The Way, Way Back (2013)

Writers/Directors: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (also co-wrote "The Descandents")
Sound Editing/Mixing: Rob Simonsen

Cast:
Duncan- Liam James
Pam- Toni Collette
Trent- Steve Carell
Betty- Allison Janney
Kip- Rob Corddry
Steph- Zoe Levin
Peter-  River Alexander
AnnaSophia Robb- Susanna
Joan- Amanda Peet
Owen- Sam Rockwell
Caitlin- Maya Rudolph

Introduction

I think I first heard about this movie on Reelz channel. Leonard Maltin or Richard Roeper said it was one of the best films to come out in the upcoming summer. I remember seeing commercials for it when it was getting critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival.
Then I watched it for the heck of it one night when it premiered on HBO. First because of the props and second because Steve Carell was in it.
Little did I know how terrible a character he was playing. One of the biggest jerks I've come across in recent memory... more on that later.

Summertime Comparisons

This area runs a little long, so feel free to scroll to the 2nd spoiler alert banner

In all likelihood, this is going to become one of my summer staples. The trick is getting the DVD so I can leave it at our shorehouse. So much time has passed since it came out that I could probably get it for cheap at Target or Wal-Mart.

Much like with "Fast Times at Ridgemont High [scroll to the way bottom for what I'm talking about here specifically]
http://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2015/04/fast-times-at-ridgemont-high-1982.html
I got the idea to review this movie because I heard a song from the movie and immediately thought of it.
That's an aspect of music I love so much- you hear a song and it automatically transports you to another place. And sometimes that's a movie where it's featured prominently or at least referenced in the dialogue.

The song in question: "Kyrie" by Mr. Mister
It's playing in the background and the actors are putting their own words to it. Steve Carell I think was the one who said it was "carry a laser."
I remember looking it up myself and I had no idea what the words were.

Here's the chorus, in case anyone cares and wants to save themselves the Google search:

"Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going will you follow
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light"

Apparently the first two words is Greek for "Love, have mercy."
You learn something new every day.

As for the whole comparison bit...

I guess you could say that this movie has a lot of similarities to "Adventureland," which stars Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and Ryan Reynolds. Both take place in summertime and the characters are working at a theme park.
Ok, maybe just those two similarities. It's not a coming-of-age story because Jesse Eisenberg seems well established as a person. And working at the theme park is equivalent to purgatory for him. He'd just graduated and was planning on going to college, but his parents spent all the money he/they saved up... so he needs to take a summer job.

The main difference between the two: this one is way better.
"Adventureland" loses its way when it gets to the third act. Most of it is the fault of Kristen Stewart's story arc.
unrelated SPOILERS

She gets a raw deal from a lot of people over "Twilight" and the fact she cheated on Edward Cullen [yeah, WTF happened to Robert Pattinson?] with the "Snow White and the Huntsmen" director. People have picked her acting apart for years following those movies.
While I DO NOT understand why her character had to be involved with Ryan Reynold's [it's icky- she's practically a teenager and he's a married adult], I feel bad for her character and how she feels out of place in her family. Her step-mom is such a bitch.
And the ending was kinda... blah... didn't do a whole lot for me and it felt thrown in at the last minute.

Also, both movies have memorable moments involving 80's music.
"New Sensation" by INXS is another from this one that I recall.
Meanwhile, "Adventureland" had a lot more songs (apparently it takes place in 1987 despite all the anachronisms) including "Obsession" by Animotion and ...

"Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus
Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus
Amadeus, Amadeus, oh, oh, oh Amadeus"
and this exchange to follow:
James: Jesus F***ing Christ! They play this song like 20 times a day!
Joel: F***ing Sadistsl F***ing Sadists!

***

ok, I'm done talking about unrelated movies. Maybe the next time I see "Adventureland," I'll give it its own review. It has its issues, of course, but I still enjoy it and its characters very much.
But for now, back to this movie.

By the way, here are the quotes about their "Kyrie" lyrics... and my bad, it wasn't Steve Carell. It was Allison Janney and Corddry.

Joan: Carry a laser down the road that I must travel!
Kip: Why would it be 'carry a laser'?
Joan: Because it's a song about outer space.

