Free Republic

NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Will the real Mr. Ray please stand up? On the big screen, it's the name of the manta ray in the animated movie "Finding Nemo." In real life, he's Ray Yodlowsky, a children's musician known as Mr. Ray. The flesh-and-bones version is not taking the coincidence lying down. Yodlowsky has filed a $10 million trademark infringement lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company and Pixar Animation Studios, claiming the manta ray character is causing confusion among his fans. Yodlowsky said that some of his fans expected him to be dressed as a manta ray at a recent...

I just got back from taking my four-year-old to see "Finding Nemo." For those who don't know about it, it's the new Disney animated movie about a tropical clown fish whose son gets caught by a diver and is taken away. The plot is based on the daddy fish's search for his son. Anyway, at one point the daddy fish is talking to some sharks, and tells how is son got taken by the diver. One of the sharks says something like: "Those humans think they own everything." Then another says: "ESPECIALLY THOSE AMERICANS." To add injsult to injury, the...

LOS ANGELES Steve Jobs and his team at Pixar Animation Studios are feeling pretty good these days. . On May 3, several hundred Pixar employees crowded the Paramount Theater in downtown Oakland, California, dressed in tuxedos and gowns, to watch a private screening of "Finding Nemo," the fifth film from Pixar. . After the movie, they flocked to the Oakland Museum of Art for a celebration. There, John Lasseter, the director of "A Bug's Life" and the "Toy Story" movies, served wine to favored guests. . "Finding Nemo" may be Pixar's most important movie since "Toy Story," both at the...