungian symbols alert! (Feb. 4)

- Steven Rea

Gnomeo and Juliet In this digital animation suggested by a certain Shakespeare play, before they pledge their love, star-crossed garden gnomes (voices of James McAvoy and Emily Blunt) must overcome the disapproval and meddling of other lawn ornaments. (Feb. 11)

- Carrie Rickey

I Am Number Four "You have no idea what I am capable of!" cautions teenage hearthrob Alex Pettyfer in this Michael Bay-produced high school alienation picture - alienation as in he's got SUPERPOWERS FROM ANOTHER WORLD. Adapted from the "Lorien Legacies" books by the nom-de-plumed Pittacus Lore. Could be cool, or could be Twilight without the bite. (Feb. 18)
- S.R.

The Adjustment Bureau Matt Damon is a politician in thrall to ballerina Emily Blunt when agents of fate (kind of like Destiny Feds) intervene to keep the two apart. A romantic thriller based on a short story by Philip K. Dick. (March 4)

- C.R.

Rango We always said Johnny Depp was a chameleon of an actor, and here he gets to play one - well, the animated incarnation of one - in this comically gonzo Old West send-up. From Depp's Pirates of the Caribbean director, Gore Verbinski. (March 4)

- S.R.

Red Riding Hood From Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke comes a rethink of the bedtime story. It stars Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!) as the girl in the scarlet cloak, torn between a brooding boy and a rich boy, and scared of the big bad wolf who killed her sister. (March 11)

- C.R.

The Lincoln Lawyer A legal thriller based on the Michael Connelly best-seller, with Matthew McConaughey as a slick shyster who operates out of his Lincoln Town Car - and who may be getting outslicked in an elaborate con. Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, and William H. Macy also appear. (March 18)

- S.R.

Sucker Punch Director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) has called this wild and woolly action fantasy starring Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, and Jamie Chung "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns." Need we say more? OK, more: Carla Gugino and Mad Men's Jon Hamm. (March 25)

- S.R.

The Beaver As a toy manufacturer and family man paralyzed by depression, Mel Gibson has a breakthrough when he starts communicating through a beaver hand puppet. Jodie Foster directs and costars as Gibson's wife. (March) - C.R.

Arthur Russell Brand stars as the dissolute playboy in the remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore comedy. Helen Mirren is his unfailingly proper valet (originally played by John Gielgud) and Greta Gerwig the girl he's willing to give up his inheritance for. (April 8)

- C.R.

Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family The prolific Perry's 11th film offers another wildly farcical look at the state of the African American family, with the cross-dressing actor/writer/director/producer back in the housedress as the crazy Madea, trying to keep her friends and relations from freaking out. (April 22)

- S.R.

Water for Elephants A Depression-era veterinary student (Robert Pattinson) is hired to care for a circus menagerie, and grows attracted to the show's equestrian star (Reese Witherspoon), who is married. From Sara Gruen's best-selling novel. (April 22).

- C.R.