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| Come give me a hug |
The film, as everyone surely already knows, follows the adventures of a Clownfish named Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks,) who is on a desperate search to find his only son, Nemo (played by Alexander Gould.) Along the way Marlin is joined by an optimistic Blue Tang called Dory (Ellen Degeneres) who has chronic short-term memory loss. The two of them encounter a variety of perils and eccentric characters along the way to rescue Nemo from the aquarium of a dentist in Sydney, Australia. Like many of Pixar’s features, the setup is fairly simple, leaving the film’s creative team plenty of room to flesh out the characters and expand upon the story without having to worry about additional exposition.
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| Nine pies!? I have no place to put these boxes! Please, you're embarrassing me! |
Though much of this film is uniformly well-done, what stands out most to me is the wonderful voice cast. I’ve said it before (and I’ll likely say it again,) but one of Pixar’s greatest strengths is in their casting, and Finding Nemo may be their best example. Albert Brooks’ performance as Marlin is funny and heartfelt; the concern in his voice feels quite genuine, and helps to counterbalance the character’s barely-contained annoyance with Dory throughout the film. While Brooks’ acting style (and his comedy) may not be to everyone’s taste, it’s hard to argue with the touching, fatherly performance he gives here. Besides, Lost In America should be required viewing for any serious student of comedic cinema.
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| It's the Ghost Light! |
Who really surprised everyone (myself included) was Ellen Degeneres’ turn as the forgetful Dory. The popular comedienne and talk show host gives a predictably amusing performance, as Dory’s condition leads to many humorous misunderstandings. Going into the film, viewers expect the usual Pixar heartstring-tugging to result from Marlin’s storyline; but the pathos that Degeneres ends up pulling from the Dory character suddenly grips you, when one realizes how hard a life this little fish must lead. It’s the sign of a good actor that even a “comic-relief” character can elicit both laughter and sorrow so naturally. Audiences obviously connected emotionally to Dory’s plight, as she became the focus of 2016’s sequel, Finding Dory.
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| Are they small fins? I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee you. |
Young Alexander Gould gives a believable performance as an adolescent fish who wishes to experience more of the ocean than his over-protective father allows. The “getting ready for school” scene early in the film should be familiar to anyone with small children, faithfully recreating both the tedium of dull routine and the simple joys of friendly rough-housing. Gould is out-cuted, however, by young Nicholas Bird (son of fellow Pixar director, Brad Bird,) whose little Squirt makes one want to stop everything and go buy a baby Turtle doll. One of my favorite lines comes from Marlin, following Squirt’s precocious instructions on navigating the East Australian Current: “You know, you’re really cute, but I don’t know what you’re saying!”
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| Nemo gets tanked |
Some of the funniest scenes in the film come as Nemo gets to know the other fish in the aquarium he ends up in. Among the familiar voices here are prolific character-actor Brad Garrett as Bloat the Pufferfish, The West Wing’s Allison Janney as Flo the Starfish, and ex-Tempted Christ Willem Dafoe as their leader, Gill (a Moorish Idol Fish.) The collection of cooped-up marine life seem to have developed a case of collective cabin-fever, as each has their own eccentricities; such as a Yellow Tang who’s obsessed with bubbles produced by the tank’s air-generator, or the Damselfish who’s convinced her reflection is actually her sister. The best part of Nemo’s storyline comes near the end, when their captor’s “fish-killer” niece, Darla, enters the office accompanied by the screeching violins from Hitchcock's Psycho. The fishes attempts to escape, resulting in Gill flopping up and down on top of a screaming Darla (while patients waiting in the lobby look on in terror) is worthy of a spit-take or two.
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| Ermahgerd - Ferndig Nermerr!! |
Even the array of eccentric side-characters that Marlin and Dory encounter on their journey are more fleshed-out than the protagonists in many modern movies. There’s the trio of Sharks that have arranged a support-group to help them give up eating fish (and whose voice-actors include Eric Bana and Dame Edna himself, Barry Humphries). Then there’s the thrill-seeking Turtle, Crush, voiced by the film’s director Andrew Stanton - whose laid-back delivery (recorded while laying on a sofa) proves that a good “surfer dude” accent never gets old. And Nigel the Pelican (voiced by Geoffrey Rush,) who delivers Marlin and Dory to the Dentist office near the film’s end, provides a warm and jovial window to the outside world for the residents of the aquarium. At their best, Pixar excels at these kinds of extra characters, so richly drawn that one could easily imagine them leading lives and having adventures of their own.
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| I think you're gonna need a bigger blog... |
I do have one problem with the film - and this is a very small, completely personal issue that actually has nothing to do with the movie at all. The silly Seagulls that show up a couple of times in the movie - with their intentionally irritating cries of “Mine! Mine! Mine!” are amusing enough in their short moments of screen time. However in the years following the film’s release, Disney has chosen to shoehorn Nemo and the other film’s characters into pre-existing attractions at their theme parks, rather than building new ones. At Disneyland, Nemo was added into the long-shuttered Submarine Voyage, which had been sitting unused for nine years - so that the property was used to resurrect an old favorite is actually a plus (that particular ride’s 1959 infrastructure and expensive operating issues notwithstanding).
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| Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's - oh, oh God ... right in my mouth ... |
At Walt Disney World, on the other hand, the film was slapped into EPCOT’s formerly somber Living Seas pavilion, shifting the focus of this large aquarium-centered attraction from actual sea-life to fictional characters. The pavilion still features real fish and ocean-themed “Edutainment” in addition to Nemo and friends; however atop the lovely marquee fronting the building (designed to look like coastal rocks with simulated ocean waves crashing upon them) a trio of these cartoon Seagulls are now perched, screaming out a chorus of “Mine! Mine! Mine!” every few seconds. This shrill kiddie-bait is seriously annoying, and completely shatters the calm and reflective environment crafted by the original Imagineers.
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| We "MINE!" welcome you "MINE!" to "MINE!" Seabase "MINE!" Alpha. "MINE! MINE!!" |
I know it’s stupid, but I can’t help but think about this when I watch the film now, imagining the piercing cries of those fake sea-fowls drowning out Future World’s sedate soundscape. Kind of like how I can’t watch Guardians Of The Galaxy now without thinking about California Adventure … actually, it's best not to get me started on that one.
While Pixar’s animation is predictably excellent (their work on animating realistic water effects were revolutionary at the time,) like most of their films the spectacle takes a backseat to the story and characters. The strong bond between a father and child is a common theme throughout family films (more so than between Mothers and their children, as I discussed in a previous Pixar review,) but few are portrayed more convincingly than in Finding Nemo. That such a feat is achieved in a film about fish is all the more impressive. Perhaps metaphor is best when trying to convey the complex emotional stew that defines such a relationship, which in the end is what the very best animated features are capable of achieving.
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| Have a righteous Father's Day, dudes! |
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