The creators at Pixar studios were doing their every day job when they were making Finding Nemo Little did they know that a little over a decade later, this story of a lost fish would still be an icon. The use of vibrant colors, comedy for all ages and the characters and story plot itself grabs my attention and make me lose track of anything else going on around me and become engulfed in it.
Along with the animation aspect, the story line itself is attractive and understandable for the young audience, while the satiric and human related wit keeps the adult viewers entertained. This movie is about a father and son clownfish from Sydney Australia. Nemo, the main character, is a clownfish with a very overprotective father, named Marlin. Marlin is a worrier, and he hovers over Nemo because his wife and Nemo’s mother was taken by barracudas, along with all of the other eggs. On Nemo’s first day of school, his oversized curiosity gets the best of him and ends up getting captured by sea divers and taken to a fish tank of a nearby dentist. During Marlin’s adventures to rescue his son, he encounters a variety of animals with an even bigger range of personalities. One of which was Dory, a blue tang with severe short term memory issues. She became his closest companion in “finding Nemo”.
The director (Andrew Stanton) and the team that worked on this animation really brought this movie to life with their personal mannerisms, interactions with one another as characters in the movie, the soundtrack and “fishy” sense of humor at parts brings this children’s movie to life. With mainstream voices such as Ellen Degenerous (the memory-troubled scatterbrain) and Albert Brooks (the over the top worrier), the animals and characters in this movie achieve human-like personalities. The way that Andrew Stanton and the sound and lighting people used softer music and brighter lighting with gentler scenes, and darker lighting and faster paced, suspenseful music with the more intense scenes, the watchers emotions get pulled in that much more. You really feel like you’re in the water with Dory and Marlin looking for his little boy.
Like I said before, this movie isn’t just for children to enjoy and parents to “suffer through”. Finding Nemo is enjoyable for adults just as much as children. The biggest component in this movie that is proof of that statement is the hidden innuendos that will go undetected by young ears, but found extremely entertaining by mature ears. The animals under the sea that Marlin and Dory end up encountering are similar to personality types that people have the chance of encountering on a daily basis. Everyone has that friend who, like crush, can be a little too relaxed and chill sometimes. Not only are the characteristics of individuals in the movie representative towards every day adults, but there are also situations that adults and mature minds can relate to. One of the comedic and satiric situations in this movie is the group of sharks who are “addicted to eating fish” and attend sessions much similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. Another situation that is very relatable to adults is the strong emotional attachment that Marlin has towards Nemo, his son. As any caring parent will tell you, watching this movie will tug their heart strings because they understand what it would be like to lose a child, and being willing to do anything just to have their child back within their eyesight and outstretched arms.
Personally, this movie has always been towards the very top of my all-time favorites list. When I was younger, seeing this movie was just about the excitement and innocent humor that came along with the young school age fish talking about Nemo “touching the butt”. Watching it again as I have gotten older, I began to pick up on the more hidden and adult appealing qualities about this movie, the humor geared towards the audience that understands why Crush’s (the turtle with red droopy eyes and a calm attitude about everything) mentality is to stay relaxed all the time.
All in all, this movie is very well rounded. The director and crew that produced this animation used a magnificent sense of applying colors, situation appropriate music and lighting, and situations that evoked a mix of emotions, drawing any type of audience into the heart and soul of this movie. The characters who voiced the roles added human characteristics to the animated characters bringing them to life even more. This G rated movie is definitely worth the two hours spent watching, as people of all ages will thoroughly enjoy it. I personally recommend it to any individual, of any age, as a timeless Disney Pixar masterpiece.