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My kids and I have already watched the Finding Nemo DVD several times since we got it on Wednesday. While watching the ‘bonus features’ part of the DVD, I counted three Pinoy-American Pixar employees who were featured in the Making Of segment. There’s art director Ricky Nierva whose previous work appears in Monsters, Inc.. There’s also production artist Nelson Bohol who, along with Nierva, had his likeness permanently etched onto the Tiki dolls found in the dentist’s aquarium. Then there’s story supervisor Ronnie del Carmen who, as far as I can tell (by his intonation), is Philippine-born. Oh yeah, he’s got a blog as well! Gini Cruz is a Pinay artist from Pasay City who animated the Ellen DeGeneres character, Dory, but who didn’t appear in the DVD.

Now onto Matrix Revolutions. I saw it yesterday with the crew from work. I don’t have much to say about the film. Like Robert, I lowered my expectations before seeing it (Mark here has some right-on observations about the movie). Revolutions delivered as an action film. In that regard, I’m satisfied. Beyond that, I don’t care about the schizoid philosophical mess the trilogy has become. The Wachowskis did their best to tie the loose ends together, albeit unsatisfactorily.

(spoilers next)

Over the years in Hollywood, competing studios have managed to release movies dealing with the same subject matter simultaneously. For example, in 1985 we saw Weird Science, Real Genius and My Science Project - movies about teenage nerd scientists - come out around the same time. Then when The Abyss was shown in theaters, The Leviathan was released shortly afterwards. Another example is the Bug’s Life/Antz fuss where Pixar CEO Steve Jobs, no stranger to being copied, accused former Disney executive Katzenberg of stealing his idea and bringing it to his new studio.

Well, Steve Jobs may be learning a thing or two from idea nabbers with his very own The Incredibles set to be released in late 2004. The movie’s trailer, which was first shown on opening day of Finding Nemo, hilariously depicts a retired superhero desperately trying to get his belt around his now portly belly. To me this was something I vaguely remember seeing before. Captain Sturdy, a cartoon revolving around an aging superhero and his obese sidekick, has been airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim for quite some time now. In addition, Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi’s The Ripping Friends, another cartoon about wacky superheroes, is drawn in a similar fashion (big torsos, tiny legs) and has been out for a couple years now.

Oh well, this may well all be a coincidence. I could chalk it up to some sort of “collective consciousness” that produces similar ideas for several people at a given time, but somehow I also have this nagging feeling that some people will always copy others (whether from inspiration or for outright lack of originality) and manage to be dangerously close to being slapped with a copyright lawsuit.

Update: How could I forget? The cartoon Spongebob Squarepants also features aging superheroes: Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Mermaid Man is a pink-slippered Aquaman look-alike. Barnacle Boy is his cranky sidekick in a sailor outfit.

Our church had its annual Family Camp at Camp Silver Spur in Tuolumne, CA this weekend. My family and I didn’t go this year because our newborn baby is just too young to be travelling at this time. Plus we wouldn’t have been able to supervise our other kids as much as we would’ve liked. The families who didn’t attend camp still held church service today.

After church, my two older sons and I went to see Finding Nemo finally. We were going to watch it last weekend but cancelled the last minute. In fact, we were already in line with our tickets but the theater was just too crowded. We wanted to avoid standing in line for hours and not getting nice seats. We had our tickets refunded.

Finding Nemo was fun. And tear-jerky. In the right places. I hate it when movies do that. And I already get choked up easily. I can hold it in, however, only if I see the sappy parts coming from a mile away. But not when they spring up on you like that. It’s not fair. It didn’t help either that the movie was about a father losing a son and I was watching it with my sons. *sigh*

Later this evening, the family went out to eat at Todai in celebration of my wife’s mother’s birthday. Todai is an Asian all-you-can-eat seafood buffet restaurant. Yup, after watching Nemo, we ate Nemo. Here are a few pics:

Saw Spirited Away on DVD last night. It opened with Pixar’s John Lasseter introducing the movie to viewers. Although distributed by Disney, this Japanese production doesn’t fit the typical Disney mold (no song and dance numbers by cute furry creatures). There were creatures but they were other-worldly creatures too frightening for children to watch. At least in the beginning I thought. I saw this movie with my two sons, ages 6 and 2 1/2, and I expected them to watch certain scenes from behind the couch but they just took it in stride. They seemed to fully grasp that this was pure fantasy, enjoying every minute of this delightful albeit unusual movie. It reminded me of the time I watched as a kid the animated adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (of which Spirited Away shares some similarities). Although frightened at times, I was riveted to the screen, swept by the exhilarating finale as Aslan defeats the evil Snow Queen and reclaims Narnia as his kingdom.