That dude plays such a jerk in this movie [I know, I already said that, but it's a valid point] that I shouldn't be giving him any more credit than he deserves... which is none.

I love Steve Carell, don't get me wrong. But movies like this... I guess I just prefer he does comedies because his dramatic roles aren't as fun to watch. You know, because they're all dramatic and shit...
sorry...

The Story
FINALLY moving on... my apologies. I could edit all that out, but I want my creative process to be there. In fact, I'll just put a notation in the beginning that say to scroll down to this point.

related SPOILER ALERTS
The trailer includes the very first scene. And actually, the first time I saw the movie, I had to miss the first 10-15 minutes because I had to finish watching something else... I was kinda broken up about it. I hate watching movies mid-progress. I worry that I'm going to miss a crucial detail or I'm going to be lost.
[Goes to make a reference about catching "Purple Rain" halfway through and realizes that a future entry needs to address Prince's short-lived cinematic career... and by that I mean he only did 4 theatrical releases, all in the 80's, and one practically was a concert film]

Enough stalling!

The scene in question: Steve Carell asks our protagonist how he rates himself on a scale from 1 to 10. Duncan says he's a 6 and Steve Carell says he's a 3. Mainly because he lacks ambition, doesn't put himself out there and hangs around the house all the time.
Sure, he might have a point, but saying someone is a three is just mean. And who's he to say that? He's only the jerk his mom is dating. And even if they were married, he still had no right to be such a jerk to him.

Okay, I'm done Steve bashing... for now.

Duncan is a very withdrawn teenage boy that really doesn't know what to do with himself because he lacks self-esteem more than anything else.
I saw comments in the IMDB messageboards that made reference to this: why are all these types of roles done by guys?

[Personal rant and some unrelated SPOILERS... again, feel free to skip]
On the plus side, they had this characterization for Duncan without using childhood molestation as an explanation for it. I say this now because that plot device was used in "Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "Love Letters for the Dead." The latter has a female protagonist and that about ruined the story for me. Mainly because I am an introverted wallflower myself and I don't have that in my past.
I had pressure from my parents to succeed in school and [non-condescending] tempers flared the few times I was getting C's and D's [9th and 11th grade nearly killed me]. Also, kids were mean to me in elementary school and in high school, I didn't really succeed in making m/any friends. That's always been hard for me and I don't know why. Breaking the ice in of itself is terrifying and I feel like I can't add much to an ongoing conversation unless I REALLY know the subject matter. I'm 30 now and I still have social anxiety issues that I can't explain and have no real way of resolving other than practice makes perfect.

Makes me wonder sometimes if I'm borderline autistic or I need Xanax or a therapist to cut down my anxiety.
At least my temp job recently got an upgrade to full-time, so I have one less thing to worry about for a while.

... I'll make another note. I don't know what's with me today, honestly :P it's been a pretty good day for me, albeit an uneventful one in my case.
I didn't even think any of this when I was watching the movie the first time. And it would have made sense to do so... I was in a major rut with my unemployment status.
***

"The Way, Way Back" got its title: 1) because "The Way Back" was already taken and 2) it refers to the wayback seat of a station wagon, which Duncan was occupying at the start and end of the movie. But he's in a much different state of mind from start to finish, which we get to see unfold.

He's going with his mom, his mom's jerkish boyfriend and his daughter, Steph, to his summer home upstate that's nextdoor to his sister... my bad, it's not his sister. They're just neighbors.
I feel like the worst person that could write for this movie. I forget all these details.

Anyway, Allison Janney's character almost reads like an audition for her current role on "Mom" where she's an alcoholic. Except she's far less apologetic in "Mom"... which I'd barely seen, so I really shouldn't comment.
She has a son and daughter. Peter wear an eye patch because his eyes are cross he has a lazy eye. And Susannah kinda becomes Duncan's love interest, but the romance gets to a VERY slow start due to his sheer awkwardness.
There's a cute scene (which I only just remembering searching for that "Kyrie" quote) where he's singing some REO Speedwagon ("Can't Fight This Feeling"), she catches him, he dismisses it as something from his mom and she jokes that he practically screamed it at the top of his lungs just for the hell of it.

