The new Disney? (Now Playing).(Finding Nemo)(Movie Review)

In terms of size and output, the comparison is ridiculous. Walt Disney Pictures has its fingers everywhere--radio, television, theme parks--and releases more than a dozen movies a year via its various studio divisions. Pixar Animation Studios has completed a total of only five features since its 1995 debut with Toy Story--all of which have been distributed by none other than Disney.

Yet in terms of cultural status, Pixar has come to stand for the same things Disney always did, even as the latter's stature appears to be fading. The promise of Toy Story--the first computer-animated feature film, and a children's picture of unprecedented creativity and intelligence--was further fulfilled with 1998's A Bug's Life and 1999's Toy Story 2. By the time 2001's Monsters, Inc. rolled around, Pixar had become a household name synonymous with family entertainment at its finest.

All of that could have changed with Finding Nemo, the company's latest effort. John Lasseter, a Pixar founder and key creative contributor to all of the studio's previous pictures, has taken a back seat as executive producer, while writer-director Andrew Stanton (who co-wrote each of the earlier films) is on his own for the first time.

On the surface, Stanton isn't working with the strongest material. The story of a timid clown fish (voiced by Albert Brooks) who must traverse the ocean in search of his lost son, Finding Nemo lacks the tantalizing high concept--the secret lives of toys, monsters who are afraid of kids--that has given all of the studio's previous pictures their ingenious kick. If Pixar's honeymoon had to end, this could have been the occasion.

What a relief for those of us who appreciate superior children's films--and dread the likes of that fifth Pokemon installment--that Finding Nemo is not only good, but ranks close to Pixar's best. As visually audacious as anything the studio has ever done, the film also meets Pixar's rich thematic standards by turning the tables on the concept of a kids' flick. This isn't an eye-popping tale meant to teach a lesson to tykes, but rather a parable for ...