Finding Nemo Movie Review:


Ever find yourself staring into a fish tank unable to look away? Have you ever yearned to sprout fins and live among the fishes of the Great Barrier Reef? Have you ever wanted to speak to the fish during a snorkel or dive? In the new Disney film "Finding Nemo", you can almost answer some of those questions.

From Pixar, the same crew who brought you "Monsters Inc." and the "Toy Story" films, "Finding Nemo" follows the adventures of a reluctant and over-protective father "clown fish" named Marlin (Albert Brooks) who frantically scowls the seven seas in search of his son, Nemo after he is snatched by divers. Marlin’s adventures bring him face to face with some of his greatest fears. Marlin meets a forgetful fish named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a surfer dude sea turtle named Crush (Andrew Stanton, who also wrote and directed the film) and an addict shark named Bruce (Barry Humphries).

"Finding Nemo" is Pixar’s most beautiful film to date. You believe you are in fact in the ocean or fish tank. The water and the environment around the characters are amazing. The whole film is utter eye-candy. The kids will love the fish adventure but the older kids will marvel at the technology shown in this film. There are also so many laugh-out-loud situations that are sure to make you squeal with glee. The laughs do overshadow the simplicity of the story.

I found that I was enjoying all the voices and quirky characters along the quest but I was forgetting more and more about our heroes, Marlin and Dory. It got harder and harder to learn more about the main characters as the film went on. I really did enjoy the brilliant voicing from stars Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres but found even they got upstaged by some of the characters in the film.

What was great about other Pixar films were the chemistry between the films two leads. Nemo has that but it just doesn’t capitalize as much as it should. Even in great quest films with human actors, the film always falls to the purpose of the quest before fleshing out the characters embarking on it. It is debatable to why this does occur.

Some of my favorite moments in the film are probably the times that involve the seagulls. I loved how the filmmakers were able to give them such character and humor. They accomplished all this with only muttering one word, "Mine!" Absolute brilliance.

When you compare "Finding Nemo" to other Pixar greats like "Monsters Inc" or "Toy Story" you can definitely see some flaws. Pixar was able to deliver deep 3-dimensional characters in both look and personality in both "Monsters Inc." and "Toy Story". It was the depth of character and heart-felt joy that made those films unforgettable. "Nemo" probably rests between "Toy Story 2" and "A Bug’s Life". "Bug’s Life" seems to be the most forgettable in the Pixar family.

(4 out of 5)

Dean Kish

If only my hometown Seattle Mariners had batting averages like the group at Pixar does. Sure Ichiro, Edgar Martinez and Brett Boone are all hitting above .300, but Disney's favorite computer animation superstars are currently batting 1.000 (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc.) with all four films making my year-end top ten. Seeing that each takes five or more years to animate and bring to life, those are impressive numbers.

Make that five-for-five, for with their first summer offering - the wildly imaginative Finding Nemo - Pixar officially stakes their claim to being the best animation studio bar none. Well, at least this side of Japan. I'm sure Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke director Hayao Miyazaki would disagree. Still, as far as American animation goes, Pixar is top gun, and Finding Nemo may just be their best yet.

It's definitely the group's most emotional and adult film. Marlin (Albert Brooks) is an overly neurotic clownfish who loses his wife and entire family of un-hatched eggs to a vicious predator. All of them save one whom he names Nemo (Alexander Gould) after his dead wife's last wish, promising to protect his young son no matter what.

But children are destined to grow up, and over-protection always comes with a price. In this case, that price is Nemo swimming off of the reef on which they live to go out into the open ocean and touch the bottom of a boat. Partly a dare from some kids during their first day of school, partly to prove his small flipper isn't a hindrance, this act of defiance on Nemo's part is mostly a way to prove to his dad he can finally stop babying him. So, Marlin's devastation is that much more palpable when his young son, after succeeding in his quest to touch the bottom of the boat, is scooped up by an exploring diver and whisked away to destinations unknown.

With only a pair of goggles lost by the diver as his only clue, the paranoid clownfish sets out to find his lost son. Along the way, he picks up some help from a friendly bluefish named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) who just happens to be able to read English. Only problem; she's also a victim of short-term memory loss, meaning she's just as apt to forget talking to you two seconds after introductions as she is the name and address of the owner of the goggles.

No matter; friendship and adventure ensues nonetheless as Marlin and Dory make their way across the ocean on the their way to Sydney coming into contact with stoner sea turtles, a school of trout adapt at synchronized sigh language, a vicious deep sea hunter, a field of forgotten human landmines and a life-zapping bailiwick of floating jellyfish. Best of all, they meet up with a trio of sharks named Bruce (Barry Humphries), Anchor (Eric Bana) and Chum (Bruce Spence). They're going through AA-style meetings helping them to give up eating fish, and Marlin and Dory are lured to their gathering on "bring a buddy to," err, "lunch" day.

