My daughter has joined an art club at her school and they each have chosen a character in Finding Nemo as their avatar. Claire Adele then wanted to re-watch the movie, a movie she loved when she was five and watched dozens of times. She now says that movie was the movie of her childhood. The Boy was two years old during her Nemo phase and he was terrified of it. He would stand outside of the living room, listening to the horror of Marlin being chased by a shark. He refused to watch. (He used to swap the syllables and call it "Mone." It was so cute.)
Last weekend, my daughter's high school performed Sweeney Todd, the musical by Stephen Sondheim. I asked the family via group text message if they wanted to go, and they all said yes. The Boy asked, What's it about? I had never seen the show before, but I had heard about it. I told him it was a horror story/musical about a barber who kills people and then turns them into meat pies. Last year, the high school drama department did The Little Mermaid and Mary Poppins, both of which are suitable for little kids. This one said ages 12 and up. He said okay, but I was worried. Would this be too much for him?
The night before Sweeney Todd, Claire Adele, the Boy and I watched Finding Nemo. None of us had seen it in ten years. I was thinking back to when the Boy was two or three and scared of the movie. I now know why. Like many Disney movies, it is bright and colorful but also would be rated R if it were live action with humans. I began to wonder: which was scarier Nemo or Todd?
About two hours before Sweeney Todd was to start, the boy was looking kind of pale. He decided he didn't want go. "It sounds kind of disturbing," he said. "I don't want to go." Rather than have the Boy have nightmares for two weeks, we let him hang out with a friend instead.
The production of Sweeney Todd was amazing. The young man who played Todd had a deep and wonderful baritone. It was hard to believe he was in high school. Mrs. Lovett was sufficiently deranged, which was a surprise considering the same actress played Mary Poppins last year. I cried at the end.
When I got back, we tallied up the Nemo scenes and compared it to Sweeney Todd. Which is more violent and scarier: a Disney movie or a horror musical?
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Finding Nemo
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Violent/Scary?
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Mother gets eaten by a barracuda
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Yes
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Nemo gets kidnapped by a human
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Yes
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Marlin and Dory get chased by sharks
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Yes
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Undersea bombs get blown up
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Yes
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Marlin gets eaten and then regurgitated by an anglerfish
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Yes
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Nemo tried to escape the tank and nearly gets sucked into
the spinning blades of the filter
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Yes
|
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Marlin and Dory meet a nice school of fish
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No
|
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Dory gets stung by a jellyfish and nearly dies
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Yes
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Dory and Marlin meet nice sea turtles
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No
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Marlin and Dory get eaten then regurgitated by a whale
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Yes
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Marlin and Dory get eaten then regurgitated by a pelican
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Yes
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Nemo tries to escape becoming Darla’s pet
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Yes
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Marlin and Dory get picked up and taken to the dentist by
a pelican
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Yes
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Marlin sees Nemo and thinks Nemo is dead
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Yes
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Nemo goes down the drain
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Yes
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Nemo finds Dory
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No
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Nemo finds his dad
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No
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Dory gets caught in a fishing net and Nemo tries to save
her
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Yes
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Total (crude
estimate)
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14
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Sweeney Todd
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Violent/Scary?
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|
Benjamin Barker/Sweeney Todd gets off boat from Australia
with Antony Hope
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No
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They sing about London
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No
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Todd meets Mrs. Lovett who tells him his wife drank poison
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Half
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Todd wants revenge on the judge who stole his wife and
daughter and then sent him to prison for 15 years
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Half
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Anthony Hope finds Todd’s daughter Johanna
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Half
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Todd goes back to his old barbershop
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No
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Todd is on the streets London
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No
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Todd kills his first victims
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Yes
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Mrs. Lovett makes bad pies
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No
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Mrs. Lovett uses people in her pies
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Yes
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Todd murders loads of people
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Yes
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More singing and dancing with Anthony Hope
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No
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At Home with Todd and Lovett
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No
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Johanna gets sent to the lunatic asylum
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No
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Anthony rescues Johanna from the asylum
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Yes
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The Judge visits Todd
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Yes
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Tragic Ending
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Yes
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Total (crude
estimate)
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7.5
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I find it deliciously ironic that for the total number of scary scenes in the movie, Nemo is almost twice as violent as Sweeney Todd. The protagonists in spooky and gaunt Todd is a mass murderer, but he really doesn't start acting up until the second act. As far as the characters go, Nemo wins for cheerfulness. The Todd characters are spooky and odd. Nemo has a happy ending while Todd is a tragedy. As my son said, Sweeney Todd was disturbing and I don't think I would show it to a six year old.
Nevertheless, seeing these two back-to-back made me think. No one really gets too badly hurt in Nemo, yet they are constantly in perilous situations. The heroes in Nemo are brave, while Todd is deformed with revenge. But still Nemo is kind of crazy. I've seen action movies with less action. It is surprising what kids will consume when it is presented as a colorful cartoon.
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