Hello everybody and welcome to another long awaited Pixar review. Sorry about that delay but there were other matters I had to deal with first and now I’m ready to finally continue this series of reviews that I promised. While I may not have been able to get all the reviews out in time for Onward I still have until (hopefully) November until Soul gets released and since thanks to current circumstances in the world, there won’t be any new movies releasing for a while which gives me the perfect opportunity to get out some more stuff out (including Pixar, anime, and 2019 catch ups among others). But back to the subject of the movie we will be talking about today which is the studio’s fourth feature, Finding Nemo. This one is considered to be their magnum opus, and is similar to something like the Lion King in that it is a childhood staple for many with parents showing it to their kids, and so on. Always heralded as one of their best and looking at it now, it’s not very hard to see why. Let’s dive into the Great Barrier Reef and see what makes Nemo so beloved amongst many.
We dive right into the story as we meet Marlin, and Corral, a clownfish couple who are waiting for their babies to hatch. Marlin is the more energetic, and adventurous of the two, while Corral is the more relaxed yet loving one. But tragedy soon strikes as a barracuda attacks with Marlin getting knocked out in the process. When he wakes up, Corral, and the eggs are nowhere to be found leaving him utterly hard broken. But not every egg was lost as one was able to survive and Marlin promises to protect him, naming him Corral’s name for him, Nemo. Cut to a couple years later and Nemo is now a young kid excited for his first day of school while Marlin is more than a little hesitant of sending him so soon even with reassurances from Nemo’s teacher, Mr. Ray, that everything will be safe. He begins to calm down a little but is once again scared when the class goes on a field trip to the Drop off. Marlin, and Nemo then get in a big fight where Nemo unintentionally embarrasses him which then leads to Nemo going to touch a boat beyond the drop off but is then captured by scuba divers. Despite his best efforts Marlin is unable to catch up with them and is now desperate for help. Luckily he gets just that in the form of a blue tang named Dory who agrees to help, even though her short term memory loss might be an issue and together they head off on an adventure to find Nemo who is located in Sydney in fish tank in a dentist’s office with some new friends of his own. But can they be able to find him in time before he gets taken as a pet (and possibly killed) by the dentist’s daughter?
Long time- Pixar director is known for bringing a sense of grandness, and scale to his work and this is no different. At the time it was easily the largest Pixar movie in terms of scale and it always has that feeling of wonder, and adventure throughout and it really elevates the already powerful proceedings. The world of the ocean here feels fully realized and once again shows the writers at Pixar’s incredible knack for creating these unforgettable worlds (despite this taking place in real life locations). The journey of Marlin trying to find Nemo itself is also just as impactful as that sense of wonder and gives the movie a strong emotional conflict that is delivered perfectly and delivers powerful messages like trusting those close to you (like with Marlin’s whole arc and him learning to have more faith in his son, and even Dory), persevere to achieve your goal (which in this case is Marlin learning to not let his fears get in the way of finding Nemo), and of course family (that’s pretty self explanatory). It also has the classic Pixar theme of is it better to survive in comfort, and safety for the rest of your life, or live in danger and see what the world has to offer an underlying theme in their movies and it fits in nicely here and is probably among the best examples of it. The pacing is also perfect as we spend just the right amount of time in every situation and we quickly get a sense of the characters, and their motivations as well as the many conflicts that arise throughout. It’s also always looked at as one of those movies that’s guaranteed to make you cry and yeah that is an accurate statement. When the emotion hits it hits hard like the prologue (which is handled perfectly), Marlin’s desperation to find his son, his interactions with both Dory, and Nemo, and even Nemo’s newfound friendship with the tank gang, all of which is great stuff. But it also knows when to put some humor in to liven things up a bit and thankfully it lands consistently as we get plenty of creative gags involving the many sea creature like a whole school of fish that can morph into different shapes (voiced by John Ratzenberger of course), a bunch of seagulls who like to say “mine!” a lot, a trio of sharks who try not to eat fish, and much more. To be honest more so than the previous ones it really set up a certain template that some of the later Pixar movies would go on to use (whether that’s good thing or bad thing ultimately depends on which ones you like), on its own terms it just excellent writing throughout and manages to blend so many elements into one satisfying story.
