December 5, His Majesty the King’s birthday, has become an auspicious day for film premieres in the Kingdom. This year, the King’s 80th birthday, is more auspicious, and among the films celebrating the occasion is The Life of Buddha, an animated historical fantasy film tracing the life of the Lord Buddha.

The film has been a labor of love for producer Wallapa Pimthong, who has been working for four years to bring this project to fruition. Not only does the film concern history, it is historic, being only the second traditionally animated feature film to come out of Thailand, and the first since 1979’s The Adventure of Sudsakorn by Payut Ngaokrachang, which I would love to see sometime.

It’s also a rare, traditionally animated film in an era when most cartoons are 3D animation, such as last year’s Khan Kluay, the first Thai 3D-animated feature.

Talk around the water cooler about the film has ranged from excitement at the possibility of the story of Buddha being made accessible to the masses, to dismay, that the Lord Buddha's life is being trivialized in a cartoon that looks like it was made by Disney (indeed, many of the Thai animators on the film have actually worked for the Mouse). Anyway, expect to be seeing more about The Life of Buddha in the days to come.

Meanwhile, 3D animation is offered in another opener on December 5, Bee Movie, from Dreamworks Animation, the same company that did Shrek.

Bee Movie is being hailed as the return of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who wrote the script and produced the film. It is the first major new project by the funnyman since his now-iconic American television series ended its run in 1998.

Criticism of Bee Movie has been particularly stinging, with pundits saying it is disappointingly unoriginal, and that the talking insect schtick has been done to death already (see Pixar's A Bug's Life, or the Woody Allen effort, Antz). Bee Movie only has a 51% (rotten) rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that probably won't stop the kids from wanting to see this colorful new film.

Ah, the wonders of computer-graphic imagery never cease, and it’s this amazing blend of live actors interacting with animated critters that will be showcased in The Golden Compass, the first of what is believed to be a new film series based on the best-selling His Dark Materials fantasy novels by Philip Pullman.

This highly anticipated film stars newcomer Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra, a precociously British girl who is believed to hold the key to winning over the forces of evil, which are personified by Nicole Kidman.

Casino Royale actors Daniel Craig and Eva Green co-star, with Craig as Lyra’s mysterious, adventurer uncle, and Green as the queen of the witches. American actor Sam Elliott adds some Texan twang as another ally of Lyra.

New Line Cinema, looking for a sure-fire hit to follow up its Lord of the Rings trilogy, has brought in Gandalf, Sir Ian McKellen, as the voice of an armored polar bear.

The release on December 5 in Thailand is among the first in the world, if not the first.

While everything so far is wholesome, family oriented fun, there’s also something for more mature moviegoers looking for some scares on December 5. It comes in the form of The Screen at Kamchanod, from Five Star Production.

Directed by former Pang Brothers’ assistant Songsak Mongkolthong, The Screen is based on an actual event that took place at an upcountry outdoor screening in 1987, when an audience of ghosts turned up to watch a movie.

In the film, a group of medical professionals try to solve the mystery, and in the process endanger their own lives.

I'm a big fan of Five Star Production, mostly their arthouse efforts by Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Wisit Sasanatieng. But Five Star has a good pedigree when it comes to scares, as witnessed by the success of its Art of the Devil franchise, which has won worldwide acclaim. So even though ghost movies aren't my favorite thing in the world to watch, I will try to catch this out of curiousity.