'Finding Nemo' is 10 years old. Remember when it was the subpar Pixar movie?

Finding Nemo hit theaters on March 30, 2003. Throughout the past decade, the story and its characters have risen to the upper echelon of Pixar Gods, along with Toy Story, Woody and Buzz. Hell, Pixar's announcement of plans for a Finding Nemo sequel nearly broke the Internet.

But, this wasn't always the case. Way back when it first came out, Finding Nemo represented, for many, a minor blemish on Pixar's immaculate record. It was the black sheep of the Pixar family. The Atlantic has more:

Yes, that's right: Ten years ago, Finding Nemo was the subpar Pixar movie.

Of course, many viewers and critics still don't place Finding Nemo among Pixar's best offerings. The Atlantic's own Christopher Orr, in his self-described "moderately heretical view," considers Nemo to be a lesser Pixar hit. Still, though—after watching the studio release far-less-beloved fare like last year's divisive Brave and 2011's disastrous Cars 2, it's easy to wonder whether critics and audiences didn't realize just how insanely good things were at the time.

More than that, though, The Atlantic attributes much of the since-acquired affection for Nemo to the downfall of Disney-Pixar's creative offerings.

"It's not brilliant like Ratatouille or Finding Nemo, but it's not a total dud, either, like Cars 2," wrote NY1 News. "True, it's not a masterpiece on the order of Ratatouille or Finding Nemo," wrote a Slate reviewer, who added, "Brave is minor Pixar, like Cars (the first one) or Monsters Inc." Roger Ebert thought Brave lacked the thematic imagination of Pixar's earlier "brightly original films [like] Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E and Up," while New York Magazine called it "dully conventional" compared to Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

The Atlantic delves further into the way we receive Pixar films, both past and present, and examines how, over time, Marlin, Dory and Nemo managed to swim their way into the pantheon of Pixar's portfolio. It's something worth reading as you celebrate the 10th anniversary of the beloved film and eat another chocolate out of your Finding Dory Advent calendar. [The Atlantic]