A "special ed" story

Rating: 9/10 (23 September 2007)

This is a great movie filled with beautiful visuals, wonderful voices, and a story that mimics life so heavily that I don't even think people can grasp it. Here you have Nemo, a fish who has a visible handicap (but not handicapping condition). His father, who lost his mate and whole brood (minus Nemo) wants to protect him with everything he has in him, yet Nemo just wants to be like everyone else and do what the other kids are doing. In the process of showing everyone what he can do by swimming further out over the drop than the other fish, he gets scooped up by a scuba diver and all of his father's nightmares come true: he's lost his only son.
The story goes on to show what a parent will do for their child. In his quest to find his child, he runs into other sea life who all have their own disabilities, not all visual, but are able to help him in their own way. Each one of these characters have something very special about them, be it something that helps or hinders their life. They are all living "normal" lives in the big blue world of the ocean. From one character with short term memory loss, others with obsessive-compulsive disorders, they all have a limitation but don't let it limit their life.
This movie punctuates how we think about physical differences and want to protect the people who have them yet everyone has some sort of difference, most of us who don't have it visible on our person. Each of us are able to accomplish great things, each of us have to overcome shortcomings in our lives and we all have some specialness, visible or not.