I gotta go with Blender. extremely powerful opensource suite. easy to learn with so many tutorials and sites dedicated to it these days. the new cycles render engine is looking pretty amazing aswell.

i actually just saw that the other day. it was a very good film. the story was great and the voice actors did an amazing job.

personaly i'd go with kung fu panda, beowulf and how to train your dragon. the fight animation in panda is top notch. beowulf is just plain beautiful artwise and i am always in awe of the dragon fight ...

the 2nd version is coming out great. i think on the landing you may wanna add just a lil shoulder or chest bend to give more of an indication of his weight coming down.

very nice work. Different but in a good way