For some lore on this review series
Well, Well, Well at last we have come to one of the rare Pixar movies have seen prior and even rarer still I believe this is the only one I saw in theaters. Which is crazy if I actually thought about it or I’m just forgetting about seeing another Pixar movie in theaters but I don’t think so. I think to date it’s only been Finding Nemo.
So did it hold up for me?
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Why yes it did!
A Bit on the Plot
To be honest I haven’t rewatch Finding Nemo in a long while so while I did remember it in broad strokes, I just didn’t recall all it. Like I forgot about the entire jellyfish scene, the angular fish, and even the mask clue.
The plot is fairly simple it’s a little bit of the odyssey mixed with a prison break. At the heart of the movie which is about fish, is a father and his son. The father, Marlin, has to learn to let go of past trauma so his son, the titular Nemo, can grow. Nemo has to learn to trust his abilities and get over his learned helplessness that Marlin has unknowingly instilled. It really goes hard of the emotional thesis.
Most of the plot hinges on Marlin trying to get Nemo back after Nemo was taken out from the ocean by a dentist. Marlin has to travel from The Great Barrier Reef to Sydney in order to find his son. While Nemo has to escape a tank before he’s given to the dentist’s niece, Darla, who is known to inadvertently kill her fish pets. She’s very scary!
A Bit on the Characters
While Marlin and Nemo are compelling so are the other characters.
Rounding out the main cast is Dory who the polar opposite of Marlin. Dory is happy go-lucky, trusting, upbeat and has no short-term memory. One might think that Dory’s memory issues would get old but it didn’t, it was consistently funny and added layers to her characterization as her memory improves when she is around Marlin. Dory also gets many great quotes from the iconic “Just Keep Swimming” to her whale speech and her lines about the jellyfish being her “squishy.” Dory is just so endearing.
The side characters are also great from Bruce the shark who is a good guy except if he scents blood in the water as he and some other sharks are abstain from eating fish as “they are friends and not food” but it’s hard to resist blood. It’s a nice take on sharks as characters.
There is Crush and his offspring Squirt who are chill Sea Turtles riding the East Australian Current (EAC.) Crush’s laid back attitude helps Marlin with his own attachment issues and fears. It’s also nice to see another chill character who is also a different style of “laid-back from Dory. There is good variation to the characters.
There are also the fish in the dentist’s salt water tank, referred as The Fish Tank Gang.
They all welcome Nemo into the gang and help him to escape effectively saving his life from the scary Darla. Of course they also want to escape and are lead by Gill another former ocean fish. Gill gives Nemo the encouragement and skills he needs. Gill is great and so are the rest of the Fish Tank gang.
All and all the characters make this movie.
A Bit on the Animation
The animation and color palette make this movie. I mean you can say that for all of the Pixar movies but the world of Nemo is just so lush and highly detailed. I especially love the lighting an colors in the jellyfish forest and also well the texture on the baleen of the whale. I also just love the whale and Dory speaking to the whale.
A Bit of a Complaint
A minor complaint I have, is that Marlin and Dory’s plot line just goes from set piece to next. There is some character development but mostly it involves the two running into some other sea creatures that sometimes wants to eat them, harm them, is nice to them or sometimes all the above. While comedic at points it can slow the pacing down, which is fairly common compliant that some have on Finding Nemo as a whole.
A Bit of a Conclusion
However the pacing is a minor complaint as the characters, the animation, and music are all very done and entertaining. I think the pacing does hold it back but all in all Finding Nemo a great movie. It had me at Fish and they are our friends.
Plus there is a Whale! And Whales are GREAT, PERIOD the end.
My Current Ranking of Pixar Movies Based on my own Subjective Opinion:
- Finding Nemo
- Toy Story 2
- Toy Story
- Monsters, Inc
- A Bugs’ Life (fear not it will not remain at the bottom forever)
I think this will be the last post to included my current rankings as I want to do a separate post for the all rankings and I should have some mystique left prior to that post even though I’m only up to five. Also so far I have dislike none of these movies. They are all charming.
