Recently, I took my 5-year-old nephew to the cinema for the Ice Age 4: Continental Drift.
The animation is about a thrilling sea adventure, but that’s only above the surface (at least in my eyes), if you dig further deeper, it’s not hard to realize that the movie mainly themes on parental love, which can be easily tracked on Manny’s each changing facial expression, and Sid’s everlasting longing for a reunion with his family (the best part Sid picturing himself as a very qualified parent is in the Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the 3rd shot of Ice Age series). Peaches, Manny & Ellie’s only daughter, feels quite annoyed about his father’s over-protective behavior on her, but that soon changes as the precipitate continental drift separates them. “No matter how long it takes, I will find you”, Manny yells out to Peaches and Ellie as he drifts away to the open sea on that awesome iceberg. Finally, as it develops, they reunite after so many unexpected happenings.
The reunion of Manny’s family calls to mind another sea adventure animation film which comes onto widescreen just one year after the first shot of Ice Age series comes onboard. Right, you got it. It’s Finding Nemo, released in 2003 by Pixar Studios, which is then at the helm of Steve Jobs. Finding Nemo, somewhat about the same subject as Ice Age 4, is considered to be Pixar’s most enchanting animated movie to date. It delivers to the public an amazing story of the over-protective clownfish named Marlin (Albert Brooks) who, together with a regal tang called Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), searches for his kidnapped son Nemo (Alexander Gould) in the Harbor of Sydney. Along the way, Marlin gradually realizes that he has to be less over-protective over this son Nemo and try to let Nemo learn to take care of himself, even it sometimes seems sort of risky. But Nemo has to be self-supporting, he has to learn how to live on his own and how to shield dangers to protect himself, because no one can live with parents for his whole life. Its colorful depictions and fantastic voice performances, especially from Alberts Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres, capture millions of people’s hearts, young and old, nationwide and worldwide. Small wonder that it receives the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Speaking of over-protective, are both Manny and Marlin over-protective fathers? In others’ eyes, the answer is yes, like Peaches herself, and her rumored boyfriend Ethan. Peaches shouts out her voices loudly, as the confronting quoted below:
Manny: “Come on young lady, we’re going home where I can keep an eye on you.
Peaches: Okay, so tell me, when exactly will I be allowed to hang out with boys?
Manny: When I’m dead, plus three days, just to make sure I’m dead.”
Manny: “Peaches, come on, let’s talk about this.
Peaches: How could you embarrass me in front of my friends?
Manny: You deliberately went where you weren’t supposed to.
Peaches: You can’t control my life!
Manny: I’m trying to protect you! That’s what fathers do.
Peaches: Well, I wish you weren’t my father.”
“I’m trying to protect you! That’s what fathers do”, yeah, that’s exactly what every parent will do to their children, it’s their obligations. But, too much water drowns the miller. Despite the fact that kids are not to be spoiled, they are, at the same time, not to be over-controlled, because neither does any good to the process of their growing up. So, can parents do their obligations in another way, say, a way that is more open-minded, and a way that is not so over-reacting? To kids, they can never truly understand the feeling of being a parent before they become parents themselves. So, when they feel uncomfortable about the situation going on, they need try to sit down at the table with their parents and have communications on that subject. There should be a balance point, just like how Marlin learns to let Nemo try to manage his own life, instead of taking the son completely back under his shelter.
Readers, what are your thoughts on this? If you feel necessary to review the animations again before giving out your answers, it’s totally okay. Ice Age 4 is still in hot right now, and Finding Nemo will gets its Five-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition released on 4th, this coming December. In the combo pack, there will be regular Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD and Digital Copy versions available.
