Despite some flaws, Finding Nemo is the best animated film about marine life. So it's better than The Little Mermaid.
It tells the story of Nemo, a young clown fish who gets captured in the ocean and ends up in an aquarium in Sydney, and his father, Marlin, who is trying to find Nemo. That's probably why it's called Finding Nemo.
There are many life lessons to be taken away from the G-rated film. The audience learns how to overcome obstacles such as physical deformity (as represented by Nemo's crippled, or "lucky," right fin) and the fear of watching one's children swim towards their futures (as represented by Marlin's fear of watching his child, Nemo, swim towards his future.) Like many other Disney movies, Finding Nemo reminds us that we should be accepting of everyone, regardless of species. Of course, this could be interpreted as vaguely metaphoric of contemporary race issues. Finding Nemo also reinforces the idea that there's no "I" in "team." There is, however, an "I" in "fish" and "fish" is the plural of "fish."
Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, and Nemo, voiced by some random little kid, encounter many sea species on their respective journeys. Marlin grudgingly befriends Ellen DeGeneres's Dory, a fish that suffers from short-term memory loss. DeGeneres voices the roll brilliantly and her performance makes Dory the film's most fun and loveable character.
Dory teaches Marlin the importance of letting go and trusting in their friends. Although their relationship is strictly platonic on screen, there was much discussion amongst the two seven year olds seated behind me as to whether or not the two fish were actually getting it on, or if they would in the sequel, or if their relationship was meant to be a commentary on interracial dating, or if it was even possible for fish of two different species to mate. I turned around and said, "You guys are idiots. They're obviously having sex, but they can't show it in a Disney movie."
After Nemo is initiated into the fish tank "fraternity," the other fish in the tank take him under their collective wing. Willem Dafoe voices Gill, an older fish that, like Nemo, once made his home in the open sea. Brad Garrett (Ray's brother on Everybody Loves Raymond) does an excellent job as Bloat, a dopey blowfish that has the unfortunate habit of literally blowing up when excited.
Finally, Geoffrey Rush plays Nigel, a pelican who's friends with the fish in the dentist's office (yet another Disney example of predator and prey befriending each other. We should probably worry about the generation of youngsters that will be exposed to this film because they're growing up thinking it's okay to high five a great white shark.) In a successful attempt to broaden his acting horizons, Rush shows a surprising knack for physical comedy. Nigel repeatedly flies into the dentist's window, which always saw big laughs from five year olds and parents alike.
Luckily for Pixar, the advantage of targeting an audience of five to 12 year olds is that they don't pick up on the movie's few shortcomings. In fact, they don't pick up on much at all. First of all, the movie is completely unrealistic. Everyone knows that fish can speak English, but Finding Nemo's fish are able to read ,and some of them know a lot about dentistry. That's a bit too far-fetched for me.
The five to 12 set also has trouble with identifying plot patterns -- conveniently. As the fish faced life-threatening adventure after life-threatening adventure, I began to realize who the main characters were and that they probably wouldn't die during the movie. Often times during the film, a fish that we all identified with would look like it was dead, but then it would really be alive.
This effect generally solicited the following response from the younger members of the audience: "Oh my god, I think (pick a fish) is dead. That sucks because I really liked (pick a fish.) I think the movie's over now because (pick a fish) is dead and I don't see how this movie can keep going on without him/her. Mom, why did (pick a fish) die? [The mother attempts to shush the child] Dad, why did (pick a fish) die? [The father ignores the child] Oh, wait a minute, I think (pick a fish) is actually alive." Of course, it can be very annoying when the entire audience has this reaction simultaneously and feels the need to vocalize their anxiety as a unit.
In essence, my problem with watching a movie in the company of a bunch of little kids is that they're stupid. The kid behind me didn't know the difference between a shark and a whale. I'll give the kid the benefit of the doubt and chalk up his ignorance to bad parenting, but if he doesn't show significant improvement over the next few years he'll probably end up in some kind of after school program for kids who can't concentrate in class.
So despite a few small flaws, Finding Nemo pleases on a massive scale. The film improves on the already dazzling computer animation of movies such as Toy Story and A Bug's Life. The animals and scenery are consistently stunning. The visual brilliance combines with artful writing that surpasses that of most live action films. Without a doubt, Finding Nemo is an adventure that should be discovered and appreciated by young and old alike.
