Finding Nemo 2003

Marlin (Brooks) is a clownfish that is recovering from the recent loss of his wife, Coral, and his 399+ kids that were taken from him after a barracuda attacked. Marlin managed to save one slightly damaged egg that hatched and grew into his son; Nemo. Marlin finally lets Nemo start at school and on the first day Nemo gets captured by divers. Marlin instantly tries to follow the divers’ boat and to find his son. Marlin ends up meeting a blue tang named Dory (DeGeneres), who helps him travel across the ocean in search of Nemo. Along the way they meet sharks, an anglerfish, sea turtles, whales, and a whole assortment of other creatures in this aquatic epic of a film.
Finding Nemo is the most visually pleasing of all the PIXAR films. There is not much that one can say about this film besides the fact that it should not be missed. It has so many colors, shapes, and amazing visual elements in it. Simply stunning would be the best words to describe Finding Nemo. The animators at PIXAR had to study all sorts of marine life to be able properly capture all the creatures and settings that they needed to so as to create this optical marvel. Specific programs were created to emulate the ebb and flow of the ocean water. The designers had to figure out ways to make the fish more animation ready, or rather to bring human characteristics to aquatic creatures. The eyes of the fish were moved closer to the front of the face, the fish were given small and thin lips, and they even changed the ways certain fish swam to make it more believable. Unfathomable limits were reached to create the entire look and feel of this movie from the figuring out how to animate specific types of sea creatures down to the very specks of debris in the water.

Just from taking a brief look at this movie you can tell that it is brilliantly designed and animated but you can’t grasp the story from that. Andrew Stanton wrote this story and kept it so it conveyed the true love of a father for his son perfectly, and that it did. A little unknown fact is that male clownfish change gender when the mother disappears from the picture; however, Andrew Stanton kept Marlin as male, obviously, to assist the story of the movie. The story of the struggle that Marlin goes through just to get his son back is an absolutely amazing and heartfelt story that cannot be beat. I will admit that every time that Marlin finally finds Nemo I tear up a little. Marlin meets sharks, almost eaten by an anglerfish, lost because of a short term memory fish, stung by jellyfish, swims with a group of sea turtles, gets lost in a whale, and then almost eaten by sea gulls. That is a lot to go through for one person and all of it pays off in the end because both Marlin and Nemo learn lessons by being separated. One of the things I love most about PIXAR films is that there is always more than one lesson to learn in each film, no matter how big or small or important the lesson is, there are always multiple lessons.

This movie deserved to win the Oscar that it got and it isn’t only because of the look, feel, and story of the film because they would be nothing without the all star cast. Finding Nemo has to be one of the movies with the biggest stars in it that I have ever found. There are comedy actors, drama actors, action stars and a whole other assortment of crazy amazing actors that lend their voices to this picture. It truly brought about a plethora of character for these characters. Each character had such unique personalities that you wanted to learn all of their back stories and I don’t ever feel that way about movie characters. Rumor has it that Ellen DeGeneres started to tear up when she said the line; “When I look at you…I’m home.” You can even hear it in her voice, and when an actor can get that involved in his or her character that just shows that everything came together brilliantly and couldn’t be better. Finding Nemo is a movie that should not be missed and if you have not seen it then rush out and get it or just go watch it again. Also when you are watching the movie keep your eyes peeled for a familiar face hiding in the dental office and a familiar vehicle on the streets of Sydney.

Run time: 100 mins

Directed by: Andrew Stanton, Co-director Lee Unkrich

Written by: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds

Starring: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney, Austin Pendleton, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis, Joe Ranft, Geoffrey Rush, and Andrew Stanton.