Good afternoon ladies & gentlemen! I want to start things off by saying that I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas yesterday, and Christmas Eve a couple days before. Second, today, we are going back into the world of Disney/Pixar once again. This time, we will be talking about one in the library that was released during the time that Disney/Pixar became the King/Queen of animation. Not only that, but at this point in time, computer animation was becoming more popular, while 2D hand-drawn animation slowly, but surely became less popular, and was starting to slowly, but surely die out. Not to mention that Disney/Pixar films would more often than not win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Today’s Disney/Pixar film is a perfect example of all of this being the case. Presenting you all, the first 3D animated film to gross over $300 million domestically (of course some of us are aware that 1994’s Lion King was the first hand-drawn to pull this off unexpectedly), Finding Nemo.
Plot: An overprotective clownfish named Marlin (Albert Brooks), and his son Nemo (Alexander Gould) live in an anemone in the Great Barrier Reef after Marlin’s wife Coral (Elizabeth Perkins), and all of Marlin and Coral’s kids, except Nemo, are massacred by a barracuda. One day, an argument occurs between Marlin, and Nemo occurs that causes Nemo to swim into dangerous territory, and get captured by scuba divers. Unable to catch up to the boat that Nemo was taken in, Marlin must then make a brave journey to Sydney, Australia, where Nemo has gone. With the help some colorful new friends, including a blue tang named Dory (Ellen Degeneres), and three vegetarian sharks (voiced by Barry Humphries, Eric Bana, and Bruce Spence respectively), will Marlin succeed in rescuing Nemo, and bringing him back to the ocean once and for all?
Much like with 3D films like Shrek, Ice Age, and some of those films, while I liked Finding Nemo, I was very frustrated that these films were talked about more than hand-drawn films like Treasure Planet, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, or, to a lesser degree, even Brother Bear. in fact, part of me was rooting for Brother Bear to win just so that a hand-drawn film from Disney could win. Well, as we may know, Finding Nemo took home the Oscar, and I felt a little disappointed. But keep in mind that this was when I was 15 1/2, soon to be 16 years old. So now, let’s talk about Finding Nemo with all of that stuff that I mentioned not being in play at this point in time.
Everyone, I was very surprised with the result this time around. In fact, if you haven’t seen this movie yet, this is most definitely a must-see. First off, the characters are so memorable from beginning to end. First off, the fish, and even some of the main pelicans, have distinct, human like personalities of their own. Okay, they act like normal creatures, don’t get me wrong. However, they have real emotions like happiness, fear, excitement, and things like that. Not only that, but people are most likely going to relate to any of these characters in one way, or another, whether that be Marlin, Gill, the leader of the Fish Tank Gang, Bruce, and his vegetarian shark comrades, or any other character in this movie. Despite some of these characters not getting as much screen time as others, they manage to still stand out, and be remembered as much as those characters that this story revolves around. Which, that begs a question that could be up for debate, “How is it that that seems to be the case for films like 2003’s Finding Nemo, or 2016’s Zootopia, while other films seem to sometimes struggle to find that balance?” I don’t know, that just sounds like something to think about, you know? What’s more is that some of the character arcs, be it some of the main characters, as well as there supporting characters as well, are handled surprisingly well too. It’s a miracle that the writers could pull that off in this film’s running time of 100 minutes. Next, there’s the score by Thomas Newman. First off, we need to give the executives at Disney/Pixar credit for finally using a composer that wasn’t Randy Newman, for once. How interesting that it was Randy’s cousin, Thomas Newman, that we got this time around. I was surprised to find that he composed music in live-action movies before this film, and after. So how was his music in Finding Nemo? Truth be told, he did a better job here than in films like 2000’s Pay It Forward. It’s almost Thomas seemed to bring something more fresh, and new that may, or may not have been seen, or heard in Disney/Pixar’s films before this one. His music is fanciful, and really helps to pull at your heartstrings, and get you engaged into the movie even more. He has this gift of mixing piano, as well as maybe other instruments in the film in such a beautiful way. Now, do I have anything against Randy Newman? No! In fact, he has made a variety of excellent musical scores for the films in this library that he composed for. Still, if he was used in everything that was Disney/Pixar, be it even Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up, or films like those, how do we know that people would have continued the films that Disney/Pixar has produced up to this present point, you know? In addition to all this, Finding Nemo seems to have this special ability of keeping the audience really engaged in this film. This may seem a little more true than some of Pixar’s other films before, and after it. For instance, as you watch this film, you may find yourself wanting the movie to magically suck into the world of Finding Nemo, and going on the adventures with Marlin, and Dory, whether that be wrestling with angler fish, riding on the East Australian Current with Crush, and his herd of sea turtles, or things like that. Now, I’m sure that other Disney/Pixar films have made people have similar feelings to one degree, or another too. It’s just that Finding Nemo seems to have that feeling even more. Another thing to mention is that the end credits are designed differently than Pixar’s films before this one. If you haven’t watched the credits for this film, definitely watch the credits after the movie is over. You won’t regret it. Finally, the film helps to teach us how we need to draw a line between protecting others, and being overprotective of those that we love. Not only that, but the movie does also teach an important lesson about not using others for selfish gain at certain points too. Such important lessons to learn, that’s for sure.
And that’s my review for Finding Nemo. Looking back, is it understandable as to why Finding was really popular? Very much so. With a Disney/Pixar film that’s only a hundred minutes, there is so much to unpack in this film. Also, Finding Nemo has an incredible amount of heart, and soul in it’s story, characters, animation, and all the other areas of this film. Nowadays, I’m actually sort of laughing at myself for thinking it strange that Finding Nemo won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. In all honesty, Finding Nemo is a film that deserves to be watched by everyone in any, and every age group. It has excellent messages, well-written characters, and other great qualities going for it. There’s no doubt that Finding Nemo deserved to have a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. So, it’s a great thing that most critics, and audiences alike enjoyed this film.
Final Grade: A+
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 