Brilliant Film

Rating: 10/10 (27 June 2006)

What can I say about this movie? One word - Brilliant. Pixar have had a long track record of having yet to make anything less than a very good film but even though its almost unanimously agreed that all of them have been great, it seems everyone still has their preferences. To give you an idea of my taste I just adore "A Bug's Life" which I think is pretty much a pitch perfect movie with great characters and story. I enjoyed "Toy Story" but wasn't a huge fan of it, the sequel however is an absolute classic hands down. After 'Bugs' and 'TS2' though came "Monsters Inc" which again was a really good movie but I wasn't a huge fan of as the "Where the Wild Things Are"-cloned concept was fine but like TS1 the film got too juvenile and sentimentally sweet for me with the humor just worth the odd giggle more than anything else and only the awesome 'doors' sequence standing out in my mind.
'Nemo' however has now taken the crown - its at least equal best with TS2 and the more I think about it the more its rising to be stand out Number One. EVERYTHING about this movie is practically flawless - the animation, the characters, the story, the emotional resonance, the humor, etc. is incredible. Its a film you can't help but get swept up in right from the get-go, in fact I can't remember a film where I really ran the gamut of emotions from happy and awed to despair and terror - and this film manages to do all that in just the opening five-minute sequence. Its a 100 minute underwater road movie but never ever gets slow or tired and even some Disney-style father-son sentimentality bits oddly enough generate genuine heart and warmth.
*Ellen DeGeneres deserved an Osar nomination for her flawless performance as Dory.