Finding Nemo

Paul Greenwood reviews

Finding Nemo

• Cert:
• Running time: 100 minutes
• Year: 2003
• Released: 10th October 2003
• Widescreen Ratio: 1.85:1
• Rating: 10/10

Directors:

Andrew Stanton

(A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, A Story)
and Lee Unkrich (Finding Nemo, Monster’s Inc, Toy Story 2, TV: Silk Stalkings)

Cast:

Marlin: Albert Brooks
Dory: Ellen DeGeneres
Nemo: Alexander Gould
Gill: Willem Dafoe
Bloat: Brad Garrett
Peach: Allison Janney
Gurgle: Austin Pendleton
Nigel: Geoffrey Rush
Crush: Andrew Stanton
Coral: Elizabeth Perkins
Bruce: Barry Humphries
Fish School: John Ratzenberger

Disney animation would be in a sorry state if it weren’t for theircollaboration with Pixar.

Since The Lion King nearly a decade ago, thequality of their animated output has been on a steep downhill slope tooblivion with only Lilo & Stitch and Tarzan showing an upward blip. For themost part the films have been average or forgettable (Hercules, TheHunchback of Notre Dame, The Emperor’s New Groove) but in the last couple ofyears they’ve basically stunk (Dinosaur, Treasure Planet) with the emphasispurely on flash and empty spectacle instead of story and characters.

Fortunately for Disney, their creative bankruptcy has been offset by thegenius of the entirely computer generated films of Pixar Animation Studios.In the years since The Lion King, they’ve brought us the hilarious A Bug’sLife, the heartwarming Monsters Inc. and, in Toy Story and Toy Story 2, twoof the finest films ever made, animated or not. If not for Pixar, Disneywould be cartoon also-rans like Fox and Dreamworks.

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Remarkably, the fifth feature from Pixar, Finding Nemo, finds them still atthe very top of their game. In a scene setter to rival the shooting ofBambi’s mother, clownfish parents Marlin and Coral are about to name theirseveral hundred babies when a barracuda attack leaves only Marlin and oneegg still floating. Naming it Nemo, he vows there and then never to letanything happen to him. By the time Nemo’s ready to start school (I know -they’re fish! But go with me here!) Marlin’s over protection has become sosevere that Nemo rebels against him, swims off, and ends up being caught bya diver and plonked in an aquarium in a dentist’s waiting room.

The rest of the movie divides its time between Nemo in the tank and Marlin’ssearch for him. Along the way, both meet new friends and a plethora ofmarine beasties to help and hinder them. Marlin’s main companion is Dory, afish with short term memory loss, while Nemo befriends the tank escapecommittee led by Angelfish Gill, who plot to spring Nemo before he’s takenhome by the dentist’s pet murdering niece.

Finding Nemo is truly glorious. Everything you could want in a great movieis here – it’s eye wateringly funny, eye wateringly poignant and eyewateringly beautiful. At its heart it’s a tale of the bond between fatherand son, and this alone would be enough for most films. But throw in somewonderful supporting characters, terrific set pieces, hilarious jokes bothvisual and verbal, movie references from Mission: Impossible to TheTerminator to Hitchcock, and the fact that every single frame is an absolutework of art and it all adds up to a movie that is a complete joy from startto finish.

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And I haven’t even mentioned a voice cast that probably couldn’t have beenbettered. Albert Brooks plays neurotic as good as anyone and he’s perfect,the running joke being that he’s a clownfish who isn’t funny. Dafoe repriseshis role from Animal Factory in fish form and he’s also excellent, as areturns from Geoffrey Rush as a helpful pelican and Barry Humphries as afishaholic shark. Director Stanton shows up as a surf dude turtle and stealssome of the best lines for himself. Best of all is DeGeneres, both hilariousand moving as Dory, who has to have everything explained to her again everytwo minutes.

I can’t praise Finding Nemo highly enough. It’s funny and exciting andhandles big themes without being preachy or schmaltzy, all topped off by thebest closing line in years. There shouldn’t even be an argument – this isthe best film of 2003 by a country mile.

Review copyright © Paul Greenwood, 2003.E-mail Paul Greenwood

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