Finding it distressing...

Rating: 2/10 (21 March 2004)

Hmm, let's start with the death of a mother fish, an overprotective, wimpy father fish, jr. fish who says "I hate you", then have jr. kidnapped. And all in the first five minutes! Throw in big, scary fish and tons of melodramatic search and rescue action, and you've got...a "kids" movie?? They don't know any better, so this becomes their only alternative at the theater, which in turn makes it three hundred million dollars. Usually these family films pack jokes for the older crowd that only they'd understand to keep them awake, along with the kiddie stuff. Not here. No fun of "Toy Story", with characters and imaginitive action passages to keep you engrossed. Here we're saddled with a dull hero (voice of Brooks), a quickly annoying "dumb funny" fish (voice of DeGeneres) and a slew of not even recognizable celebrity voices who you'd be hard pressed to guess who it is. The only, only, plus is the always reliable Pixar imagery, colorful and striking. Otherwise, run. "Nemo! Nemo! Nemo!" Shuddup and get me outta here!