With any Walt Disney movie, it will inevitably be held to a different standard. Disney is a powerhouse for making iconic kids’ movies; movies that kids will never forget. Even adults love Disney. Finding Nemo broke box office records and even won an academy award. After the movie was released in 2003, according to imdb.com, the movie accumulated over $380 million in the U.S. and almost $1 billion worldwide. The U.S. revenue quadrupled the $94 million budget and did even better all over the world. This was an enormous success. Finding Nemo was my favorite movie as a child.
The movie debuted on May 30, 2003 with the rating of G under the Animation, Adventure, and Comedy genre.
Finding Nemo, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, is about a young clownfish named Nemo who gets captured by a scuba diver in the Great Barrier Reef. With the help of a friendly fish named Dory, who suffers from short-term memory loss, Nemo’s father, Marlin, sets out to find Nemo. While on this adventure, Dory and Marlin encounter several obstacles including sharks, turtles, and jellyfish. These two fish, voiced by Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres, experience brand new things and make many friends throughout their journey in the sea.
After watching this film several times, it is still one of my favorites from when I was young. Disney uses themes and humor that appeal to both children and adults, therefore this movie is still funny to me as an adult today. Pixar films are appealing to all audiences which makes this movie interesting and fun!
Finding Nemo portrays several themes such as family, coming of age, friendship, and acceptance. This movie begins with Marlin and Coral, a young couple who are excited for their future and are waiting for their numerous offspring to be born. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse when a barracuda approaches and ends up eating Coral and all the eggs that they were waiting to be born, except for one: Nemo. After getting through this heartbreaking beginning, the audience witnesses the struggle that Marlin has about letting Nemo go to school which means he would be without his father in the ocean. With reasonable caution, Marlin secretly follows the school of fish to “the drop off” and then decides that it is too dangerous for Nemo. This part of the movie touches on Nemo’s maturity and how he is at the age where he does not want to listen to his father. Therefore, defying his father, Nemo swims towards a nearby boat and ends up getting captured by a scuba diver which begins the plot that takes Marlin through countless obstacles to find his son.
One of the most memorable obstacles that Marlin and his friend, Dory, face is Bruce, the shark. Being that Marlin is a shy and cautious clownfish, this scene is very unnerving for the audience. Bruce and his fellow shark confidants try to befriend the two fish by inviting them to a “meeting” about giving up fish as food. This scene mirrors the typical “Alcoholics Anonymous” meeting which makes these personified fish hilarious, especially to the adults in the audience. The three sharks live by the well-known moto “fish are friends, not food” which quickly goes downhill when Dory begins to bleed, setting off Bruce’s urge to eat them. This ends up being an iconic scene throughout the course of the movie.
The movie has so many memorable parts it’s so hard so sum it all up. Overall it is simply a Disney classic. The animation is phenomenal, the music is chosen wisely and correlates incredibly well with the story. Unfortunately, there are some critics that do not agree with my analysis of this Pixar film.
The first review I read was on the website “everymoviesucks.com” which shows a pessimistic view of this children’s movie. The writer of this article, “Why Finding Nemo Sucks”, explains the many negatives of this movie, but does not provide any great detail. This negative critic provides the obvious point that Nemo does not listen to his father which prompts them to refer to this animated fish as “stupid”. Every great movie has a setback which allows for the movie to have a plot worth watching. Nemo being captured by the scuba divers provides the movie with the plot and teaches the audience about listening to adults. This review, although brought up a fair point about Nemo defying his father, was too negative for a children’s movie and provides no real evidence to support his critiques.
Another unfortunately negative review titled “Finding Nemo Sucks, and a Bunch of Unrelated Stinkers”, provides a way too pessimistic view on the movie. The person who wrote this article seems to have missed the point of the movie especially when they state that “Finding Nemo is a movie about an arrogant and sadistic Hollywood megalodon that savagely rams a heated rod up its audience’s butts and bullies them into submitting that they liked the experience”. Although this movie had some flaws, it still provided the audience with the reassurance that their parents care about them. Seeing a father swim across the ocean to find his disobedient son is above and beyond, but also exemplifies the measures people are willing to go for, for family, and love.
Finally, after reading negative reviews, I stubbled upon a sophisticated and well written one on pluggedin.com. This review not only compliments the movie and sees its success more than a decade later but recognizes the negative parts of the movie in an appropriate manner. The author of this review provides the unthought of analysis of the role of the dentist in this film. Whereas most kids do not mind the dentist when they are young, they may be cautious when going back after watching the dentist work on his patient’s teeth. Although this adds to the humor in the movie, the dentist’s uncomfortable role in the movie makes the audience squirm every time he approaches a patient. This review provides a pleasant look on the movie that the other reviews severely lacked.
Finding Nemo despite some of its flaws, is an all-time best. This movie is still popular today especially with the most recent sequel Finding Dory. Movie goers waited an astonishing 13 years for a sequel and thousands of Finding Nemo fans attended this movie, including myself. With the many lessons that Finding Nemo teaches us, an important and missed one is taught through the role of Dory. Throughout the movie, Dory suffers from short-term memory loss. From her character, the audience learns the importance of acceptance due to her positive look on life and moto to “just keep swimming”. Although this lesson may be overlooked, it is important for everyone to learn to accept themselves and others. Finding Nemo finds a way to incorporate these morals into the story line. I think audiences of all ages will agree that even 15 years later, Finding Nemo is still one of the best children’s movies.
Ls Movie Review 