Finding Nemo

Release Date: May 30, 2003
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Andrew Stanton
Screenwriter: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds
Starring: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, Allison Janney, Barry Humphries, Brad Garrett, Austin Pendleton, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis, Joe Ranft, John Ratzenberger, Alexander Gould, Elizabeth Perkins, Eric Bana, Erica Beck, Erik Per Sullivan
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family
MPAA Rating: G (for general audiences)
Official Website: FindingNemo.com

Plot Summary: In the colorful and warm tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef, a Clownfish named Marlin lives safe and secluded in a quiet cul-de-sac with his only son, NEMO. Fearful of the ocean and its unpredictable risks, he struggles to protect his son. Nemo, like all young fish, is eager to explore the mysterious reef. When Nemo is unexpectedly taken far from home and thrust into a dentist's office fish tank, Marlin finds himself the unlikely hero on an epic journey to rescue his son. In his quest, Marlin is joined by a good Samaritan named Dory, a Regal Blue Tang fish with the worst short-term memory and biggest heart in the entire ocean. As the two fish continue on their journey, encountering numerous dangers, Dory's optimism continually forces Marlin to find the courage to take risks and overcome his fears. In doing so, Marlin gains the ability to trust and believe, like Dory, that things will work out in the end. Confronting seabirds, sewer systems, and even man himself, father and son's fateful separation ends in triumph. And the once-fearful Marlin becomes a true hero in the eyes of his son, and the entire ocean.

Review By: John Barker
- Words escape me ... ecstasy

Pixar Studio’s fifth feature length feature was one of the cinematic treats of last year with its lush visuals and compact story leaving most mortal Hollywood filmmakers in a watery grave.

The story begins with clownfish Marlin (Albert Brooks) and his wife expecting a shoal of babies. But a hungry Barracuda eats the litter and the mother-to-be, leaving only a singular egg which grows into Nemo. His father is overly protective of his only son because of this traumatic and terrifying event. Finally, when Nemo is allowed to leave the safety of their enema, sea-house, a rebellious act causes him to be captured by a scuba diving dentist and imprisoned in a fish tank. He is not alone in this tank and the inhabitants of this glass prison plan to free Nemo to save him from the dentist’s granddaughter. This demented little child is a serial-fish killer who shakes her new pets to death, the Halibut Lector of the underwater world (forgive the pun).

But meanwhile his father has commenced a quest to rescue his son. Along the way he acquires the help of Dorian, (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres), and also bumps into some friendly sharks who have pledged never to eat fish again, like a maritime version of Alcoholics Anonymous. Marlin also uses some wonderfully stereotypical surfing turtles to find his way to his son’s captor in Sydney and eventually the audience receives the resolution they demand.

The film is a wonderful piece of family viewing providing entertainment for all ages with wonderfully inventive scenes of action and comedy using all the aquatic mise-en-scene to its full advantage. The standout sequences are Marlin and Dorian escaping a forest of jellyfish and rather a close encounter with Bruce the shark. These scenes come across so strongly to the film audience because of the level of detail undertaken in animating this adventure. The water effects are completely realistic and it is hard to tell at points if the filmmakers have used live-action footage, but rest assured it is all created via the wonders of the humble computer.

However, no film can be a success without that truly human heart and that’s something that computers will never be able to recreate. In Finding Nemo the voice-over artists convey all the emotion and sentiment required to touch and emphasise with the audience. Ellen DeGeneres’ Dorian gives the film real heart and her touching devotion to her friends makes you wish your nearest and dearest were so caring.

Care and attention have also been paid to the DVD that this film is contained on. The first disc gives you a THX mastered print of the film, which is quite frankly stunning, it’s the closest that the home viewer will ever get to the cinematic experience of Nemo as the print is transferred from the original digital source. Also included on the disc is a ‘Visual Commentary’ which can be viewed separately or intertwined with the film. This segment includes deleted scenes, which are storyboard only, and sneak peaks at the technology and invention that created this underwater masterpiece. This first disc also includes a preview of the new Pixar film The Incredibles, which looks to have all the comedic success of the studios previous output.

On disc two the features become a little more technical and geographic. There’s an excellent nature documentary entitled ‘Entering the Reef’ which explores the kind of real life terrains that the film artificially covers and ‘Mr Ray’s Encyclopaedia’ educates a prospectively young audience about some of the seas inhabitants. Several documentaries on various aspects of the film production and publicity are included, but are presented with the humour and verve of the film they represent. The short film Knick Knack adds a little extra to the package. Although part of the studios earlier work it remains a finely crafted piece of sketch humour utilising the conventional Pixar stalwart of inanimate objects that come to life. The film charts a snowman’s attempted escape from a snow dome.

As with the first disc, you can turn your television into a virtual aquarium via means of simply removing the options from the menu screens, which is slightly pointless, but great for kids who aren’t allowed that pet goldfish they always wanted. Rounding up this extensive package is a game of fisharades and a poor half-animated story for the younger members of the family.

Overall, this is one of the finest films Hollywood has produced recently and really does embarrass Disney’s recent efforts at studio animation. A perfect balance of storyline, character and comedy are reached, providing something for everyone, young, old and in-between. The DVD is also a fine creation, although fully animated deleted scenes and outtakes would have been nice. However this is still the finest thing to come out of water since Ursula Andress first appeared in Dr No.