Finding Nemo Review

 

        It’s almost too hard to really have a definite favorite film when anyone brings up a personal favorite Pixar film to me. Like, if I were to rank them, it would be disrespectful to the quality of these films. Finding Nemo really pushed the animation to unreal heights when having the perspective be of all animals, a fish. 

1. Under the Sea

        The way the film starts is unlike anything that came before. Right there we see Marlin with his wife as they look at their babies. It then whiplashes when we see a barracuda look at them and at the eggs. Marlin tries to stop it but has one survivor of a son he names Nemo. Now, that is how you get the audiences hooked. 

        Marlin starts off as a very overprotective parent to his young son. Who has a small fin which makes him not swim well. When we see them going to his school, more like a traveling class, we get to see the other fish around the area. It treats the area as a city without any uses for signs or anything like human since they’re animals. We get to see the dads to the other fish and octopus, they really give Marlin a hard time, like asking if he can tell a joke. 

        The kids even dare each other to touch the boat they spot. Nemo defies his dad by touching the boat. Only to be captured by divers. The part when Marlin is frantically searching for him is just anxiety. With the music in the beginning hitting the notes where the stuff has really hit the fan. After that, we see him bump into the amnesiac blue tang Dory. Ellen DeGeneres steals the show as the forgetful fish. 

        As the duo go and search for Nemo, they meet an assortment of creatures. The Sharks are one of the few instances where they’re just not the ones we see in Jaws or any bad shark movie. All three of them even take an oath that “Fish are friends, not food.”. Well, except when Marlin accidentally hits Dory causing her blood to enter Bruce’s nostrils like a crack addict.

        Really, the interesting thing about the movie is the animals themselves. They all adopt stuff that are human. Mostly, they have that compassion to help which Marlin sees when being rescued from jellyfish and seagulls. Especially the whale to which Dory speaks to and it speaks to tell them to get out. It humanizes them without it feeling a bit too on the nose, like humanizing them could’ve been an easy thing to mess up. Also, they’re animals, that angler fish has no regular eyes and just acts berserk to our duo. 

        One thing that is admirable in terms of the story is that Marlin grows up. He’s not just some character who we follow and is just the same when we see him in the beginning through the end. Marlin has to realize that he has to let his son grow up, something that he’s told when Crush and Dory tell him that he has to be willing to let go.

2. Tank Gang

        To give us more of a break from the main story, Nemo is brought to the diver’s fish tank. We get to see the motley crew of fish and crustacean in the tank. They have all been bought from various stores and eBay. The leader of the group Gill has a plan for the other fish to escape the tank. It really helps us get a breather to really see just what the tank gang are up to.

        Most of them have their own quirks like the one who is infatuated with bubbles and another who sees her reflection and thinks it’s her twin. I really like Gill since I thought he was a loner until he decides to let Nemo try to execute his plan. He shows the dangers of having exotic animals as pets, for the scars he has on his body and fins. There’s a certain motif at play like nature vs. nurture because they help Nemo get adjusted. More so on Gill who tells him to calm down when he’s stuck and to clog the filter. He really helps Nemo gain confidence and grow up as a kid. 

3. Beautiful Animation

        For a film that was released back in 2003, it still looks gorgeous. Just seeing the light through the water shine on the various reefs must’ve required a retooling of the animation computers to really work overtime to crank out the visuals. This really made Pixar the absolute premier animation studio. Most of the fish look presentable with the usual Disney eyes, even the ones who are mostly feral. It’s literally visual art to look at. 

        I might as well say as this film came out, Dreamwork’s Shark Tale was released later and comparing the two is no contest. Shark Tale is just ugly to look at, even the way the fish’s face look so badly rendered, not even Will Smith could save that movie. I think the one thing that really separates the two movies is that one focuses on a more grounded approach. It’s a simple story that is at its core a rescue movie. While the other is an odd reflection of human life. Like, there’s an underwater Time Square with fish branded apparel. 

4. Overall

        This film is possibly the one that made Disney buy Pixar. During its time, it was behind The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in terms of box office gross. The animation is so gorgeous, and it’s really everything that encompasses Pixar animation. 

        Finding Nemo gets a five out of five.