Losing Pixar?

Rating: Null/10 (1 June 2003)

Yes, perhaps you read into the one line summary a little too much, but...Pixar really need to pick it up a little. It's not that 'Finding Nemo' is a BAD movie. Not by any means... - it's just that story-wise it's not as good as 'Monster's Inc' which in turn, wasn't as good as 'A Bug's Life'...

Visually, 'Finding Nemo' is a masterpiece of graphic design. The water looks fabulously real, and when you see the above-water scenes, you have to gape at how lush it all looks.
Ellen DeGeneres gives the best performance as the enigmatic fish suffering from short term memory loss. This gives way to some rather amusing quips and dialoguing between her and Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks, who's trying to find his son Nemo).
Other than DeGeneres, there's absolutely no memorable voices in the movie. Albert Brooks actually grated on my nerves considerably, and at times I wished he's get eaten by a shark or stung to death by jelly-fish. Sure, that wouldn't be typical cutesy Pixar, but heck...there was a small (but unnecessary) 'bloody' scene in this film that wasn't typical Pixar.

Another issue with this latest Pixar blockbuster is the lack of flow in the storyline. It kept cutting from Marlin's part of the movie to Nemo's part of the movie. Yes, the storyline makes that necessary, but it just didn't flow as well, which is a shame. The storyline itself is also incredibly basic. 'A Bug's Life,' for instance, was FAR more interesting, and at times during 'Nemo' I found myself a little bored.
Overall, I'd give this movie a 7/10. It certainly wasn't bad, but Pixar really need to up the ante to keep this up. The box-office takings might disagree with me, but there needs to be a little more substance in future Pixar offerings.