All right, perhaps Nemo is great for tots. I took Ollie (almost 8) to see
it, with Nellie (age 10½) and Nellie’s friend (same age). Ollie’s verdict
was “boring,” though I should add that this is a word he uses a lot
nowadays. It is, in fact, very nearly the only word he uses nowadays.
Nellie: “OK, I guess.” However, we got to the theater late, there were no
instances of four empty seats together, so I let Nellie sit in another part
of the theater with her friend, and my guess is they snuck out to watch
Bruce Almighty in another part of the multiplex. Nellie had been whining
to watch Bruce Almighty for days. (Nellie: “But all my friends have seen
it! Molly has seen it, and Katie and Cody and Bridget and Isobel and Anna
and Ashley and Karen and Michelle and Lyn…” Derb: “Honey, which part of
’PG-13′ is it that you don’t understand?”) The whining has now miraculously
stopped. I bet that’s what they did. This was not negligent parenting on
my part, more like Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen.