'Sea' It to Believe It.

Rating: Null/10 (7 October 2013)

Marking the biggest leap for Pixar Animation Studios since their groundbreaking debut with Toy Story in 1995, Finding Nemo brings a whole new level of maturity in Pixar's method of storytelling, a new surge in its humour, creativity & imagination, and another elevation in its already unparalleled animation to succeed not only as one of the best films of its genre but is also exceptional enough to be regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.
Finding Nemo tells the story of Marlin; a clownfish residing in the Great Barrier Reef who's very overprotective of his son, Nemo. When Nemo is captured by scuba divers & taken to Sydney, Marlin sets out on a journey throughout the ocean to find his son, is joined by Dory; an optimistic blue tang suffering from short-term memory loss, encounters many more dangers & adventures and in the process, learns to appreciate life a lot more than ever before.
Directed by Andrew Stanton, Finding Nemo is drop-dead gorgeous from the first frame to the last, is crafted with immense care, passion & love, has a surprising level of depth in its story, is filled with characters that are rich, charismatic & colourful, captures ocean life unlike ever before in cinema history, brims with clever use of humour, expertly balances its storytelling aspects with jaw-dropping animation and has something in store for viewers of all ages.
It's pretty evident from its presentation that Pixar's production design team did a massive amount of research before animating it on the film canvas, the camera-work is jubilantly carried out & fills the screen with vivid colours. Editing makes sure every single scene plays a relevant role in pushing its story forward & steadily paces its 100 minutes of runtime while Thomas Newman's score makes the whole experience all the more touching, mesmerising & emotionally resonant.
The level of precision, sharpness & detailing in its animation is no short of an achievement, every single character is skilfully drawn & rendered whether it's the shark, whale, turtles or jellyfish, and is perfectly voiced by its terrific voice cast. And while everyone shines in their given roles, it's Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) who turns out to be the show-stealer for she is without a doubt one of the most optimistic characters to surface on the silver screen.
On an overall scale, Finding Nemo is love at first sight. It's a stunning, bewitching, magical, emotionally rich & truly unforgettable cinema that has a lot to say about parenting, friendship, trust & determination and sets a higher benchmark for its genre. One of Pixar's biggest home-runs on critical, commercial & emotional scale, Finding Nemo is a spellbinding underwater adventure that you'll want to experience again n again. 'Sea' it to believe it.