While his dad is trying to fight the ocean in search of him, Nemo is making friends, himself. Thrown into a seaside dentist's (Bill Hunter) aquarium, he's quickly introduced to a menagerie of aquatic life including a blowfish named Bloat (Brad Garrett), a starfish named Coral (Elizabeth Perkins) and another fin-damaged critter named Gil (Willem Dafoe). A la The Great Escape, Gil has been trying to get out of the tank and back to the ocean for ages and, with Nemo's help, he and the gang just might make it.

With each successive film, Pixar's movies get more and more amazing. That's definitely the here. Finding Nemo is easily the single most gorgeous film I've seen this year. The animated renderings of underwater life are exquisite, like nothing the cinematic world has seen before. The way things move and bob, turn and roll, swoop and soar are just incredible.

What's most impressive, though, is how Pixar's creative teams manage to keep hitting that delicate balancing act of kid-friendly entertainment that adult's will adore just as much as their children do. While the themes in here are easily the most advanced the group has attempted, it's nothing children who've seen Bambi, Pinocchio or The Lion King haven't seen before. Director Andrew Stanton's story is so right on, so tight and on the money, it's hard not to be moved to tears as the movie progresses to its heartfelt coda.

As always in Disney movies - whether made by Pixar or the studio itself - the voice work is impeccable. And while Brooks undeniably shines as the fatherly Marlin; it is DeGeneres that steals the show. Needless to say, just expect children to be trying to speak whale for the rest of the year.

What else is there to say? Finding Nemo is a beautiful, timeless film that once more establishes the geniuses at Pixar as the true dream team when it comes to computer animated filmmaking. This is definitely one film worth diving in to.

By Sara Michelle Fetters

Feeling over protected by his dad Marlin (Brooks), Nemo (Gould) sets out to show him and his new classmates that he isn’t scared of anything. Swimming out to touch a boat to prove his courage, Nemo is caught by a driver and taken aboard. Frantic, Marlin swims after the boat as it speeds away into the distance but to no avail. Distraught he thinks all is lost and he will never see his beloved son again until he swims into Dory (DeGeneres) shows says she know which direction the boat went. The problem is that Dory has a short-term memory problem, so finding Nemo might take a little longer than Marlin hoped.

Pixar does it again, showing everyone how to make not just a great animated film but a fabulous movie.

Finding Nemo is a triumph in every department. Great characters, touching and funny plot and some of the most unbelievable computer generated animation you have ever seen on the big screen. Pixar has created a truly believable undersea world that is quite simply stunning and a feast for the eye. Animation God John Lasseter and his creative team surpass themselves again, as with every movie they produce they raise the bar another level. The ocean is bought to life on the screen with incredible detail. Besides from the characters looking absolutely superb, the coral reef and ocean floor environments are the most stunning ever seen. They look real, with light refracting perfectly and the movement of the tide and particles within the ocean recreated with astonishing detail. It is a technological master class and sets a new standard in computer animation.

But as with every other Pixar movie, it isn’t all about looks, there is a great story in there as well. While basic in notion, Finding Nemo is all about overcoming fear to save the ones you love. This might sound mushy, but writer/director Andrew Stanton (who bought us A Bug’s Life) never throws too much sentimentally into the equation. As ever, the mix is just right and the inclusion of gags for the parents, with references to movie classics like Psycho and the Terminator, means that anyone of any age can enjoy the spectacle.

Pixar has again created a group of memorable characters that will stick in the memory. What they do quite expertly is cast the right people of the correct role. By casting the right type of actor for the right character, a comedian for a comedic character, a dramatic actor for a dramatic character, Pixar succeeds in making them more believeable, creating more of an attachment to the audience. In Albert Brooks they have the perfect neurotic, fearful personality that brings the over-protective Marlin to life. Ellen DeGeneres’s character and comedic timing make the memory challenged Dory more than just the comic relief. Willem Defoe’s battle-hardened, prisoner of war leader Gill is both courageous and obsessed. Barry Humphries’s Bruce, the Fish-oholic shark that wants to treat his fellow fish as friends not food is hysterically funny. And the director himself even gets in on the action by casting himself as the surfer-dude turtle Crush. Geoffrey Rush, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney and Alexander Gould are all marvellously cast and make Nigel the Pelican, Bloat the Blowfish, Peach the Starfish and Nemo extremely memorable characters.

The only negative point I can make about this marvellous movie is the lack of the Pixar trademark outtakes that usually run during the end credits. While they are still worth watching for the little physical comedy moments from the cast and a great cameo appearance, I would have liked to have seen some more of Pixar’s creativity.

Finding Nemo is what family films are all about. As with the Toy Story films, A Bug’s Life and Monsters, Inc, Pixar has produced a movie that everyone can enjoy, whatever your age. With superb animation, fantastically realised characters and a story that is both amusing and heart warming, this is an instant classic that will become a firm family favourite for years to come.

Star Rating = * * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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