The VG Resource

Help Please - What program do we use to open a .obj file? I already tried blender and meshlab. Any ideas?

With Blender you don't open OBJs, you import them.

File > Import > Wavefront (.obj)

Also, sometimes when you import them it might look like nothing happened in the viewport. This is usually because the model is either really big or really small, so be sure to check the outliner. You might have to change the scale to see it better.

almost any standard animation software.

I personally recommend 3ds Max and Nifskope.

Here is a list of the programs you can use to open obj-files:
Blender
Maya
3ds Max
Meshlab
Nifskope
Noesis
Cinema 4D
Cheetah3D