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Finding Nemo Customer Reviews (70 - 70 of 70 Reviews)

Father and Son and Friend
When Finding Nemo came out, I saw Albert Brooks on Late Night with David Letterman. Brooks, who stars as the voice of Marlin, the daddy fish, had taken his son (who, I believe, was about five years old, the equivalent human age of Nemo) to the premiere. After about five minutes, Brooks said his son leaned over to him, and quietly said, the way a grownup might, "I cannot watch this movie," and walked out. Late in the movie, the son returned, having obviously been crying. Leaning over, Brooks assured his son, "You are not Nemo."

Such is the power of this fish story about father and son clownfish who become separated, and must struggle to find their way back to each other. Marlin is a loving but neurotic and overprotective father; Nemo is a frustrated young fish who wants to be independent and see the world, and resents his father for preventing him from doing so. We see an ocean (read: the world) that is a terrible, heartless, and yet joyous place that we frail fish must confront, as best we can, because there's no alternative.

The animation was done by the wonderful folks from Pixar, who are the closest thing to the reincarnation of Walt Disney. There is simply no comparison between the animation of the typical, visually flat, politically correct, contemporary animated movie (like say, your typical Disney picture!) and Nemo. In Nemo, the ocean floor looks like the ocean. And the characters are all ... characters. They are all physically distinctive, wonderfully written, and performed by gifted actors who - if you'll pardon the cliché - will alternately make you laugh and cry. Of particular note are Barry Humphries as Bruce the Shark, Geoffrey Rush as Nigel the Pelican, Willem Dafoe as Gill, Allison Janney as Peach, and of course, young Alexander Gould as Nemo. Ellen Degeneres, in particular, steals every scene she's in, as Dory, a gregarious fish whose memory leaks like a sieve. But this is Albert Brooks' movie. He deserved a special Oscar for the most moving voice work my wife and I have ever heard.

Thomas Newman, of the musical Newman clan (Alfred, Lionel, Randy), has composed a score that is subtle and unobtrusive much of the time, but at dramatic moments takes over, and is more impressive, with repeated viewings.

Andrew Stanton's (Toy Story, Monsters, Inc.) screenplay, written with Bob Peterson and David Reynolds, brims with intelligence and wit (e.g., in an AA-style group of recovering - and frequently lapsing - sharks, the members intone, "I am a nice shark, not an eating machine.... Fish are friends, not food"), and Stanton's direction does not waste a scene. Every moment in Nemo will either charm you or move you. In fact, as my wife remarked, for all of its many comic scenes, this is one of the most moving movies you'll ever see. We've already seen it dozens of times with our four-year-old son, who loves it, and yet with each new viewing, we notice things we'd previously missed.

Note that the scene-switching between Marlin and Nemo confuses younger children.

The DVD, which has exquisite sound and color, includes full-screen and widescreen versions (which appear the same on our TV), and so many extras, that I'd need 1000 words, just to do them justice.

On a practical note, I find that the best thing about having two versions of the DVD, is that you can switch, when one of them starts to wear out and skip.

Finding Nemo is truly a find.

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