Zoe Levin plays Steph and her role, I could say a similar thing about. That it was practically an audition for her character in "Red Band Society"- except she has a little more character development in the latter.
Sometimes, I REALLY miss that show. It really deserved a 2nd season. And a 3rd and so on...

One day, he decides to get out of the house and ends up meeting Owen (Sam Rockwell) at a local dive. They immediately develop a rapport over a Pac-Man machine. Duncan says "you know there's a pattern, right?" and Owen dismisses him, saying that he needs to make his own pattern.
He sees that he's wearing a T-shirt that has the name of a local theme park, so he goes there another day to find him again. He winds up getting a job there and really finds himself as a person.
So many cute scenes where Owen is teaching him the ropes and in trying to put a stop to a break-dance party, he gains a reputation and a cool nickname. I think it's Back Slide?
I'm sorry, I'm so bad at remembering this movie :P

Mainly because Sam Rockwell practically STEALS the show for me in the best possible way. I didn't think too much of him after "Iron-Man 2" (I SO wanted him to be collateral damage in that movie- payback for being such a jerk).
He has a wicked sense of humor, some I think was even improvised. And he's also very good to Duncan. He really seems to care about him and gives him so much good advice.
I actually spent a great amount of this movie hoping and PRAYING that there wouldn't be this great reveal later on where Owen is revealed to be a bad person or he does something really bad to tarnish everything Duncan and I liked about him.
THANKFULLY, that was not the case. But you have to admit- movies do that so often that it's cliché at this point.

And Owen has a cute love-hate relationship with Maya Rudolph's character. She can be really over the top on SNL and stuff, but here, she was a little more serious and heartfelt. So that was really nice to see. [And the fact she loves Prince as I do doesn't hurt either]

At least Duncan gets the courage to finally speak his mind to Trent (Steve Carell) and also lets his mom know what he thinks of him. This is coupled with the fact Trent is having an affair with one of the neighbors.The ending of this movie where Duncan reveals what he's been doing all summer and his mom meets "[his] friend Owen"... it's one of the best pay-offs you will ever see in movies. It's really nice to see it when the bullied and downtrodden find confidence and get acceptance from their peers or families.

Theatrial Review: Minions

Date: Saturday, July 11 2015
Time: 2:20pm
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and myself)

Directors: Pierre Coffin (previous 2 "Despicable" films), Kyle Balda (co-directed "The Lorax")
Writer: Brian Lynch ("Hop" and "Puss in Boots")
Type: animated comedy

Duration: 104 minutes (+3 trailers)

Notable Cast:
Minions- Pierre Coffin
Scarlet Overkill- Sandra Bullock
Herb Overkill- Jon Hamm
Walter Nelson- Michael Keaton
Madge Nelson- Allison Janney
Narrator- Geoffrey Rush
Young Gru- Steve Carrell

Write-up:

Introduction

My sister and I saw the original "Despicable ME" in theaters. It took me a good 30 minutes to fully get invested in. The sequel, which we didn't see until it came out on Blu-ray, was better. Both movies have their moments and really enjoyable.
But of course, as soon as we heard the Minions were getting their own movie, the two of us KNEW we were going to see it.
My mom wasn't as easily convinced, but ultimately decided to come along. It kinda helped that I was paying for the movie. But unlike the last time I paid for a movie ("Mortdecai"), it was more enjoyable.
My sister counted 20 people in the theater when we sat down. By the time the previews were rolling, there were at least 30. All different ages, but mostly in the younger age brackets.

Previews

"The Secret Life of Pets" is, most likely, coming out this time next year. I don't know what kind of storyline that they can give this and make it entertaining beyond the trailer, but I hope they're able to do that. Because the trailer was hilarious. Showing shenanigans dogs, cats, birds, etc. get into when their owners are away- a lot of them are clichéd of course, but at this point, we really don't care.

"Jem and the Holograms," of course, is a live-action adaptation of the animated series in the 80's. Even though I'm into 80's pop culture, I'd never seen the series, but I have a feeling the following the series has might not be happy with the movie. To me, it looked AMAZING and I will likely really want to see it at some point because it's about girl power and female friendship. But it most likely will have more in common with "Pitch Perfect" than the cartoon.

then we had the sequel to "Hotel Transylvania"... I still haven't seen the original, but have been meaning to for a while. Apparently at the end of the original movie,  the vampire girl got together with the human boy and had a baby boy and her vampire dad played by Adam Sandler is waiting to see if the baby is a vampire... it didn't look as funny as the "Pets" movie, but I loved them plugging Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" for the trailer. Paws up!

