Beneath the Sea
Finding Nemo was excellent, as you would expect from Pixar. Go see it, unless you hate movies with lots of kids, and then wait a while or catch a show after 9pm.
Update: It seems the response to Finding Nemo has been overwhelming positive, even among the normally critical Pirates. It even has a Fresh rating of 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. Salon Movie Reviews hasn't weighed in yet, but I'm sure they'll hate it ;-)
The one critical point I've seen so far is that it may be too scary for young children. This is a valid point and something that a parent should probably take into consideration. It deals with real life topics, like death. But death is hardly something Disney stays away from in movies. So if you thought Bambi was okay, with giant forest fires and hunters, I doubt Finding Nemo with it's blood-thirsty sharks will do too much damage to your child's fragile little mind. But then, I don't have any children, so what do I know?
I've been thinking a lot about scary movie stuff, since I have young kids, a DVD player and a Netflix account.
My eldest daughter didn't have a lot of exposure to mass media as a youngster, and as a consequence what she reacts to more is the flashy, bangy, fighty, flighty stuff. For example, when a company of dead soldiers walks out of a tunnel in Kurosawa's Dreams, she wasn't bothered even though she understood the idea of what was happening. But the opening scenes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with the rooftop fighting scenes was too scary for her.
I think watching television and early exposure to action and violence definitely dulls the watcher.
I probably won't take my kids to see this movie specifically because "Hollywood" figures that shooting and action are just "part of a movie". We rented Lilo & Stitch and turned it off in the very beginning with the violent, explosive escape scene. There is lots of other action in that movie that is similar.
It's just too bad that mainstream movies feel that there must be a formulaic dose of action and violence just to be noticed by the audience.
sigh
Indeed. There are a few visibly violent scenes in Finding Nemo. I didn't even really think about them until you mention it. Of course, I was taking children either, so my ignorance was only inflicted upon myself :-)
Finding Nemo was so not violent. My cousin is 4 years old and she loved the movie! Just reading your comments is making me laugh out loud!
A 4 year old loving the moving has nothing to do with it being violent or not. If you don't see the violence in the movie, maybe you've been desensitized? That being said, I loved Nemo as well. Until you have your own children to worry about, the point is rather moot...