After Monsters Inc. where they needed to animate fur, Pixar decided to tackle on another challenge which was of course animating water, let alone an entire ocean. Must I say though, they really did outdo themselves as it is beautifully rendered and it just feels like you can stick your hand in and touch it. Really does give you the feeling that we’re underwater and it captures the sheer vastness of it all as well. I actually heard that they actually made the water look extremely realistic the first time they animated but toned it down, which was a smart choice as it would look a little uncanny if it were extremely photo realistic. The team also did a great job capturing the many different backgrounds present and the scenery of the deep as well what with the beauty of Great Barrier Reef, and the darkness of the bottom of the sea to the eeriness of a sunken submarine, and even a fish tank and it provides lots of room for creativity. They also clearly did a ton of research when it came to the movements of the different sea creatures and how they would move in real life. It was translated very well which is doubly impressive when you consider the amount of species there are (fish, sharks, jelly fish, turtles, crabs, manta rays, and much more). Same also applies to the designs as their are a variety of different species and the looks of characters are very accurate to the real deal with some exaggerated features like the eyes, and mouth to make sure they don’t become photo realistic. I must also once again praise Stanton’s direction here as it just makes the movie seem so expansive, and epic and he handles the action scenes greatly as they are exciting, and fast paced like when Marlin, and Dory are swimming away from a blood thirsty Bruce in a submarine or when when they riding on the beak of Nigel the pelican to get away from the seagulls. There are also some great scenes of tension with the jelly fish escape, Nemo shutting down the filter, and Marlin, and Dory being inside of a whale being great examples of this. And like with all Pixar movies the score is an ear worm with Thomas Newman (cousin of Randy Newman amusingly enough) turning out some beautiful music that can be serene in one scene, ominous in another, and intense in another as well and it makes for another fine composition from the man. Just like the storytelling everything in the technical department is absolutely masterful and I wouldn’t have any other way.
As befitting a Pixar movie there is of course a huge cast of different characters that all mange to leave some kind of impact one way or another. There is of course Nemo himself, voiced by Alexander Gould (back when real children were selected for voicing children instead of celebrities, although recently that aspect has gotten better) who is cute and really does act, and feel like a real kid dealing with problems that are relatable for anyone his age and his development to being more confident and brave is handled really well. Weirdly enough though his more of a supporting player in his own movie as it is Marlin who gets a lot of the attention here. He too is a character many will sympathize, and relate too (in particularly parents) as he wants desperately to find his son and he also goes through a similar arc as Nemo and the pay off is greatly satisfying (also gotta give credit to Albert Brooks as he does an excellent job capturing the character and handles both the dramatic, and comedic scenes very well). He also has a wonderful relationship with Dory who is a scene stealer due to her energetic personality, and short term memory loss witch is not only played for comedy but also for some dramatic effect as well and Ellen DeGeneres was perfectly cast in the role. They both make for another unusual but delightful Pixar pairing and each make each other better people (or fish) along the journey (also really like her ability to speak to whales which was a funny gag). There’s also the leader of the Tank Gang, Gil, voiced excellently by William Dafoe who makes for an interesting character and is a strong mentor figure to Nemo teaching him some valuable lessons during his stay in the tank. Heck the rest of the gang is a lot of fun to be with such as Brad Garret as the blow fish, Bloat, Allison Janney as the mother like star fish, Peaches, Stephen Root as the bubble obsessed yellow tang, Bubbles, Vicki Lewis as the striped damselfish, Deb(and her “twin sister” Flo), Austin Pendleton as the germaphobe royal gramma fish, Gurgle, and Joe Ranft as the cleaner shrimp, Jacques. There are plenty of others more but some of the more noteworthy ones help move the story along, provide funny comedic relief, and even enforce some of the messages like Geoffrey Rush as the dental fascinated pelican, Nigel, Barry Humphries as the leader of the no eating fish sharks, Bruce, and Andrew Stanton himself as the surfer like sea turtle, Crush, who has a great conversation with Marlin about letting kids growing up. There’s a lot to be sure but it is impressive how the movie was able to put in so many character and make it work so well.
Finding Nemo is yet another Pixar masterpiece that manages to do, and be so many things. It works greatly as an adventure with a well executed story, an epic scope to it, hard hitting emotion, laugh out loud comedy, beautiful visuals, relatable characters, and much more. It’s just a darn great movie that is deservedly beloved by many and is one I find myself revisiting every so often. It really did set a huge standard for the studio and paved the way for many more great things to come from both the studio, and Stanton himself. What more can I say that hasn’t been said already? So now that we’re done exploring the deep blue sea, we can now look forward for my next Pixar review in which we will be meeting up with some truly incredible supers in what is probably my favorite adventure from the studio. Can’t wait for that one that’s for sure!
Rating: A+
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