Finding Nemo (Ocean Favourites) - Various Artists

Finding Nemo far from just being a film seems as it the trend these days to have become an industry in itself, with games, music CD's, toys, and other merchandising. So is this offering coming three years after the release of the film worthy of the Finding Nemo name.

With this offering however Disney seems to have lost sight of who it is their market really is. The cover and inlay have the typical Disney style featuring the characters ...
...gloss off the Finding Nemo franchise. I bought this from Tesco for about £5 and I genuinely feel that I paid too much for this, and you will find that it is still selling for around £5 so I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you see it for less elsewhere.  ... more

Finding Nemo far from just being a film seems as it the trend these days to have become an industry in itself, with games, music CD's, toys, and other merchandising. So is this offering coming three years after the release of the film worthy of the Finding Nemo name.

With this offering however Disney seems to have lost sight of who it is their market really is. The cover and inlay have the typical Disney style featuring the characters from the film meaning it is clear from a distance that this is a Nemo product, and therefore attractive to children who loved the film and I will freely admit that it was this that initially attracted me to it.
But if you take a look at the track list it isn't the child friendly CD you might expect, in fact of the tracks on here I at 22 years old was familiar with a single track, so there is little chance that a child will know them. But to combat this the CD proudly displays the text Lyrics Included on the Inlay, so presumably this is a good way to get younger people to enjoy what I at the risk of offending some will describe as older music.

The first track which is Sea Cruise was almost enough to make me turn this CD off, but luckily I persevered. The second track is a Beach Boys style track Fish School which I would say is one of the highlights of the album. This follows on to the bluesy style Gone Fishin' another track that for me almost resulted in me giving this album up as a bad purchase.
The next track worth mentioning is Under the Waves, not only in its title and lyrics but its calyplso styling it is far too close to the favourite tracks from the little mermaid (Under the Sea and) for me to find it particularly memorable, in fact I would much rather listen to Under the Sea as for me at least it is a better song overall. Following this is Catch a Wave another Beach Boys style offering with the vocal harmonies and beat, yet again this offers nothing that for me makes this worth listening to, the best part of this is the intro as it features a section of dialogue from the movie.
Octopus Garden the next track sounds again like something familiar but I cant quite put my finger on it and to be honest has made me wonder if this is a collection of better known favourites that Disney has bought rights to and then had artists do covers of for this compliation if thats the case then Disney you have no doubt ruined a set of very good songs with this CD, certainly the final track Under the Sea has been covered many times but I have never heard it done in a way that has made me turn it off in disgust before. Bring back the Robbie Williams version we are familiar with from the closing credits of the film, this version with the breathy sound and singer struggling to meet the notes is truely awful.

The CD I am sure despite my views will appeal to younger fans for the film and I am sure that many parents are likely to see this and think it may be an appealing gift and it will, jsut sadly for me this purchase has taken some of the gloss off the Finding Nemo franchise. I bought this from Tesco for about £5 and I genuinely feel that I paid too much for this, and you will find that it is still selling for around £5 so I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you see it for less elsewhere. 

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