Animation movies have always been one of my weaknesses. Perhaps one of the first to capture my fascination was Walt disney’s Jungle Book. Then came Walt Disney’s Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Growing up years perhaps put animation movies to the back seat but suddenly they were brought back into the limelight by The Lion King. I must have watched it about three times in the theatre the year it was released. A friend whom I had invited to go for The Lion King said, “Isn’t it a cartoon movie? Aren’t such movies for kids?”

I was shocked, to say the least. I tried convincing her to see it once, to change her opinion, but she did not give in. Perhaps now, being older and having watched it with her two children, she might have been enlightened.

The latest favourites of mine include Cars, Finding Nemo, Madagascar, Ice Age and Ice Age2 – The Meltdown. I might have watched them close to a hundred times with my son and the dialogues are now by heart.

I do not think cartoon movies are just for kids. In fact about 80% of an animation movie is for adults. Only an adult can truly appreciate the talent and the effort and the technology that went behind the brilliant two-hour presentation. Only an adult can see the perfect lip movements that the characters make when they speak and wonder how it is done. Only an adult can understand the deep jokes and references that each of the characters present, and notice at each screening, a scene that was missed the last time. Only an adult can love Sid and the herd he made(Ice Age), Dory with her short term memory loss (Finding Nemo), Pumba and Timone and their motto of Hakuna Matata (The Lion King) or Mater who is the world’s best backwards driver(Cars), to name a few. A child would only be able to laugh at the tumbling and the rolling, and be a little scared when the main protagonist gets into trouble.

Need to mention that I have not caught Madagascar2-Escape to Africa yet, and am eagerly waiting to.