"Climb aboard, explorers!"

Rating: Null/10 (9 March 2006)

"Finding Nemo" is a superb motion picture created at Pixar Animation Studios. Make no mistake about it; this movie boasts quite an exciting adventure story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. That's how wonderful it is! (If you have not yet seen this movie, please do not read the next few paragraphs.)
The story is about a clown fish named Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks), whose son Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould) is snatched away by scuba divers. Marlin meets a friendly, energetic, completely absent-minded blue tang fish named Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres), and together they go on a frantic yet thrilling search for Nemo, all the while meeting a host of friendly & unfriendly characters and risking their lives time and again. Over the course of the movie, Nemo learns to believe in himself and his own strength, and Marlin learns, after going on such a long journey all across the vast ocean, to not be so overprotective of his son. In the end, Marlin tells Nemo to "go have an adventure."
The following are my favorite highlights from "Finding Nemo." Marlin and Dory create a game out of dodging an overwhelming crowd of jellyfish. When the French cleaner shrimp Jacques (voiced by Joe Ranft) spins Nemo around in the fish tank, the accompanying accordion music, typifying the Parisian atmospheres, makes this scene that much funnier. There is much commotion in the dentist's office when the helpful pelican Nigel (voiced by Geoffrey Rush) bursts in and distracts both the dentist (voiced by Bill Hunter) and his freakish niece Darla (voiced by LuLu Ebeling) in order to save Nemo from an early demise. The end credits involve practically all of the main marine characters engaging in some funny antics, and the catchy tune "Beyond the Sea" was an excellent choice of musical accompaniment. No sooner do Marlin and Nemo reunite at the end when a huge net swoops onto a massive school of fish, including Dory, and father & son take on a suspenseful moment by coaxing all the fish to swim downward together. There is a wonderful chase sequence, which is actually more hilarious than dangerous, involving Marlin and Dory against a gigantic Austrailian shark named Bruce (voiced by Barry Humphries), who is initially tame until his uproariously funny moment of smelling blood oozing from Dory's snout; equally hilarious are Bruce's two cronies' attempts to console Marlin and Dory through the torpedo chamber. Nemo almost gets himself killed in the tank when he tries to prove his courage, thanks to Gill (voiced by Willem Dafoe), by stopping the motor in the tank filter. And finally, Mr. Ray (voiced by co-writer Bob Peterson), who is one of my favorite characters in the movie, is quite amusing as a schoolteacher who is overly enthusiastic about his subject matter, especially when he's singing while taking his students on a field trip.
"Finding Nemo" is a surefire winner that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It's quite obvious that the entire team at Pixar put a tremendous amount of effort into making this picture. Executive producer John Lasseter admitted that he knew "Finding Nemo" was going to be a smash hit even during its darkest days of production, and he was absolutely right!