Finding Nemo: Review By moviegeek

Finding Nemo is an astonishingly great piece of motion picture history. It creates some of the most hilarious foils, realistic characters, and breathtaking scenery found in any Pixar movie to date! (This review was written after the release of Toy Story 3) I used to be in the crowd that discredited Nemo for having seen it too many times with the younger groups of my family. But now I can truly accept it for what it is. A masterpiece. Excellent voice casting, a tender story, and sheer mastery send this movie soaring.

Early in the film, we see the disheartening murder of a mother clown fish, trying to protect her hundreds of unborn children. The now-widower father fish, Marlin (Albert Brooks), awakes from unconsciousness to find only one fish egg remaining. He names it Nemo.

Jump to the Nemo's childhood; it is the first day of school and Marlin is being overprotective of Nemo. As Nemo makes new friends on an adventure to the dangerous drop-off, his father comes and spoils the party. Fed up with his lack of freedom, Nemo spites his father and pulls off a daring feat. Unfortunately, this action leads to his capture by a human scuba diver. Marlin is unable to catch the boat and loses his only son.

This is where the movie splits into two stories--Marlin goes on an ocean-wide search for his son. Along the way he runs in the Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), who suffers, oddly enough, from short-term memory loss. The two of them set off to find Nemo. The other story follows Nemo inside of a fish tank in an Australian dentist's office. There he meets several tank friends and they plan an escape to the ocean.

The plot isn't quite as daring as other Pixar movies such as Wall-E and Up. In fact, it might even seem conventional. But it is executed brilliantly. The movie doesn't race head-first into a adventurous plot. Instead, we meet lovable characters, each with distinctive personalities. They provide the base for this movie. From there, the makers put these characters into situations that test their capabilities.

Now, about Dory. She is the single most hilarious Pixar character ever created. Perhaps this is because the role was written specifically for Ellen DeGeneres. I have never laughed so hard in any of Pixar's movies. From the many jokes involving her memory loss, to her attempts to speak whale, her constant randomness is HYSTERICAL.

Finding Nemo is also breathtaking to look at. The wide shots of the far too colorful ocean are astounding. The way the sunlight streams down in waves onto the characters is marvelous. Each character and scene location has a new and delightful look to it. If there was ever a movie I WOULD watch if it was re-released into 3D, this would be the one.

The movie has a tender heart to it as well. We feel for Marlin and his journey across the ocean. The scenes of father and son, both together and apart, are sincere and very nearly heartbreaking.

Exciting action, fantastically constructed characters, brilliant visuals, hilarious dialogue, perfect pacing, wholesome morals, and genius storytelling make this an absolute joy for the entire family. This is a genuinely awesome movie I could watch again and again and again.

I have been comparing this movie to Pixar's other 10 works of art, instead of the animation or film industry as a whole. Personally, to be compared to Pixar's movies I think already sets you a head above anything else. And this is at the top of the food chain in animation.