FINDING NEMO
RATING: G
STARRING THE VOICE TALENTS OF: Albert Brooks, Willem Dafoe, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, John Ratzenberger, and Geoffrey Rush
DIRECTOR: Andrew Stanton
PRODUCER: Graham Walters
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: John Lasseter
WRITER: Andrew Stanton
DISTRIBUTOR: Walt Disney Pictues/
Buena Vista Distribution Co.
GENRE: Animated/Adventure/Comedy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: All ages
SUMMARY: Finding Nemo is a whale of a tale about a small clownfish and his son which catches the audience immediately - hook, line and sinker. Funnyman Albert Brooks provides the voice to Marlin the clownfish, who with his wife Coral lovingly prepares a home for their 400 eggs. Suddenly, a barracuda appears. Marlin and Coral try to fight it off, but when Marlin wakes up, it is only Marlin and one little egg left, whom he names Nemo. Marlin says that he will never let anything happen to Little Nemo. However, when Marlin takes Nemo to school, Nemo disobeys and swims off to investigate a boat. A diver appears and captures Nemo. At great peril to himself, Marlin goes off to rescue his precious son.
Every second of Finding Nemo is beautifully animated, spectacularly directed and written with such heart and precision that the script should become required reading for hopeful screenwriters. Best of all, the movie is full of great moral values. It is so pro-father and his children that it could cause the most hard-hearted father to cry. Finding Nemo is one of the best animated movies ever made. . . an instant classic.
CONTENT: Very strong moral worldview with particularly strong father elements and redemptive elements; the little fish pronounce the word "boat" as "butt" several times; barracuda kills mother and fish eggs off screen, frightening sea creatures such as sharks and barracuda, exciting escapes, frightening humans, and animated action violence; no sex; no nudity; and, nothing else objectionable.
POKEMON HEROES
RATING: G
STARRING: Veronica Taylor, Rachael Lillis, Eric Stuart, Maddie Blaustein, Ikue Otani, Lisa Ortiz, and Megan Hollingshead
DISTRIBUTOR: Miramax Films
DIRECTOR: Kunihiko Yuyama
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Masakazu Kubo, Takashi Kawaguchi, Alfred R. Kahn, and Norman J. Grossfield
PRODUCER: Choji Yoshikawa, Yukako Matsusako, and Takemoto Mori
WRITER: Hideki Sonoda
GENRE: Fantasy/Adventure
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Children and young teenagers
SUMMARY: In Pokemon Heroes, a Japanese animated cartoon adapted for American audiences, Ash and his friends must save a beautiful city threatened by two reckless thieves, one of whom lusts for the destructive power of a mechanical, mystical weapon. Pokemon Heroes has some of the best, most colorful animation of all the Pokemon movies and cartoon episodes. It also has a stronger story that leads to positive moral resolutions, though it could use a bit more humor like the TV series.
Despite its positive moral qualities, the movie’s theological and spiritual messages are mixed, with some pagan, mystical and occult elements contradicting the movie’s moral, redemptive elements. Since this can be confusing to children, and because of the cartoon violence, we recommend a caution for older children, and a stern warning for parents of younger ones. All in all, Pokemon Heroes may be one of the least threatening Pokemon stories, similar to what George Lucas has done with the paganism and occultism within the worldviews of the newer Star Wars movies.
CONTENT: Mixed pagan worldview with moral, redemptive, and magical occult elements, plus a slight implication of humanist notions about "evolution"; plenty of cartoon action violence such as hero crashes into wall during water chariot race, magical creatures briefly battle one another using physical and magical powers, electric shock attacks, thunderbolt attacks, web attacks, people and creatures tied up, people nearly drown, and machine goes berserk; and, stealing and kidnapping rebuked.
