Animation is the one with frames.
Okay, folks, this movie just went up to the top of my “Must See” list.
And when I go, I’ll take my scuba ID and insurance cards with me.
Great movie – took my 6 and 8-yr old boys to see it yesterday. 10:30am on a Sunday and the theater was packed. It seemed a little slow in spots, but overall a wonderful movie-going experience. Although, am I the only one who found the turtles just a wee bit annoying? Casting Ellen D. as Dory was a brilliant move.
Blonde
Well, I’d have to say it was OK, but nothing more. The worst of the Pixars, but better than Shrek. A few complaints:
[1] The movie pulls a Bambi early in the film that seems too calculated. There’s little emotion in the moment, but seemed designed to go for easy tears
[2] The movie was so loud! There are few quiet moments in the ocean, with one big action setpiece after another, and lots and lots of screaming and frantic swimming and more screaming and frantic chasing. It got tiresome. Also, I though this was the one big summer movie I could count on that didn’t feature huge explosions. Wrong again.
[3] With so much “excitement”, the movie takes much longer to get to the heart of the emotions, that being Marlin’s realization inside the whale–and even that moment had lots of yelling. There was so much hurrying and scurrying up to that point that by the time they decide to reapproach the theme, I cared less than I would’ve ordinarily.
I’ll admit there are some clever moments, striking images, and generally good (but rarely great) voice work. But it seemed the most Disney-formulaic of the Pixars, and very little genuinely surprised or engaged me. The last 1/2-hour is the best. I give it 6 out of 10.
I for one never liked Toy Story. Far too sappy for me. Finding Nemo was much better, even if the plot was a bit predictable in places.
About the Hype: was I the only one in here who thought Finding Nemo was plugged more often than the Lion King? Months before its release we find finding nemo coloring books, lights, everything. If anything, the movie was a bit over-hyped IMO.
About the music: I have always been the sworn enemy of music scenes in movies. Unless done perfectly, it destroys the pace of the movie, keeps you from identifying with the characters (let’s see, how many times do I start belting out show tunes in public?) and insults adult’s intelligence by making the plot too flat and childish.
Am I the only one who expected them to run into Pinnocchio when they got swallowed by the whale? I was almost disappointed when that didn’t happen.
My father was hugely into fish when I was young, so I would have liked to see more variety in the fish outside of the school scene.
“Doesn’t anyone else realize that we’re swimming around in our own sh–” “Shhhhhh!” 
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Enjoyed the movie with our kids - better than Monsters, Inc. and A Bug’s Life (actually about the same) not as good as the Toy Story Films.
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I assumed the shark named Bruce was both an homage to the Jaws mechanical shark that Spielberg named after his lawyer, and a play on the Aussie “Bruces” as in “all women in Australia are Sheila’s and the men are Bruce’s”.
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I can’t wait to see The Incredibles. If you don’t know, it is directed by Brad Bird, the director of The Iron Giant (if you haven’t seen the Iron Giant, it is at least as good as the Toy Story movies, and in some ways, better - and the only conventially animated movie to hold a candle to Pixar movies over the past 10 or so years). Apparently when Warner Bros. fumbled the marketing over Iron Giant - which got GREAT reviews but did not do well at the box office - Bird left Warner. And Pixar which knows a good story teller when they see one, snapped him up immediately - he’s been working on the Incredibles ever since.
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The voice of Crush the surfer-dude turtle is the director of Nemo, Andrew Stanton (I swear, he sounds like he went to UC Santa Barbara when I was there - people actually talked like that, dude!).
I saw a trailer for The Incredibles before Nemo - looked to be hysterical. But we have to wait until 2004?? My kiddos love Iron Giant, too sad for me to watch though.
Are there any other good family movies coming? I wish Pixar could turn them out more quickly, but they’re worth the wait.
Blonde
Over-hyped? I didn’t even know about the movie a month prior to release. Ironically enough, I first heard about it while in Disney World; I saw the trailer for it on the TVs while in line at MGM’s Backlot Tour.
I was waiting for pinnochio to show up in the bloopers but there weren’t any (yet). i demand to see him when the bloopers show up!
I feel stupid, but I don’t get the Pinocchio in the whale question. But in my defense, I don’t have kids.
I went yesterday with a few adults and we enjoyed it very much indeed. I didn’t like it as well as Monsters Inc. To me, Monsters Inc had a world I could identify with- corporate politics, office procedures- things I deal with day to day that made the movie funny and believable. Since I don’t have kids, the whole separated parent/kid theme didn’t hold as strong for me. I enjoyed the ocean scenery, but I’ll need to buy the movie to watch it more and really appreciate it.
There were several parts that kids in my theater found really scary, and I really question bringing really little kids to it. We laughed a lot, but I thought it ran too long, some scenes were really just unnecessary to move along the plot, and the turtles irritated me no end.
Good movie, but not great movie, IMHO. I wouldn’t run out to see it again, but I’ll buy it on DVD and add it to my collection. I filed it just under Monsters Inc in my favorite Pixar movie list.
Pinnochio was eaten by a whale. Hence, the joke that the fish would find Pinnochio inside the whale.
Finally saw Finding Nemo, though I’m not sure how it compares with the other Pixar movies; it seems to have a style that’s a bit different, since it’s more character-driven than the other movies IMO, and doesn’t always go for a belly-busting gag eveery ten seconds. I think folks who expect Finding Nemo to be a rolicking comedy are the ones who will be disappointed the most – it’s more like an animated drama with a fair abundance of humor. Definitely a winner, though; I was on the verge of getting weepy several times in the movie, which is a good sign that the characters are worth caring about.
And since turtle-bashing seems to be rather in vogue for some reason, I’ll add that I was mildly disappointed that the turtles (especially Crush) weren’t used more. The notion of a 150-year-old turtle with Yoda-esque parenting tips who speaks in surfer lingo really appeals to my sense of humor.
Definitely have to see it again to catch all the little throwaway gags and details. For some reason, I found “INTERVENTION!” really funny…
That was exactly how I scored it!!! You da man, ArchiveGuy!
That was exactly how I scored it!!! You da man, ArchiveGuy!
Does anyone know when it’s coming out on DVD?
Did y’all like the little Pixar film they showed before the movie with Bobby McFerrin doing the music?
Adult humor/Child humor. I absolutely loved it. Especially the “fish-a-holic” great white shark. Love the Pixar folks!
Q
I saw this on Monday. I absolutely LOVED the turtles and was so happy his name was Crush. What a great name. I love that word. Crush crush crush.
I also loved the sharks, and thought Willem Dafoe’s (sp?) fish was cool. The jokes were good… I think the only real groaner that we noticed was the Aunt Deb/Flo thing.
I loved the Pelican and how all the fish watched the dentist like it was some kind of spectator sport, and the scene where the kid in the waiting room heard the screaming and saw stuff flying around everywhere. 
No less an expert than Chuck Jones himself once said “It’s easier to humanize animals than it is to humanize humans.” After I saw him say that, I’ve always noticed that it is very, very true, from Bugs Bunny to Pixar and everything in between; the animals are always more believable than the “people”.
I loved this flick (and I, a 45 year old single male, saw it with a like-aged male buddy; no problems, mon). Also, I think this movie had more movie references than any movie I’ve seen in ages. Including Psycho, Jaws, Monty Python, Stalag 17, Chicken Run, and on and on…Timmy
“With fronds like that, who needs anemonies?”
What was the Chicken Run reference?
The look of the seagulls. Seemed pretty obvious to my demented way of thinking.