Finding Nemo (2003)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Directors

Andrew Stanton | Lee Unkrich

Country

USA

Voice Cast

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

Storyline

When his son Nemo (Alexander Gould) is taken from him by a diver, clownfish Marlin (Albert Brooks) sets off on a journey to rescue him along with Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a blue tang fish with short term memory loss.

Opinion

I loved this film when I was a kid. It was the first dvd I bought - well, my parents bought it for me - and I even had a computer video game. Okay, I didn't love it, I was obsessed with it. So I took the release of "Finding Dory" as a chance to rewatch this, and even thought it felt really weird I have to say I've still enjoyed it.

So basically "Finding Nemo" is a nice and enjoyable family film that will amuse adults and kids alike. It's Disney Pixar after all.

The story, which is very simple yet interesting, is somewhat similar to the one to "Toy Story" - two characters are thrown together and they are forced to a journey - but at the same time it is different because instead of dealing with negative feelings such as anger and jealousy, the film deals with parenthood and delivers a message to all the parents watching the film with their kids: it'll come the day you have to stop being overprotective and you will have to find the courage to let your kid(s) go.

But don't worry, it's not all about the message. In fact the kids will enjoy this film mainly because of its nice, funny and vibrant characters, all having that typical Disney charm. My favourite one though, - and I bet everyone's else since they've made a film about her - it's the atypical one, Dory, the blue tang fish with memory loss. She is probably the funniest Disney character ever written and she's superbly voiced by a wonderful Ellen DeGeneres. However, in my opinion, there are too many minor characters. I think the writers should have focused more on some and gave them a bigger role in the film. Like the sharks, it would have been interesting to see them a little bit more.

And now let's go back to the good stuff, the animation. At this point I'm not even sure I need to say this because dah, it's Pixar, but I'll say it anyway. The animation is stunning. From characters to scenery, everything is astonishingly beautiful.