Finding Nemo

Name: Finding Nemo
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Animation, Family
Released: May 30, 2003
Duration: 100 min
Rating: 90
Cast: Albert Brooks, Alexander Gould, Ellen DeGeneres

2003

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 38 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 1074 Ratings

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8.7

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Finding Nemo

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Movie Details & Credits

Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: May 30, 2003 | G

Starring: Albert Brooks, Alexander Gould, Ellen DeGeneres

Summary: This visually stunning underwater adventure follows the comedic and eventful journeys of two fish - a father and his son Nemo - who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef. [Disney/Pixar]

Director: Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

Genre(s): Adventure, Comedy, Animation, Family

Rating: G

Runtime: 100 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Michael Sragow

The movie's generosity of spirit and artistry swamps its flaws. Read full review

100

Lou Lumenick

Summer hasn't even started, but you won't likely find a better catch this season than Finding Nemo, a dazzling, computer-animated fish tale with a funny, touching script and wonderful voice performances that make it an unqualified treat for all ages. Read full review

100

Neil Smith

The H2O theme fits in with the main feature, its tale of a clownfish searching for his son constituting Pixar’s most effective amalgam of comedy, artistry and emotional pull. Read full review

David Edelstein

Of all the great vocal characterizations...the showstopper is Brooks, who hasn't had a part this good since "Lost in America" (1985). His Marlin is tender, cranky, hysterical, yet somehow lucid. Read full review

James Berardinelli

As always, the voice casting is perfect. Throw in a moral, and some nice touches of technical accuracy (that fish keepers will appreciate), and the movie represents the best family film to-date of 2003. Read full review

William Arnold

Dazzles us with computer-generated animation that has never looked quite so boldly exotic or shimmeringly beautiful. Read full review

Kevin Carr

After four Pixar features under their belts, it is painfully easy to see the clichés emerging. Read full review

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User Reviews

heyitsmegrif4

Jan 8, 2012

Finding Nemo is definitely one of Pixar's greatest creations because it is charming, beautifully animated and hilarious mostly because of Ellen Degeneres's hilarious and unforgettable performance. To help this movie succeed even more it is emotional and heartwarming. I give this film 99%.

25 of 26 users found this helpful251

moviemaniacs

Mar 6, 2016

The Pixar supporting team steps up in snappy fashion in “Finding Nemo,” a buoyant adventure that entertainingly continues the Disney/Pixar winning streak. Notable first and foremost for its spectacularly colorful underwater setting, which gives the picture one of the most striking visualThe Pixar supporting team steps up in snappy fashion in “Finding Nemo,” a buoyant adventure that entertainingly continues the Disney/Pixar winning streak. Notable first and foremost for its spectacularly colorful underwater setting, which gives the picture one of the most striking visual backdrops ever seen in an animated film, this adventure tale of a neurotic clown fish’s search for his errant son zips along swimmingly with cheeky comic flair.

With John Lasseter overseeing the production as exec producer, “Nemo” marks the full directorial debut of Andrew Stanton, co-director of Lasseter’s “A Bug’s Life” and a writer on all four previous Pixar features. Lee Unkrich is on board as a co-director for the third time, after “Toy Story 2” and “Monsters,” while “Toy 2” production manager Graham Walters makes his producing debut. All this promotion through the ranks provides a reassuring sense of continuity with previous Pixar outings, with the greatest difference in feel this time stemming from the invigorating combination of Yank and Aussie vocal talents in roughly equal numbers.

With his 400-odd brothers and sisters gobbled up along with his mother, Nemo (cheerfully voiced by Alexander Gould) is the only son of Marlin (Albert Brooks), an overprotective dad who would keep his boy on leash if he could. All a-tremble taking Nemo to his first day of school, Marlin goes into full panic when Nemo, accused of being a bad swimmer by his dad, leaves the neighborhood reef to check out a boat floating on the far-off surface. For once, Marlin’s anxiety is justified, as a diver (seen scarily from a tiny fish’s p.o.v.) nets Nemo and takes him aboard.

