Ok, let's get this over with and rate this against the current pantheon of CGI animated films. It's certainly no Toy Story, but it's about on par with Shrek, Monster's Inc., and a little better than Ice Age. In case you're wondering, that puts it ahead of Toy Story 2. I just don't like sequels.
This was a really cute movie, but you could just see that the animators wanted to do a tropical fish movie because it provided a good excuse for lots of colors and water effects. Plus, it put human characters truly in the background (on a related note, I think they may have finally gotten people right over at Pixar, at least judging by the super-cool preview for The Incredibles. But, hold the presses, it doesn't come out until November of next year?). But, like toys or monsters in closets, the undersea setting provided plenty of plot and characters as well as show-off computer drawings.
In the grand tradition of animated films, Nemo's mom has to die early. Before he's even born, in fact. But unlike most cartoon plots, it doesn't center on the child finding his father, but on the father's adventure in search of his son. And that's great, because I'm a big Albert Brooks fan, and he has lots of time to display and get over his neuroses in this movie. His sidekick is (surprisingly) amusingly played by Ellen DeGeneres, a blue tang with a faulty memory.
My friends Ryan and Brandy told me this was a bad movie. Something being all fart jokes or something. Well, I spotted only one fart joke, and it was done well enough. I'm starting to distrust their taste in everything pop culture. Sample conversations with Brandy:
Me: One of the great things about being unemployed is I can see two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer a day!Her: Well, you couldn't pick a worse show.
Her: (Pointing to the radio) This is terrible! What is it?
Me: Only my favorite band ever, Sleater-Kinney! Don't ever ask me for a ride again.
Ryan has some terrible taste himself. Loves Gladiator and anything else that will tax his home theater. Won't watch Amelie because he might have to read during it.
I digress. Good movie, maybe not good enough for the theater (unless you have kids). But definitely worth a rental.
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Article comments
1 - visualsimplicity
I think Shrek should be considered higher than the rest except Toy Story (since this was the first and thus the innovative movie) because it's probably the first CG movie that wasn't targetted specifically for an audience of children. Intelligent comedy, come on, "Do you know the Muffin Man? / The Muffin Man? / The Muffin Man." How can you beat that?
2 - Matt Moore
Yea, Shrek was really good, but I don't give movies points for being first.
3 - Kevin Kohout
I think this is an excellent Disney film and have seen it many times. Ellen does an excellent job and so do the animators picking Ellen's facial expressions. Wonderful. And besides, what's more important, is that it's one of my son's favorite movies!