Move Review: Finding Nemo

There was a time when cartoons were only for children. There was a time when adorable bunnies and chatty rodents roamed the animated screen, and movie theaters were filled with shrieking children and their less than enthusiastic parents. There was a time when no self respecting person over the age of twelve would be caught dead at an animated feature.

Times have changed.

Finding Nemo, Disney/Pixar's latest animated venture, is every bit as much an adult film as it is for the kiddies. Indeed, in the opening sequence we witness 400 deaths (a mother clownfish and 399 of her eggs) in a brutal display of a barracuda's carnage. Even Steven Segal doesn't do that kind of damage.

Furthermore, a good portion of the film's humor is not aimed at the young. A chase through jellyfish infested waters seems right out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The Psycho murder music plays during a dramatic moment. And frightened sharks scream "Swim away! Swim away!" in an obvious reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Children will undoubtedly be occasionally puzzled as to what the adults are laughing about, and more than one child is bound to be disturbed by a scene involving two clown fish, a deep-sea angler fish, and about 500 of his teeth. Yet constant slapstick humor, as well as a simple yet delightful plot, will keep children equally as transfixed as the adults.

Nemo, a well meaning but adventurous young fish swims away from his overprotective father, only to be caught in a scuba diver's net and sentenced to life in a dentist's aquarium. Nemo's father (a wimpy specimen, even for a clownfish) braves the dangers of the deep sea to find and rescue his son. Despite typical themes (a father's love, believing in yourself, working together) the story never feels stale, thanks to great dialogue and excellent voice work.

Disney learned a valuable lesson from the lackluster performance of its previous animated feature, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (voiced by Brad Pitt, Michelle Pfeiffer and Catherine Zeta-Jones). Turns out no one wants to hear beautiful people. They'd rather see them. So Pixar took three slightly washed up, but enormously talented actors (Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe) added breathtaking computer animation, and churned out a masterpiece.

I'm not ashamed that I liked this movie. Like the sharks in the Fish-Eaters Anonymous group, I'm comfortable with who I am. In fact, I have no problem standing here and telling you I love all the animated Pixar features. A Bug's Life. Toy Story I & II. Monster's Inc. And if you think less of me because I watch children's movies, so be it. Just know one thing.

I'm using a pen name.