Finding Nemo is a difficult film for me to review because despite it having once been a mega hit and that I genuinely do enjoy it, when I reflect back on it and try to think of things to say about it I actually find it quite middle of the road as films go. If Cars 2 stands as the nadir of Pixar compared to Toy Story 2’s dizzying peak then Finding Nemo for me sits basically at the exact middle point between the two. Not to be described in any way as bad but lacking anything in particular I can put my finger on to recommend it or praise it for.
A basic breakdown is probably the only way I’m going to be able to find anything to say about this movie so lets hit my usual favourite point of plot, character and delivering on the central idea.
The plot is entirely simple and almost entirely summed up in the movie’s title. Nemo goes missing, his dad has to go and find him. Thus the central thrust of the movie’s plot is finding Nemo, funny how that works. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with a simple plot. It keeps the narrative driving towards a defined end goal that doesn’t need to waver and provides plenty of scope for expanding the world around the characters. And as far as character driven motivations go Finding Nemo delivers. Marlin is an overprotective father. We know why he’s overprotective of his only surviving sympathise and agree with his reasons for being overprotective, even if we can see how he has gone too far. It makes sense for this character to do what he does, and to go to such extremes to do it. The movie doesn’t outstay its welcome by dragging out the actual finding too much (although there is a little padding here and there) and the bulk of the action is then made up by the misadventures Marlin and Dory get into during the finding. So far so standard.
I already mentioned Marlin’s motivations but the rest of his character is also quite endearing. He has a twitchy jumpiness to him that works very well as a natural result of his paranoid nature and his utter determination makes him very endearing. All in all a very good straight man to hang the movie’s wackiness around. His utter single-mindedness in pursuing his son gives us that sense of clarity when the cast of weirdos around him is in danger of pulling us off message. And speaking of weirdos, his partner in crime Dory! Who is obviously now somewhat of a cultural phenomenon all by her lonesome. And she is well portrayed in this movie, not so overdone as to become grating, she provides humour in key moments, surprising gravitas when discussing her mental condition more seriously, and is a good counterpoint to Marlin’s unflinching dourness. They’re a very good example of how to do a movie pairing without resorting to the tired old ‘by the book stuffy paired with wacky goofy wildcard.’
And where would a Pixar movie be without a supporting cast of loveable potential toys? I mean characters. And boy oh boy does Finding Nemo have a supporting cast. When I was talking about Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader I talked about the nature of quest stories that comprise many visits to wacky sidequest land and Finding Nemo has a lot of that feeling. Each little self contained group is fun in their own way, but there is the sense of something lacking a little as we only spend brief moments with each group. The sharks exist for their scene and are then forgotten. The turtles are fun, but only for five minutes. They hover around even being characters. The sharks are just there as an obstacle given some personality, the turtles could be skipped entirely aside from giving Marlin a small bit of advice. the closest thing this movie can really be said as a supporting cast is Nemo and the tank bros. But they aren’t given enough time on screen to develop beyond shallow caricature. An argument could be made that a more interesting movie would have dealt more strongly on Nemo’s time in the tank, struggling to adapt from being an ocean fish while learning about the lives of the fish he is in captivity with, occasionally cutting back to Marlin and Dory escaping personality-less sharks or sailing the currents with silent turtles.
All in all Finding Nemo delivers as a perfectly functional Family Movie. Not just a children’s movie because adults should find plenty to enjoy along with their little sprogs, and yet it isn’t so wink wink nudge nudge as to start verging into inappropriate territory for all but the youngest. And yet I really can’t say more about it than that. There are glimpses of the usual Pixar brilliance here and as I started my review by saying there’s nothing to really single out as being so egregiously bad that it bears commenting on. There might be worse films, animated and otherwise, but there are for sure better ones.
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