Pixar rebounds and scores.

Rating: 9/10 (3 June 2003)

As a movie studio, Pixar has a nearly perfect track record. In my opinion, they slipped a little with Monsters Inc. While the movie was certainly fun and technically the graphics were brilliant, the story was weakly assembled and felt rushed. It almost felt like a movie put together by a studio that took its excellent reputation for granted. I was nervous about seeing Finding Nemo, only because I feared that this studio had run out of real magic, and would continue to coast along on brilliant graphics alone.
I have to believe that Dreamworks' recent success with Shrek was a wake-up call to Pixar. Shrek widened the market of animated films, proving that a well-mixed dose of tongue-in-cheek adult humor was long overdue. Pixar's routine was getting stale, and Monsters Inc. was the result.

Finding Nemo brings back the magic. It succeeds in every way that Monsters Inc. failed, and surpasses all their previous efforts in technical brilliance. Taken as a whole, it surpasses every Pixar movie except for Toy Story 2, which remains the most emotionally charged of all their movies.

True to form, Pixar gives us a simple story with complex emotions running throughout. No time is wasted on the setup here - we have a father (Marlin) who loses everything but one son (Nemo). Marlin becomes understandably overprotective, but the excesses of this lead to frustration in Nemo. Nemo rebels in a scene that plays out so well that you completely forget you are watching fish. The tension is unbelievably real.
From there we are taken on a journey that introduces us to a wide variety of characters and fantastic adventures. To go into detail would spoil the wonder of it all.
Possibly the most amazing feat of this movie is that I actually enjoyed Ellen DeGeneres in a major role. I didn't think that was possible, as I normally find her brand of humor annoying. Perhaps this comedian has finally found her niche in voice acting, or just her perfect role. Either way, her part demanded a surprising amount of range for a comic relief sidekick, and she delivers.
Congratulations Pixar, you've still got it.
9 out of 10.