Movie Minx

Starring: It’s animated. Voices are courtesy of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe
Directed by: Andrew Stanton

Plot: Marlon is overly protective of his only son Nemo the clownfish after a shark gobbles up the rest of his family. But Nemo, defiantly venturing out too far one day, lands in a Sydney dentist’s fish tank. Marlin must overcome his own fears to, er, find Nemo.

But is it any good?

This is another oh-my-god-they’re-amazing Pixar effort. But unlike the slightly overhyped Incredibles, Finding Nemo deserves all accolades and then some.

Following on from the monster success of the two Toy Story movies and A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo has a similar plot - cute creature gets lost, must be rescued, all have adventures and grow as… fish.

What makes this film stand out above its predecessors is that the animation involves water - or Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, to be exact. That means very, very challenging animation - how do you get all the colors, reflections, currents and bubbles just right? But Pixar does, and it’s gorgeous - even the fish tank scenes look amazing. I can only imagine what’s it’s like watching it on a mind-altering substance.

As for the story, well, it’s pretty good. Marlin discovers a shark has devoured his spouse and fish eggs one day - all but one, which he names Nemo. Flash forward a few years and Nemo is off to fish school, accompanied by his very nervous father (even their journey to school through the coral looks incredible). On a school trip, Nemo ventures out too far and gets caught in a net, poor little thing. And so it goes.

We can all relate to feeling our parents are cramping our style, taking some risks and getting into trouble (plus there’s that parent/child fear of separation). And the characters are great - the dim-witted Dory, the stoner turtles, the dentist’s horrible niece, the cute little octopus that “inks itself” when it gets excited. It’s all brought to life in a way that makes this aquatic world seem real, and you feel like you’re swimming along with them.

Interestingly, the film cruises along comfortably without resorting to the double-entendres normally wheeled out to keep the grown-ups awake. It doesn’t need them. And for me it scored extra points for not being too cutesy and throwing in a few darker scenes without limiting themselves to an R13 audience. Bravo.

So actually the only negative thought I have doesn’t concern the movie per se. I read at the time that even though the film clearly shows that Nemo wants to jump back in the ocean and get away from the tank, a zillion little tykes all rushed out post-movie to buy themselves a clownfish. That’s just wrong.

My rating: 8.5/10 (better than The Incredibles, but not quite perfect)

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