Login
Finding Nemo is a work of sublime and perfect popular art. I could watch the movie on mute and feel every emotion just as strongly as I do with the dialogue and vocal performances in place. The animation is that detail oriented and precise. There is not a color wasted or a place where total commitment and artistic quality isn’t in place.
But unlike so many modern animated films, Finding Nemo does not confuse a dumbed down sense of pop culture ADHD for humor and heart. Instead, it builds up memorable characters, situations and pieces of dialogue and makes us care about them. I haven’t cared this much about animated marine life since I was two-years-old and watching The Little Mermaid for the first time.
By now the story should be known to everyone: Marlin, voiced to neurotic perfection by Albert Brooks, is an overprotective father to Nemo, a plucky and stubborn little fish. Nemo gets kidnapped by a dentist in hopes of becoming a future present for his niece, and Marlin goes on a heroic quest to save his son and return him to their beloved home. Along the way they meet all sorts of hilarious new friends, the most beloved and well-known being Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres so adorably that she managed to resurrect her career. I love Dory as much as everyone else, but I also have a fond spot for Crush, Squirt and the crab that does kung-fu to the seagulls. It is to the writers, artists and directors of the entire Pixar staff that in practically every movie there is a brief character that does something funny that stays with me long after I have seen it. And I always look forward to that brief few seconds of their screen time each time I view the film.
Animation is unfairly written off as children's entertainment, but Pixar knows that a great piece of entertainment should hit at multiple ages and audiences. I love nearly every one of their films (I can’t stand Cars, but I know people who do). And the brilliant thing about their filmography is that everybody can have a different favorite. Finding Nemo isn’t my absolute favorite, but it ranks very high. I always want to sit as close to the screen as possible on as large a screen as possible and immerse myself completely in the undersea world they have created. It is just that beautiful.
