Finding Nemo ...appropriate for a 4yo?

[Cranberry]

I have heard that Finding Nemo is a great movie, but is it appropriate for a 4 year old? I know it's rated G, but are there scary parts (with that shark!)? I mean, The Lion King, which I love, has some scary scenes for a 4yo, I think.

Anyway, I'd appreciate your opinions. Thanks!

[L.J.]

It depends on the kid.
My 2 year old can't get enough of Nemo. My 5 year old likes it too. Neither is scared at all by the sharks......in fact they became fascinated by them which launched us into a new area to learn. We've read some great informative books about sharks, etc.

However, my nephew (5), saw the shark on something & has been terrifed. He won't watch the movie at all.

[SabrinaJL]

It's a wonderful movie but some of the scenes are pretty intense. Particularly the first one where mom gets eaten. I'd recommend you watching it first.

[lilyka]

My three year old loves it and thinks the scene with the sharks is pretty funny. "fish are friends not food!" We skipped the first part for a while but suprisingly she does a lot better with it than I do. She gets really excited to see the nemo eggand know that he is OK. She doesn't even register the loss really.

we love it and they watch it in different laguages (because theyknow I am more willing to let them watch if it is in spanish :LOL) and it is always thier first pick when I consent to a moivie.

[Colorful~Mama]

we skip the first part too whenever possible. we saw it in the theatre when zoey was 3 and she cried over the mom and babies getting eaten. The whole movie was ruined for her the first time. we dind't plan on ever seeing it again but she started asking for it so a friend brought it over. she did fine after that telling me that the other babies and mommy were in heaven with G-d and they were just fine. and since then nemo has been a fun movie for her to watch.

she likes the fact that the dad wont' give up to find his son, that dori and marlin are good friends and help each other... she gets good stuff from it.
me? i find that movie annoying, so we don't own it. but we borrow it sometimes

[cathe]

Both my 3 and 5 year old love it - and they do not generally like movies that are scary at all. I thought it was much less violent than Lion King.

[boysrus]

my kids(4 and 6 at the time) found it very scary. actually, the sharks were okay, it was Nemos escape attempt that was awful for them

[Sustainer]

My 3 year old loves Nemo and watches it all the time. She doesn't like the scary parts, though, so I pointed out to her that she doesn't have to watch them -- she could cover her eyes or leave the room. So she leaves the room during the scary parts now. I think she's too young to understand what happens to Nemo's mother in the beginning. (Thank goodness they don't actually show it!) She's actually more bothered by the whale scene. She thinks the whale is hurting them, even though I've tried to explain that he's helping them, not hurting them.

[carrots]

my kids liked finding nemo. they were really disturbed by the lion king (the hyenas and the elephant burial ground scared them half to death)

[Momma Aimee]

my nephew is 4 (and the other is 2). They watch it. The 4 year old "gets the story" of the little boy getting lost and his dad working hard to find him. No problems. He thinks the shark is funny "oh he is chaseing him". The 2 year old watches too (esp like it in the van); but he is too young to tell us what he gets. he never acts scared -- i think cuz big brother just laughs.

I'd say it is fine.

like anything you gotta know your kids and maybe watch with them.

AImee

[MamaBug]

My then 3yr old loved it, and his then 5 yr old brother talked him through the scary parts :LOL It also opened up the door for us as well to learn about all kinds of sea creatures and when we went to Sea World they were VERY excited! But I do think it depends on the kid, mine don't scare too easily

[zealsmom]

Can I just vote that Disney is not appropriate for a young child?

Sorry to rain on the Nemo parade.

[QueeTheBean]

I have mixed feelings about Disney films, but I thought we'd try it.

I researched and researched before I took my 5 y o to see Nemo. It was such a special day--me, daddy, and DS. I had been warned about the opening scene, so I had prepared DS. Well, he was scared the whole time & spent most of the movie hiding in my shoulder. Maybe seeing it on video isn't as bad, but he was SCARED and I don't blame him. THere were several scary scenes--I thought way worse than the mama getting eaten. The sharks, the jellyfish, etc. I felt like such a dope for taking him--but I thought I had done my homework.

He does not watch anything violent or scary, so I guess this was new to him. Actually, I take that back, he'd seen Toy Story & A Bug's Life, both of which had a couple quite scary scenes, but it was on a video & he was OK (we FF through them!).

FWIW, we did go see Brother Bear (I was way more prepared this time), and thought it was better. The violence wasn't nec. shown--more implied. Strangely, I thought in its way, it was more "gentle" than Nemo, but others may disagree.

[LunaMom]

Totally depends on the kid. My daughter saw it when she was still 4 and was not at all scared by the shark scene and the barracuda scene in the beginning. My daughter is only scared of scary people in movies, but scary animals don't bug her. She isn't disturbed by the Lion King, either, although I did fast forward through the MURDER of Mufasa until she finally begged me not to and said she could handle it.

But mean people are another story - Ursula the Sea Witch scares the heck out of her, which is fine by me because the Little Mermaid is the most horribly sexist Disney movie I've ever seen.

Watch it yourself, see what you think, and then decide. It really is an adorable movie.

[OnTheFence]

My children love nemo and do not think it was scarey at all. We even had a nemo party for my son when he turned 2! I also like Nemo. Has some funny stuff in it.

Of course, we are Disney freaks here!

Kim

[Annie7]

Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of Disney movies start with a tragic death? Cinderella's mother, Bambi's mother, Fox's (Fox & hound) Snow white's, Simba's, Aladdin's, Mermaid's, Pocohontas's, Dumbo's, Mowgli's (Jungle book), Nemo's ..... Hmmmm. Just thinking.

[mollyeilis]

My kiddo isn't "out" yet, but yes, almost all Disney movies start with a death. Usually the mother's death. Lion King is a notable exception.

Now that's mainly because Disney movies really started from fairy tales, which usually had a mother dying to start the growth process of the children, and having a mother die certainly DOES cause a child, even an adult child, to grow up.

But since my own mother-loss is so recent, I lose it while watching those movies (we were only watching, not listening, to Nemo on the train and I was still in tears)...can't quite imagine what a kid of mine would do watching both the movie and me trying to control myself.

Of course, I always was a sensitive type. My mom had to take us out of Cinderella when it was in the theaters (in the 70s) because I was SO scared of the evil stepsisters.

So take my thoughts with a sensitive-person grain of salt. But I might only be able to watch something like Nemo with a LITTLE kid who doesn't understand what death really really is, and what it would mean to have a mom die, or with an older kid who gets it fully...that in between phase, though, I don't know.

[Victorian]

i do think that it is a common thread, but just to show what a junkie I am...

Bambi's mother is in the middle of the file
Simba's mother is alive and well through the whole film.
Aladdin just refers in the first song that he is an ophan
Mermaid never mentions a mother
pocohontas same as Mermaid (except to note that she has her mothers spirit)
Dumbo's mother is alive through the movie

Originally Posted by Annie7

Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of Disney movies start with a tragic death? Cinderella's mother, Bambi's mother, Fox's (Fox & hound) Snow white's, Simba's, Aladdin's, Mermaid's, Pocohontas's, Dumbo's, Mowgli's (Jungle book), Nemo's ..... Hmmmm. Just thinking.

[Victorian]

BTW - My 4 year old loves Nemo. She sad about the mother, and found the sharks scary but in a fun way.

[pie]

traditionally fairy tales did center around death and loss, so it's not that far out there that many children's movies do as well.