Finding Nemo

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Finding Nemo is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures.

## Cast

* Albert Brooks as Marlin, a grumpy clownfish and Nemo's overprotective father.
* Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a regal blue tang with short-term memory loss.
* Alexander Gould as Nemo, Marlin's only surviving son, who is excited about life and exploring the ocean, but gets captured and domesticated as a pet.
* Willem Dafoe as Gill, a scarred moorish idol fish living in an aquarium in Philip Sherman's dentistry clinic, and the leader of the Tank Gang.
* Brad Garrett as Bloat, the aquarium's porcupinefish.
* Allison Janney as Peach, the aquarium's sea star.
* Stephen Root as Bubbles, the aquarium's yellow tang fish.
* Austin Pendleton as Gurgle, the aquarium's obsessive-compulsive royal gramma fish.
* Vicki Lewis as Deb and Flo, the aquarium's striped damselfish.
* Joe Ranft as Jacques, the aquarium's cleaner shrimp.
* Geoffrey Rush as Nigel, an Australian pelican, who often visits the dentist clinic and is friends with the aquarium fish.
* Andrew Stanton as Crush, a green sea turtle.
* Elizabeth Perkins as Coral, Marlin's wife and Nemo's mother.
* Nicholas Bird as Squirt, Crush's son.
* Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, a spotted eagle ray and Nemo's schoolteacher.
* Barry Humphries as Bruce, a vegetarian great white shark, who fights his instinctive will to eat innocent fish and is friends with Anchor and Chum.
* Eric Bana as Anchor, a hammerhead shark who is friends with Bruce and Chum.
* Bruce Spence as Chum, a mako shark who is friends with Bruce and Anchor.
* Bill Hunter as Philip Sherman, a dentist who keeps Nemo and the Tank Gang in an aquarium.
* LuLu Ebeling as Darla, Sherman's rambunctious young niece.

Additionally, Erica Beck as Pearl, a young flapjack octopus and Nemo's school friend; Jordy Ranft voices Tad, a butterfly fish fingerling and Nemo's school friend; John Ratzenberger voices the school of moonfish; and Erik Per Sullivan as Sheldon, a young seahorse, and Nemo's school friend.

## Plot

Clownfish Marlin lives in an anemone in the Great Barrier Reef with his mate, Coral, and their eggs. After Coral and nearly all the eggs are "eaten" by a barracuda, Marlin becomes overprotective of his son Nemo, born of one remaining egg. While Marlin talks to Nemo's teacher on the latter's first day of school, Nemo approaches a speedboat, where a pair of scuba divers capture him. Marlin pursues the boat in vain and meets Dory, a blue tang with acute short-term memory loss, who offers her help. The two encounter Bruce, Anchor, and Chum, three sharks who have sworn to abstain from eating fish. Marlin finds a diver's mask that fell from the boat, accidentally hitting Dory and giving her a nosebleed. The scent of her blood sends Bruce into a feeding frenzy, but the sharks flee after accidentally setting off old naval mines, which knock Marlin and Dory unconscious.

Nemo is placed in an aquarium in the office of dentist Philip Sherman in Sydney. He meets the "Tank Gang" led by Gill, a Moorish idol. The Tank Gang tell Nemo that he is to be given to Sherman's niece Darla, who killed her previous fish. Gill decides to help Nemo and devises an escape plan: Nemo can fit inside the aquarium's filter tube and must block it with a pebble, obliging Sherman to put the fish into plastic bags while he cleans the tank, and allow them to roll out the window and into the harbor. Nemo attempts to place the pebble, but fails and is almost killed.

Marlin and Dory awaken, but the mask falls into a deep trench. Descending after mask, they are soon pursued by an anglerfish. Dory memorizes the address on the goggles and they escape. The two disregard directions from a school of moonfish, taking what Marlin believes is a safer route. After being stung by a forest of jellyfish, they are knocked unconscious and awaken in the East Australian Current with a group of sea turtles, including Crush and his son, Squirt. The story of Marlin's quest is relayed across the ocean to Sydney, where a pelican named Nigel tells the Tank Gang. Nemo then succeeds in blocking the filter and soon the aquarium is covered in green algae.

Marlin and Dory exit the East Australian Current and are consumed by a blue whale which expels them through its blowhole in Sydney Harbour. Nigel helps them escape a flock of seagulls and takes them to the dentist's office. Sherman has foiled the Tank Gang with a new high-tech filter. When Darla arrives, Nemo plays dead and Nigel terrifies Darla, throwing the office into chaos. Sherman throws out Nigel along with Marlin and Dory, with the former believing that Nemo is dead. Gill helps Nemo escape through a drain leading to the ocean.

Marlin bids farewell to Nigel and Dory and begins his journey home. Nemo meets Dory but she does not remember him until her memory returns when she reads the word "Sydney" on a drainpipe. Dory reunites Nemo with Marlin, but a fishing trawler captures her in a net along with a school of groupers. With his father's blessing, Nemo enters the net, and he and Marlin instruct all of the fish to swim down. Their combined force breaks the net. Returning home to the reef, Marlin is more confident, while Dory has remained friends with Bruce, Anchor, and Chum. Marlin and Dory watch Nemo off as he goes to school.

## Reception

Finding Nemo received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised the visual elements, screenplay and characters that has been cited as funny to both young moviegoers and their parents. It also became the highest-grossing animated film at the time of its release, and was the second-highest-grossing film of 2003, earning a total of $871 million worldwide by the end of its initial theatrical run. The film was also nominated for three Academy Awards, winning one for Best Animated Feature, becoming the first Pixar film to do so.

## Legacy

Finding Nemo is the best-selling DVD title of all time, with over 40 million copies sold as of 2006, and was the highest-grossing G-rated film of all time before Pixar's own Toy Story 3 overtook it. The film was re-released in 3D in 2012. In 2008, the American Film Institute named it as the 10th greatest American animated film as part of their 10 Top 10 lists.

### Sequels

Two sequels, Finding Dory and Finding Marlin, was released in June 2016 and July 2026 respectively.

### Lawsuit

Pixar was sued by French author Franck Le Calvez for supposed stealing the story of Finding Nemo from his book Pierrot Le Poisson Clown. The case was dismissed as Franck lacked the evidence.