The Main Attraction

It felt like the first 15 minutes was prologue. I will give them kudos on the very first scene, which shows 2D animation and the minions steadily evolving to "Happy Together"- that was kinda cool. Most of these scenes, we saw in the trailer, but the funny parts were still golden.
Apparently these creatures have one reason for being: to follow the most "despicable" villain they can find... but early on, they have this problem with keeping their bosses alive. A series of unfortunate events (yeah, I had to go there) leads to their demises.

After a period of prosperity without a boss, the minions continue to feel something is missing and start to deteriorate. So Kevin decided to go on a voyage to find them a new boss, taking with him Stuart (who unwittingly volunteered) and Bob (who was his last choice but none else volunteered).
They find their way to New York City in 1968 and hitchhike their way to Villain-Con-- which is quite the impressive villain equivalent to Comic-Con (funny enough, Comic-Con is this weekend in San Diego... I wonder if that was intentional, releasing the movie THIS particular weekend). There they find Scarlet Overkill, who tasks them with stealing the Queen of England's crown.
They might not have gotten her killed in this heist, but not all goes according to plan. And some people are just too evil to elicit a following.

I read one lukewarm review prior to seeing this film from someone who isn't the biggest "Despicable" fan and said the humans in the movie help keep us from getting overtired of the minion brand.
Truth be told, there were a lot of interesting human characters. Sandra Bullock made a pretty good villainess who you wanted to like the minion and accept them, but she also kept you on your toes. Jon Hamm as her husband... actually, I spent most of the time thinking he was Ty Burrell from "Modern Family" because he was much goofier than the devilishly suave Don Draper John Hamm spent the past several years portraying.
Also stealing the spotlight a bit for me was the family that the minions hitchhike with. They seem like your typical "Vacation" family, but robbing is kinda the family business. [You know a family's hardcore about the business when their cat has its own mask].

Surprisingly, this movie held my attention so well that it felt like it was over as soon as it began. Granted, there were a few lulls here and there, but they lasted only a minute or two. There were plenty laughs to be had, some of which came from the 20/30-somethings in the audience. Since it was the late 60's, we had a bunch of token reference. My favorite was The Beatles crossing Abbey Road--my least favorite: the "staging" of the moon landing (I had to boo at the screen, that's just not cool).
Even funnier were some moments where you listen to the Minions and actually pick up some English words among their native language Minionese. I remember hearing "good bye" and upon seeing a picture of the Queen, one of them asked if it was "Le Cucaracha."
There really are jokes in this movie for everybody, which is especially nice for the parents who got dragged to this by their kids.

And this is a proper prequel because the Minions meet a young Gru [my sister spotted him at Villain-Con at the Freeze Ray booth- I just barely missed it] at the end and he warms up to them throughout the ending credits. People started leaving the theater and some actually took their seats back when they saw the end credit scenes unfolding. It's something they did in the previous "Despicable" movies, but they did a little more than just the usual Minion shenanigans.

Grade: A-
[I gave "Mortdecai" a B+, so I had to rank this higher... even though it's not nearly as good as movies from Disney/Pixar]

23. Finding Nemo (2003)

Code-name: Sharkbait
("Sharkbait, bru-ha-ha!")

Directors: Andrew Stanton*, Lee Unkrick
*Andrew wrote the story and worked with Bob Peterson and David Reynolds on the screenplayType: animation, adventure, comedy
Music: Thomas Newman

Cast:
[The Ocean]
Nemo- Alexander Gould
Marlin- Albert Brooks
Mr. Ray- Bob Peterson
Dory- Ellen DeGeneres
Bruce- Barry Humphries
Chum- Bruce Spence
Anchor- Eric Bana
Fish School- John Ratzenberger [aka Pixar's good-luck charm]
Crush- Andrew Stanton
Coral- Elizabeth Perkins

