I'm more into serious animations like Final Fantasy AC.
Also, i dont know if anyone else has seen this, but a 3d movie called Appleseed. It uses 3d models with great cell shading(toon shading) so it looks like a 2d animation; like the stuff in Ghost in the Shell, where they use 3d animation for short parts for cars.

Although i also think Pixars stuff like Ice Age and The Incredibles are very well done and hilarious.(i love that little squirre thing)l
Learning Maya is a long process, although if u learn the basics u can create cartoon characters quite easily.
Do tutorials and learn the basics of animation (eg skeletons rendering) and in about two months u will probably be able to do what ur thinking of doing, but it could take longer; Maya is a very complex program and u cant learn it overnight......................................... ............unless u were a super intellegent robot that traveled in a jet powered, monkey navigated...............better stop there this might go on for a while.