HollisWoods

This episode was fine but I was really appreciating my own dojo while resonating with Aisha's segments.

At my dojo, there are 10 black belts & 7 of us are women. Our Senseis also promote the ideal that karate is a personal journey, not just a fighting style. So fighting skills really vary between us (I'm the weakest link for sure, they could all easily kill me lol). Being a black belt in our school is about the martial art but it's also about dedication, perseverance, & hard work. We're not all warriors, but we all share the same passion. It's the love of karate that drives us, not the desire to fight or defend.

Now that I'm finally watching this show for the first time, as fun as the fighting is, I hope to more of these values expressed through the characters journeys through the series.

Today's the day! The sun is shing! The tank is clean!

It's taking every once of my soul to actually leave a review rather than just leave a paragraph of all the iconic quotes. I can recite the entire script of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone all day long, but Finding Nemo is the movie I consider to be the most quotable. I literally quote the film every single day. Don't watch this movie with me. I enjoy it way too much and my voice will ruin every scene for you.

Aside from this film being genuinely hilarious, it's also emotional. Only Pixar can get us emotional over talking fish. Did you see the massacre at the start? Marlin is such a dimensional character and goes through great character development as he ignores all of his principles and does everything he can to cross the ocean to find his son. He finds a quirky friendship with the quirky fish, Dory, and faces all fears for Nemo. It's honestly really crazy how much depth these fish characters have. Shark Tales could never! But that's why this movie works.

With heart, humor, and very iconic moments, Finding Nemo has settled in comfortably in my Top 5 Disney movies of all time for literally 20 years. One of Pixar's finest for sure.

Holy soundtrack. Alan Menken did not play. Bells of Notre Dame is a vibe. Out There is iconic. And God Help the Outcasts makes me cry. The songs and the entire score just shakes me to my core. Nobody talks about this movie enough.

Also, remember how people complained about Turning Red? Well Hunchback has a few concepts that I'm sure there are enough people on the internet would try to cancel it - religion, Frollo's lust - I mean, I don't think I'd let a toddle watch this, that's all I'm saying. The symbolism and blunt reflection on humanity, society, and corrupt religious institutions is something that requires an essay to talk about. But kids will watch this, laugh at the gargoyles, sing along with the songs, and root for Quasi to get his happy ending and ignore the fact that there's a song called "Hellfire" depicting an old man's sexual lust for Esmeralda...

At the end of the day, Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of the best from the Renaissance. Top 10 for me for sure. Animation at it's finest.