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| Finding
Nemo
Directed By: Andrew
Stanton Plot
Summary - Review 1 - Review
2 - CURRENT REVIEWS
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| A father-son underwater adventure featuring Nemo, a boy clownfish, stolen from his coral reef home. His timid father must then search the ocean to find him[TRAILER] Unlike the greatest children’s films, I never once forgot who the target market for “Finding Nemo” really was. Its slapstick, silliness, jokes and manic energy are so clearly leveled at the younger viewer that, indeed, few older viewers will find themselves caught up in this underwater tale. Some may not see this as a negative. This is a “children’s film,” and, if you walk in with that mindset, I am sure you will be most entertained. But I then remember great movies like “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2,” “Beauty and the Beast” and the recent video release, “Spirited Away.” Here are kid’s films with depth, heart and warmth; films that transcended the genre. I made no excuses for “Toy Story 2.” Not only is it one of the greatest sequels of recent memory, but it stands as a great film on its own merits. “Finding Nemo,” on the other hand, cannot succeed without lowered expectations. Like most Pixar releases, it deals with universal themes of love and acceptance. While “Monster’s Inc.” dealt with the nightly fears of a child’s bedroom closet, “Finding Nemo” tackles the murkier waters of a parent’s dilemma in allowing children room to grow and explore on their own. It opens with a rather bleak sequence, in which chaos swirls around Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks), a cheery clown fish, and his family. When the murky water clears, all that remains of Marlin’s family is one, unhatched egg, named Nemo (Alexander Gould), the sole reason for Marlin’s existence. As one might expect, Marlin becomes the overprotective parent, dedicating his life to protecting his only son. But on the first day of fish school, an argument explodes between father and son, and Nemo is caught by Australian fishermen. A panicked, but determined father, Marlin enlists the help of the neurotic Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), who claims she knows which direction the fishing boat was heading. But, alas, she suffers memory loss and frequently forgets who Marlin is and what their mission is. The remainder of the film unfolds with two parallel stories. In the first, Marlin and Dory venture through the ocean, attempting to find little Nemo. On their way, they meet the standard assortment of unique caricatures, including a Shark self-help group, a giant whale, a turtle with a surfer’s attitude and an abandoned nuclear submarine in a submerged minefield. In the other story, Nemo is taken to the aquarium of an Australian dentist, where he meets a new gang of fish, befriends them, and attempts to escape to reunite with daddy. Almost all Pixar films have wisely chosen unusual locales for their stories, affording animators an artistic license that other animated films are constrained by. After all, it is far more difficult to recreate a human or an animal, which the audience is familiar with, than a child’s toy or an exotic fish. The problem with “Finding Nemo” is not in its visuals or effects. Actually, the most impressive thing about this film is the world it has managed to create and the convincing atmosphere it sustains. One must also note Thomas Newman’s beautiful score, which only adds to the mystery and majesty of this underwater world. But while the imagery is impressive and the father-son story touching, there is something artificial about “Nemo.” It is a difficult issue to put my finger on, but it is always there and always apparent. The problems start with the voicing. Brooks, as Marlin, brings a constant manic energy to the part that is rendered ineffective by the film’s end. DeGeneres has several funny lines, but she also fails at achieving anything remotely memorable. The movie unfolds as almost all cartoon films now unfurl: Hero meets up with wacky sidekick, encounters strange creatures during the mission, and ends up revealing to the audience a universal truth about human emotions. Now, granted, every film ever made could be summarized with such a broad umbrella, but after “Toy Story” and “Shrek,” a film like “Nemo” must do more to stand out from the pack. And finally, there is a lack of emotional growth present in the other children’s films listed here. True, Nemo learns some self esteem on his mission. As Marlin swims about the ocean, he realizes that Nemo deserves more freedom. These lessons, however, occur instantly and transparently. Never once did I believe that I was seeing true growth – simply the flip of a page in a wooden script. None of this is to say that “Nemo” is a bad film. For families, it will be wonderful and several moments surprised me with their subtlety and humor. I am only attempting to isolate why I left this film with a shrug, while I left “Shrek” wanting to dance. A great film, whether it is a children’s fable or a wartime epic, should not require excuses.   Check out Reviews, Commentary, and More at Zertinet.com |
LINKS
TO REVIEWS |
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It’s
difficult to actually start to compare this movie to most of the
other movies I review. I usually frequent indie theatres with three
screens where I know the ticket takers. To see this movie, I ventured
back into the world of a 10 screen multiplex. The horrid popcorn,
sticky floor, the crappy projection and unbalanced sound were all
there. Needless to say I was all setup for a miserable evening. I actually found Finding Nemo to be quite entertaining; at least for the 110 minutes that I was actually in the theatre. Although I was quite entertained while I was there, Finding Nemo is a movie that ends the minute the credits start. No one in the theatre talked about the movie – kids didn’t walk out pretending they were fish. I think on the whole, adults are going to be reading this review, I need to review it for adults. Kid’s tastes will mostly be determined by commercials and key marketing tie-ins. Visually Finding Nemo is wonderfully done. It is done in the best traditions of old school animation done with a computer aid. I keep hearing people talk about what a victory the movie is for computer animation, yet the animation shows almost zero progress since Toy Story II. See Pixar’s computer technology is very much inferior to most other computer animation programs. The programs used to do work on Lord of the Rings could run circles around this program. Perhaps in part due Pixar’s pairing with Mac, or its focus on animation, Pixar’s Renderman is technology of the olden days. Yet this has not been a negative. Pixars has instead chosen to animate instead of concentrating on the computer aspect of this process. I believe this has lead to a much more visually dynamic creation. Finding Nemo from the beginning had an odd feeling to it. There was something wrong with the linkage between the voices and the animation. It felt as if the voices where tacked on to the ending, like they didn’t go together for some reason. I will admit that this could very easily have been the sound balance in the theatre I was seeing, however, I also feel like it had something to do with the visuals of the piece. The worst voice was Ellen Degeneres’. I found her to be somewhat annoying throughout the piece. She was entirely a one act pony. All she could do was forget things repeatedly and get into the same predictable situations and respond the same predictable way. Although, that type of characterization was typical of the entire movie. Characters where created at the beginning. They were funny and loveable, but they didn’t change or progress in the slightest, they were completely stagnant. They were the exact same characters at the beginning of the movie as at the end. There isn’t much more to say. It’s a predictable, stagnant, uncreative ride. But it’s fun. There isn’t a whole lot to annoy or upset. It’s the worst kind of vanilla – the kind that everyone likes. Heck, that includes me – I might have to resign. |
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