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Finding Nemo

(2003)

101 min. Walt Disney Pictures. Directors: Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich. Cast: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett.

Computer-animation giant Pixar scores again with Finding Nemo, an amusing tale which will no doubt please all ages. Following in the admirable footsteps of Monsters, Inc. and A Bug's Life and the prodigious shadows of Toy Story and Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo proves that, to date, Pixar can do no wrong with its formula of character comedy and spectacle.

Finding Nemo tears through its tear-jerking Bambi-style backstory to arrive at its single-parent family: a clown fish named Marlin (voiced by the ever-neurotic Albert Brooks) and his spunky son Nemo. On Nemo's first day of school, a doozy of a plot-crisis separates Nemo from his father. The story starts slowly with some flat Borscht-Belt-meets-Disney humor but becomes increasing exhilarating as relationships evolve and plot complications compound. Developing twin storylines of Marlin's search-and-rescue and Nemo's attempted Mission: Impossible-style escape from far-flung incarceration, writer-director Andrew Stanton puts the emphasis on adventure.

The silver-tongued voice cast includes Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, Barry Humphries, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney, Austin Pendleton, Eric Bana, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis, Elizabeth Perkins, John Ratzenberger, and Stanton himself as a surfer turtle named Crush. Brooks plays the straight(er) man to Ellen DeGeneres's very funny, guileless but wacked-out Dory. A regal blue tang with short-term memory loss, Dory tags along with Marlin on his hunt for Nemo.

Stanton and the Pixar team picked the most literally and figuratively colorful of marine life to showcase. One might surmise that the computer-animated Pixar style is perhaps better suited to the plastic characters of Toy Story and the unreal world of Monsters, Inc. than the organic environs of A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo, but after a brief period of acclimation, each film insinuates its unique charms. Last year's hand-drawn Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron flaunted some beautiful animation of wild horses, but was as boring as dirt. Finding Nemo capitalizes on the ethereal beauty under the sea, as well as Pixar's talents of design, movement, and action.

Though some scary parts may make the very young fret unduly, the film also puts forward some thoughtful messages for both children and their parents. Nemo resents his father's overprotectiveness at first, just as Marlin quickly chafes at Dory's spacy, puppy-like enthusiasm. But Marlin learns to give Nemo judicious freedom, to recognize Dory's love and talents, and to live a little himself, despite his neuroses. Fear not, parents: kids will also intuit (without an "I told you so" rebuke) that Marlin was right to warn Nemo of the life-threatening dangers of the deep blue sea.

BONUS ALERT: Don't show up late, or you'll miss the short film "Knick-Knack," a cute trifle about an enterprising snow globe with original music by Bobby McFerrin.