Try this.... Understanding what I am about to tell you will make your sitting pose a lot easier.

Start with a default character select the hip and rotate 70 degrees in the X rotation.

Now go to the figure menu - and uncheck both the right and left leg "Use Inverse Kinematics".

Now Zero (move the dial back to zero)the X rotation.
Notice the figure moves in the x axis rather than bends.
This is the key to getting the character to stand up without the crazy exaggerated movements that don't make sense.

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After you have your figure in the sitting pose, set a key frame at frame 1

Now go to your desired ending key frame and before you start to pose turn the IK back on - on both legs.

Now raise the character from his hips until he is standing straight up.

Now set a key frame

This is a basic sit to stand animation pose. Now that you have this, you can then try to work on the in between details like moving the hip a little forward (at the start of the lift) to offset his balance and to simulate the stomach muscles doing the actual lifting of the body to an up right position. Or the arms pushing off of the back of the chair, etc.

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Understanding the Spline editor will make a huge difference in making your poses look natural but it does come at the cost of a little bit of know how... It is not hard to master you just need recognize that motion generally moves beyond what you pay attention to.
Example move your hand like your are swatting a fly. Your hand does not just get to the destination and just stop. It actually passes the destination then comes back to where you initially wanted it to stop. (usually too fast to see more of a blur) This is one of the Disney dozen animation theories know as follow through. This is also the basic principle of a Spline animation interpolation curve. The curve assumes that you want anticipation (another Disney animation principle that starts a little in the reverse direction at the start of your movement, ) and the follow through at the end. The Spline animation curve does its best job of trying to Interpret (calculate) this for you.

Linear Interpolation:
If you have ever tried to animate an eye closing in Poser and you have the default Spline Interpolation curve on you will have noticed that the eye gets really exaggerated in the open and close positions, this is because it is not really appropriate to have anticipation and follow through on a blink. This is where you would use a linear Interpolation, giving you more of an exact movement.

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BTW The camera movements work the same way with the Spline curve.
I recommend Un-checking the animation checkbox on your camera until you are completely finished with your poses then last animating the camera.

Also try experimenting with Focal and perspective. Perspective can give you some really dramatic results that really give your animation impact.

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One last note a little plug for a soon to be released web site. Poserinstructionalvideos.com
All the things that were mentioned here are included in easy to follow video tutorials.
This stuff is so much easier to understand when someone is showing you rather than trying to just explain it.

Anyways, hang in there Poser has some amazing tools that are very much underrated.

Good Luck,
Christian
Producer Online Instructional Videos, Inc.