A vibrant underwater adventure with a simple yet engaging story

Rating: 9/10 (2 October 2013)

As a fan of films and TV shows set underwater, this one appealed to me without doubt. I saw this film at the cinema 10 years ago while I was going through a difficult stage and I enjoyed it then but initially found the jellyfish scene frightening (even though I was 16 at the time). Nowadays I find the film more enjoyable than I did on my first viewing.
The underwater scenery is vibrantly coloured as are the majority of sea creature characters that are also realistically designed. A lot of the dialogue is memorable and it has parts that cleverly link to other scenes, have hints of wit and an element of Chinese whispers when the message of Marlin looking for Nemo is passed through several sea creatures and reaches Nigel. I also liked how the story alternated between Marlin's search and Nemo's antics in the fish tank in the dentist. One thing I noticed for the first time today is that Bruce and his shark friends are in a group that is almost like Alcoholics Anonymous and similar groups. The story is straightforward yet captivating with some funny moments such as bubbles rising to the surface upon the explosion of the underwater mines, thus making a pelican thinking another had farted, Dory speaking whale, the seagulls' constant cries of "Mine! Mine! Mine!" and Marlin's interrupted attempts at telling others the mollusc and sea cucumber joke until he finally succeeds towards the end. I also spotted a couple of pop culture references such as the scene where Bruce chases Marlin and Dory and says, "Here's Brucie!" that pays homage to 'The Little Mermaid' and 'The Shining' while one fish shown during the message about Nemo being passed on looked like Flounder. The background music was better in the first half than the second half but I liked the use of the screeching violin music from 'Psycho' when Darla enters the dentist and the end- credits song 'Beyond the Sea' by Robbie Williams. As for the voice acting, Albert Brooks played a typical father figure as Marlin, Ellen DeGeneres was comical as Dory while Alexander Gould was cute as Nemo, I liked the late Joe Ranft's French accent for Jacques and John Ratzenberger was recognisable as the School of Fish that direct Marlin and Dory to Sydney (I also liked the shapes they made to form fish, an arrow, the EAC and the Sydney Opera House).
Out of all the CGI underwater films I've seen ('Shark Tale,' 'The Reef,' 'A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventure' and this one), 'Finding Nemo' is my favourite and a sheer delight to watch. 9/10.