Anthropomorphic art

In this week's New Yorker there is an piece about Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian in which they spoke with creator Shawn Levy.  He talks about the process of making the art come "alive."  

He says: 

"The fun was imagining what each piece would be like if it could interact with the other pieces...I knew I wanted the Calder to move on its three legs with an insectlike stride, freely swinging its mobile trunk. And I knew that I wanted the waiter in [Edward Hopper's] 'Night-hawks' to defend himself from the weird modern people outside the frame. With the Pollock I knew that I wanted it squirming with intestinal motion.  I wanted innards, or a pit of worms and snakes, all of them writhing in a fluid way."

I have not seen the movie but I think this is a really fun way to approach art (with or even without kids).  

There are examples of ways to approach both figurative and abstract art:

How would this piece move if it suddenly gained motion?

How would the people in this piece react if they could see you, like you could see them?  

What would an interaction between the people in this painting and the person in that painting be like?

Personally, Levy's Pollock description grosses me out. Through writing this post I have realized that, though I like Pollock when still, if abstract paintings were to suddenly start moving I'd be much more comfortable with a Mondrian Broadway Boogie Woogie.  

Any other suggestions?