Saturday, 30 March 2013

Finding Nemo (3D) (2003/2012, Dirs. Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Australia/USA) (Cert: U) ****

 
 Starring: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould

After his wife (Elizabeth Perkins) and virtually all of his spawn are killed, Marlin (Brooks) raises the lone surviving spawn, Nemo (Gould) by himself, teaching Nemo to be afraid of the dangers of the outside world. When he rebels against his father, Nemo ends up being captured and abducted by divers and now Marlin, with the help of an extremely forgetful fish named Dory (DeGeneres), must travel the ocean to find Nemo.

Pixar’s tale of fear and parenting set below the waves is one of their best films, which is quite an accomplishment given their reputation. Although Nemo is the titular character and does have a significant amount of screen time, the crux of the plot lies with Marlin, in an expectantly strong turn from Albert Brooks and Dory, played by Ellen DeGeneres in the film’s strongest performance. The film boasts some extremely impressive scenery and probably the best music score in a Pixar film as well. The film however does have a tendency to feel rather episodic and there are a few too many twists leading up to a conclusion. The 3D retro-fit also adds very little, even given the inevitable depth of field that comes with making a film mostly set in the ocean. Still, it doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s a very strong film.


Bonus mini-review: Party-Saurus Rex: In a Toy Story-related short, Rex decides to do something out of character and party with the bath toys only for things to get out of hand. Fun and with some interesting ideas, but could've used the other familiar characters more.

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