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Finding Nemo

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Finding Nemo is a computer-animated movie produced by Pixar for The Walt Disney Company and released in 2003.

Finding Nemo DVD
Finding Nemo DVD

Finding Nemo set a record as the highest grossing opening weekend for an animated feature, making $70 million (surpassed in 2004 by Shrek 2). From there, it wound up becoming the highest grossing animated film of all time, eclipsing the record set by The Lion King. By March 2004, it was one of the top ten highest-grossing films ever, having earned over US$ 850,000,000. The film received an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2004. The film also received a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award in 2004 for favorite movie.

The title character's name alludes to Captain Nemo, the submarine captain in two of Jules Verne's novels: 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and The Mysterious Island.

The movie was released on a 2-Disc DVD on November 4, 2003.

Plot

The film tells the story of a widowed fish named Marlin, who one day manages to misplace his only son, Nemo. Nemo is captured by recreational scuba divers. One of them, who's a dentist, leaves Nemo in his clinic aquarium, along with the other exotic fishes he's captured before.

Teaming up with the scatterbrained Dory, Marlin ventures across the ocean to Australia, in the hopes of being able to rescue his son from the dentist's aquarium.

Voices

Other characters (all voices unknown):

  • Jimmy - one of Mr. Ray's students who utters "Oh my gosh! Nemo's swimming out to sea!"
  • Bob - Sheldon's father
  • Ted - Pearl's father
  • Bill - Tad's father
  • Barracuda - the fish that killed Marlin's family, save Nemo
  • Beanie - the timid fish Anchor brings to the meeting
  • Barbara - P. Sherman's secretary
  • Anglerfish - the "monster" of the sea
  • Chuckles - Darla's first fish; killed by Darla
  • Mr. Turtle - Crush's father and Squirt's grandfather
  • Gerald - Nigel's clumsy friend
  • Mine! Seagulls - annoys Nigel by saying "Mine!"
  • Dolphins, lobsters, and swordfish - spread the word about Nemo
  • Davy Reynolds - one of P. Sherman's favorte patients (a take on David Reynolds, one of the writers of the movie)
  • Mike Wazowski (of Monsters Inc.) - makes a cameo

The film's prominent use of clownfish prompted mass purchase of the animals for children's pets in the United States (even though the movie portrayed the use of fish as pets negatively). At the same time, the film had a central theme that "all drains lead back to the ocean." (A main character escapes from imprisonment by going down a sink drain and ending up in the sea.) This caused many children to flush their living fish down toilets in imitation of the picture. Major sewage companies teamed with Disney to release press statements that attempted to address the situation with humor. "Although all drains DO lead to water," they read, "said water always passes through a turbine before leading to the ocean. As such, in real life the film would more accurately be titled 'Grinding Nemo'" [1].

French children's book author Franck Le Calvez sued Disney, claiming that the story and the characters were stolen from his book Pierrot Le Poisson-Clown (Pierrot the Clownfish). The idea of Pierrot (which, in Le Calvez's first plans, ought to become an animation film) was protected in 1995 and the book was released in France in November 2002. Franck Le Calvez and his lawyer, Pascal Kamina, demanded from Disney a share of the profits from merchandising articles sold in France. Le Calvez and Kamina lost the lawsuit on March 12, 2004, but intend to file an appeal on October 5.

The following species feature prominently in the film:

In the tank:

As usual for Pixar movies, it is packed with subtle reference and sight gags:

  • Mr. Ray sings a song "The Zones of the Open Sea" (about the different biological regions of the ocean), which is a parody of Tom Lehrer's periodic table song.
  • Mount Wannahockaloogie ("wanna hawk a loogie") is the "mountain" in the dentist's aquarium. When Nemo jumps through the 'Ring of Fire' at the summit of Mount Wannahockaloogie, he earns himself the new name Sharkbait.
  • The obligatory A113 inside joke: the scuba diver who briefly blinds Marlin uses a camera with model code "A-113"
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