In frantic pursuit, Marlin is joined by Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), an absentminded but relentlessly upbeat blue tang who provides the swimming bundle of nerves with a much-needed one-fish support system. Early in their journey, they meet a toothsome Great White named Bruce (a most amusing Barry Humphries), a self-professed “good shark” who’s desperately trying to reform himself. “It’s been three weeks since my last fish,” he announces, as pals Anchor (Eric Bana), a hammerhead, and Chum (Bruce Spence), a mako, rather reluctantly try to follow suit. Their basic instincts get the better of them at the first whiff of blood, however, setting in motion a spectacular chase around a sunken submarine and an old minefield.

Film’s early stages are exceptional for their beauty. Computer animators have long discussed the knotty challenge posed by representing water in their medium, and the Pixar team spent years researching and developing solutions to the problems. The work has paid off in glorious images that represent the ocean in varying degrees of darkness and light, stillness and turbulence, clarity and obscurity, and in ways that highlight the myriad colors possessed by underwater life.

Up top, Nemo has found a new home in a Sydney dentist’s office aquarium. His fellow “outies” from the sea are a welcoming bunch dominated by moorish idol Gill (Willem Dafoe), whose heavy scars testify to numerous run-ins with humankind. As affable as all these captives may be, escape is a constant preoccupation, especially since the dentist’s frightful niece is due to collect Nemo within a few days. A known fish-killer, little Darla is evil enough to be introduced by the “Psycho” shriek of strings.

So it becomes a race against time, as Marlin and Dory make their way toward Sydney Harbor in the desperate hope of finding a way to rescue the errant clown fish, and Nemo’s new friends try to arrange for his escape before he gets taken away in a clear plastic sack.

Aiding the cause underwater is sea turtle, Crush (helmer Stanton), a 150-year-old surfer dude with the spirit of a teenager who cruises the East Australian Current for a thrill ride. A particularly striking sequence has Marlin and Dory swept into the mouth of a blue whale (pointedly not anthropomorphized) and stranded for a perilous period of time on its tongue. Animators have invested this episode with a welcome realism — such a predicament is unlikely to ever be captured on live-action film.

Lending a hand, or at least a large mouth, up top is an accident-prone pelican, Nigel (Geoffrey Rush), who schemes with the aquarium dwellers and is no friend to the harbor seagulls, which are portrayed in a very bad light indeed. Perhaps the film’s best sight gag has a bunch of airborne gulls chase Nigel, who, in approaching the mast of a sailboat, suddenly tilts at an angle to squeeze through a narrow opening, stranding the hapless gulls right behind him with their beaks poking through the large sail.

Breathless climax involves a detailed knowledge of the Sydney sewage system, as well as a nifty and visually imposing suspense sequence in which the protag becomes tangled up with hundreds of doomed fish in a huge trawling net.

Plus Thomas Newman’s large score is perked up by some unusual orchestration ideas.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SabrinaG.

Jan 28, 2005

The best movie ever.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

Crystalman2018

Dec 1, 2021

Just a excellent movie! The story is great, the soundtrack is fantastic and so on...

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Jems

Sep 13, 2010

A must see film for everyone especially families with young children. I enjoyed this movie and I expect that it will be a classic forever more. It's one of these films that no matter how good technology is people will still dig it up and watch it. That's why I think it will just keepA must see film for everyone especially families with young children. I enjoyed this movie and I expect that it will be a classic forever more. It's one of these films that no matter how good technology is people will still dig it up and watch it. That's why I think it will just keep swimming, swimming to the top of the classic film charts.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ErikTheCritic

Oct 11, 2018

Another one of Pixar's masterpieces. It's touching, sweet and has excellent voice performances. The script is emotionally resonant and the animation is absolutely beautiful and dazzling.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

KeanesL.

Apr 27, 2004

This is just another poor attempt by Disney to make another film that is over credited. Worst of all, they dragged Pixar with them. This is suppose to be a children's movie but includes topics and situtaions that are too serious and almost to a point too scary for most children 8 and This is just another poor attempt by Disney to make another film that is over credited. Worst of all, they dragged Pixar with them. This is suppose to be a children's movie but includes topics and situtaions that are too serious and almost to a point too scary for most children 8 and under. Besides the entire movie is so repetitive that I fell asleep the first time I went to see it. I watched the movie four different times in the theaters with friends and my boyfriend and all together I only laughed 6 times. … Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful

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3	#3 Best Movie of 2003
4	#4 Most Discussed Movie of 2003
4	#4 Most Shared Movie of 2003