Finding Nemo It's never easy being a small
fish in a big sea. Just when Marlin (Albert Brooks), a beautiful
orange and white clown fish, feels he’s found a comfortable
home where his wife can await the birth of a few hundred children,
along comes a neighborhood predator. His little body being
no match for the huge shark, Marlin is left unconscious. Upon
awakening, he discovers the terrible truth. His entire family
is wiped out – save for one little fish egg from which
will hatch his son Nemo (Alexander Gould).
If he was previously over protective,
the father's attitude now borders on paranoia. But his habitual
nagging leaves Nemo feeling he doesn’t need Dad telling
him what to do. On his first day of school, the headstrong
child swims off from the crowd to demonstrate his independence,
completely neglecting to look for danger. In short order,
he’s captured in the net of an eager scuba diving dentist,
and placed within a dental office aquarium in Sydney, Australia.
Back in the ocean, Marlin’s
fear turns into desperation. The only answer to his pleas
for help is a sincere but memory-challenged blue tang fish
named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres). While at first unimpressed with
Dory's non-stop nattering, Marlin changes his opinion after
she demonstrates her exceptional talent: When the diver’s
lost goggles are discovered, Dory can read the dentist’s
name and address.
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With this information, the pair
determines first to find Sydney, and then look for Nemo. Of
course the long trip is anything but smooth sailing, and chance
meetings with sharks, jellyfish, and hungry birds often leave
the duo swimming for their lives.
Nemo should have no trouble finding
success as it rides the wave of Pixar's solid reputation for
family movies. Yet the studio that created both Toy Story
films has not crafted the comedy in this movie with its usual
panache. Adults may be disappointed at the lack of “dual
layered” jokes – those laughs which work on different
levels for both young and old. However, the same children
this script is aimed at may be alarmed by the constant peril
the characters find themselves in.
What parents will appreciate
most about Finding Nemo is a storyline where kids don’t
always know best. Both junior and senior fish come to realize
their attitudes were contributing factors in creating a much
bigger problem.
Undoubtedly, audiences of all
ages will feel compelled to say, “You’ve never seen
computer animation like this.” At times nearly photographic,
every detail down to the buffeting of the waves and movement
of the fishes’ anatomy is included in stunning detail,
making this a movie that’s certainly worth going to sea.
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