Is Dad a Hero or a Clown?

Rating: 8/10 (2 June 2003)

As usual, the animation was leading-edge. I loved the colors and perfect blend of underwater softness with up-close crispness. Sadly, the people are always the hardest to make CG realistic and again the humans in FN are rather unconvincing.
What troubled me the most was Marlin. This dad was protective of his only remaining son... but was he over-protective? I'm a dad and trust me, fun becomes danger in the blink of an eye. I found that most of Marlin's perceived fears were completely justified! Marlin was not imagining monsters around every corner but only in places where there was a legitimate possibility. The fact that Marlin had experienced a horrifying tragedy and that perhaps this memory and painful loss was the cause of his protectiveness was never put on the witness stand. No supporting character ever pitied him and used this as a starting place for their advice- they all started in on him like he was the big bad guy, treating him like he needed therapy. The school teacher promised that little Nemo would be carefully supervised, but it took only 2 seconds and that kid was gone and in another 10 seconds and he was "shark-bait".
Likewise, Nemo was always portrayed as a normal kid with normal interests and curiosity. This kid was normal all right- normally undiscerning, normally foolish, normally empty-headed and normally disrespectful. Sure, all kids have feelings and are sensitive and need understanding, but the story never developed this line realistically.
It was so unfortunate that Nemo was continually being taught the street-wisdom he desperately lacked by someone other than his Dad-- a theme that made Dad even look worse than over-protective, perhaps even abusive in a passive sense for his negligence in properly educating Nemo.
The "gang" style initiation and misfit/outcast bonding that takes place among the tank prisoners almost seems to favor psudo-family relationships above true-blood family ties.
I loved the heroic adventure and human, male/female foibles and weaknesses highlighted in each danger situation.
Dory's need/love/longings explosion against Marlin in the final give-up scene didn't play well since her dependence on Marlin wasn't even a sub-plot at any earlier point in the movie. This outburst didn't even get another frame later to help tie it up better.
I liked Dory's character and the way here marble-challenged personality was used in the humor, but the "life is smoother for the low of IQ" theme was stretched too thin. Brains are standard equipment on all models.
Don't get me wrong, tho... I didn't miss the point. I just wanted to weigh-in on the Dad side. The final family resolution does finally paint the family as it should have been all along without the crisis. My only beef is that Dad was more justified for his paranoia than he was ever given credit for and the child had more attitude, ignorance and disobedience than was portrayed.