The Age Of Animation Continues

Rating: 8/10 (14 May 2005)

The Age of Animation continues into the 21st century with such film favorites of Shrek (2001), Ice Age (2002), and Monsters Inc. (2001). In each film we find interesting characters, a funny and colorful setting, and creative ideas. But in all of them, the story is set in a different world or different world with little emphasis on how they would react to our world.
In Finding Nemo we get that sense. Marlin (voice of Albert Brooks) is the clown fish father of young Nemo (voice of Alexander Gould) and it is Nemo's first day of school. Marlin is a very over protective father of his son who has a shrunken fin. They are living in the Great Barrier Reef and the coral reefs are safe but beyond is unknown and dangerous.
After being embarrassed in front of his friends, Nemo decides to swim out and touch a boat to challenge his father. Before Marlin can get to him, Nemo is scooped up by a diver and taken off. Marlin is desperate to find his son and sets of on a long journey to find him and rescue him. Along the way Marlin is helped by Dory (voice of Ellen DeGeneres) A blue tang who suffers short-term memory loss.
Ellen DeGeneres keeps the story of Marlin going with her accidental comedy and their constant confrontations of various sea-dwellers. Albert Brooks does an average job as Marlin - he had the hardest part bearing the full wait of emotion in the film. The animation is top quality and the design of the coral reef, coral reef, and marine fish are excellent.
Some of the funniest scenes I've seen are in this film especially the vegetarian sharks and the surf dude tortoises. Each fish and animal is unique in their own way and are design ed exactly like the actual thing they're based off of. The story is funny, especially Marlin dealing with Dory and her short-term memory loss and Nemo living in a fish tank with Gill (stunning voice of Willem Dafoe) and other exotic fish.
The humor is top quality and the story is truly a fish out of water story!
Finding Nemo. Starring the voices of: Albert Brooks, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Ellen DeGeneres, and Brad Garrett.
4 out of 5 Stars.