The learing curve is massive JB and be aware that when they say they used maya for a movie they probably mean they have maya but wrote a huge amount of plugins for it in house...i heard they used it in the mummy but when i checked it out it turns out it was used for the sand storm getting the biplane down and not at all for the mummy....having said that though boning a figure does seem easier in maya than other apps....best bet i reckon is pro pack and cinema 4d, easy animation combined wuith a stable plugin and great renders :o).......Steve