[The Dentist Office]
Nigel- Geoffrey Rush
Gill- Willem Dafoe
Bloat- Brad Garrett
Bubbles- Stephen Root ["my bubbles!"]
Deb/Flo- Vicki Lewis
Peach- Allison Janney
Jacques- John Ranft
Dentist P. Sherman- Bill Hunter

Notable Awards and Nominations:
OSCAR- Best animated film
nomination- OSCAR- Best Original Screenplay
nomination- OSCAR- Best Sound Editing
nomination- OSCAR- Best Original Score
nomination- Golden Globe- Best Picture (comedy/musical)
AFI- Movie of the Year- 2004

Write-up:

First Impression

First of all, Pixar is amazing in general. The only film from this company I didn't get into was "Monsters Inc." I don't know, but not a huge fan. (And for the record, I have not seen "Cars 2," which I've heard some horrific things about, and don't plan on seeing "Planes").

In 2003, it was on the cutting edge. They had success already with "Toy Story," a series I enjoyed, but didn't fully become immersed in for a couple years.
"Finding Nemo," on the premise alone and the amazing animation, of course, we had to go out and see that.

That was a particular amazing summer where I did so much. Among those things, I got my permit (don't ask me why, but I didn't bother to get my license until summer of 2005), I went to an amazing Jesse McCartney concert, "The O.C." premiered and I went to the movies three times.
The other two were "Freaky Friday" and "Princess Diaries 2."

I don't have a lot of old ticket stubs, but I still have mine for "Finding Nemo."

Saw it on June 6th 2003 at 4:40pm.

The animation's incredible, we had such memorable characters and dozens of great quotes.
This was before I became an avid viewer of Ellen's daytime talk show, but she was probably my favorite part of this movie. Animation agreed with her voice so well.

Bits of Trivia

For someone who goes crazy over movie trivia, I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know a lot of stuff that went on behind the scenes of this movie. Other than one or two TV sneak peeks where they showed how they make the underwater scenery and movement of the characters look so realistic. And they also showed other Pixar references in the background, including a Buzz Lightyear at the dentist office and the Pizza Planet car in the "great escape" sequence.

Some interesting tidbits I'm picking up:

• Dory was written specifically for Ellen
• It was dedicated to Pixar animator Glenn McQueen who became the namesake for the protagonist of "Cars"
• It beat out "The Lion King" for highest grossing animated film (a title, I believe, was later taken by "Toy Story 3" and most recently, "Frozen")
• Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer were approached to score the film and turned it down (both great composers I respect, but they weren't quite right for this

Actors and Actresses

Willem Dafoe's been appearing in my reviews a lot lately... it's not intentional, I promise.

I've said some movies are more about the story than the actors.
This one has been so about the memorable characters that I didn't think to look up the all-star cast. At the time, I only knew Ellen, Albert Brooks (who I'd seen previously voiceover for the tiger in Eddie Murphy's "Doctor Doolittle" remake), and Brad Garrett (even though I watched very little of "Everyone Loves Raymond," my mom loved him in that show).

Willem Dafoe and Allison Janney, I picked up on only a couple years ago. For once, it is kinda nice to see Dafoe play a good guy, even though Gill does look a little rough around the edges when we first meet him.

But now I'm learning that Eric Bana was one of the sharks, Nigel the pelican was done by Captain Barbossa himself, Geoffrey Rush...
the actual screenwriters even got into the act with Bob Peterson as the teacher, Mr. Ray, and Andrew Stanton as Crush (a toootally awwwesssome sea turtle, bro)...

Yeah, great cast of people.

More often than that, though, Pixar to me is about the characters and the cutting edge computer animation.

Characters, Quotes and Sea Life

The makings of great films also include falling in love with certain aspects at first and appreciating more things about them as you get older.

I don't know how the fascination with sea life started when I was a kid. I loved animals in general, everything from dinosaurs to cats and dogs to dolphins and whales. So I knew a lot of stuff when it came to these guys. At one time, I did have a fish tank, but it was all freshwater warm water fish, mostly tetras (and to this day, it still confounds me that my catfish never managed to stay alive after the one I had for a number of years died).

Some of it comes from computer programs like "In the Company of Whales" and "Shark Alert," where I absorbed so many facts like a sponge.

Right now, I'm remembering back to my college's Marine Biology club taking a trip to the Camden Aquarium and my friend Kirby found Nemo and pointed out Dory (a blue tang) to a kid who was a fan of the movie.
LOL
I thought I knew my stuff about marine life, but Kirby was even more savvy about that stuff.
Oh well, at least a fellow marine biology major, he's living that dream in some capacity... it's been a while since we've talked, so maybe this is a good excuse to see what it is that he's doing. Other than fishing and helping out people with their fish tanks with his expertise 8-)

But I digress...

I don't know WTF is with Disney and killing off parents (I'm still groaning over "Frozen" in that department because that could have easily have been avoided), but that's how the movie begins. Nemo's mom gets eaten by a barracuda.

As a result, Marlin is left to raise Nemo alone and he's overprotective to the nth degree.
On Nemo's first day of school, this becomes a major issue. Nemo gets fed up and tries to prove he's capable of being on his own by swimming to a boat... where he gets himself caught by an Aussie dentist.

So in an odd sort of way, this is another version of your "fish out of water" story. Marlin has no choice, but to put his fear of the oceanic unknown aside to get Nemo back. Right away, he bumps into the friendly, although absent-minded, Dory.

Then their story continues on, following the address on the diving mask...

Say it with me...
P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney

It's a guarantee you'll never forget that address after seeing this movie even once ;)

...and they run into all kinds of obstacles along the way.
You get lots of action and adventure, plenty of drama (mostly from Marlin being a neurotic drama king, lol) and Dory provides the comedic element to lighten everyone's mood.

Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming swimming swimming...

Then on the other side of the Big Blue and the EAC (East Australian Current), we spend the other half of this part of the film with Nemo and his new friends, who live in the dentist office fish tank. They'd been there so long that they know all the dentist's habits by the clock... They also have their issues.

As Gill puts it; "Fish aren't meant to be in a box, kid, it does stuff to you"

Like the damselfish who's convinced her reflection is her sister
And the yellow tang who is oddly possessive of his bubble-churning treasure chest

My bubbles!

Probably my favorite quote of the movie :-P I use it whenever I can... that and the seagulls who constantly say "Mine!" ...and occasionally I like to say "es-ca-pey" like Dory

Nemo's storyline with his tank-mates is all about putting together the "great escape," a plan that's failed miserably on numerous occasions, even resulting in permanent scaling for Gill. Not just to get him back to the ocean, but to keep him out of the hands of P. Sherman's niece, Darla, who they've labeled as a fish killer.
She's not exactly the female equivalent of Sid from "Toy Story," meaning she doesn't intentionally kill fish. She just doesn't know not to shake the plastic bag holding them.

While Marlin and Dory head to Sydney, Australia, they're on this mission, but part of their storyline is the cliché of two opposite personalities traveling together.
Marlin being the pessimist, worrier and realistic and Dory being the optimist and idealist. They compliment each other really well. Often times, this helps keep them alive.
Marlin does a great deal of this, knowing well to be wary of the so-called "vegetarian" sharks, even when things are looking up.

On the flipside, he almost leads the two of them to death of jellyfish

I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy...

because he doesn't listen to her about swimming through the trench.
After what happened in the beginning of the film, he has trouble trusting anyone's judgment but his own, particularly Dory's, since he perceives her to be an absent-minded flake.
Sooner or later, he does learn to let go a bit and grows immensely as a character.

Despite all the things the characters endure, everyone gets their happy ending with plenty of laughs and tense moments along the way.
Good for all ages, although I'd read a couple accounts from people who thought the opening scene with the barracuda was a little too intense, however short it may be. Not quite as bad as some other Disney death sequences, but still worthy of note.

Upcoming Sequel

I wasn't sure if it was just a running joke or she was deadly serious, but rarely did a lot of time go by without Ellen lobbying on her talk show for a "Finding Nemo" sequel...
After doing this for a number of years, she finally got her wish last year.




 "Finding Dory" was announced and is currently in production.

On the one hand, I guess it does make sense because "Toy Story" had great success with its sequels. But then again, there was also "Cars" and "Monsters Inc." that had not-so-good sequels/prequels. Plus, "Finding Nemo" is so amazing on its own that any notion to top that seems ludicrous.... but nonetheless, we shall see how this works out.