Synopsis: A touching animated tale of a father who will stop at nothing to find his lost son, starring the many denizens of the ocean.

Now for the Zone's Eye View:

By Michelle Snow

Director: Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

Cast: [the voices of]: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney, Austin Pendleton, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis, Joe Ranft, Geoffrey Rush, Andrew Stanton, Elizabeth Perkins, Nicholas Bird and Barry Humphries

First it was the toys. Then the bugs. Then the monsters under your bed. Now Pixar Animation has turned their attention to the big blue ocean and have wound up creating another animated classic for the Disney library of films. 

Finding Nemo is one of those films that grabs you by the heart right at the beginning. The movie starts off with a scene reminiscent of Bambi, and we are left with the father and son clownfish duo of Marlin and Nemo. Marlin, the dad, is facing Nemo's first day at school and he's in a panic. Ever since Nemo was an egg, Marlin has protected him from the world at large. He sees it as his duty. Nemo sees it as smothering and rebels. In the process, humans capture him and Marlin immediately sets off after the boat to rescue his son. 

Searching the oceans around Australia, he runs into a myriad of underwater creatures. Among them is a ditzy blue surgeonfish named Dory. She suffers from short-term memory loss, so while she tries to help Marlin in his search, half the time she can't even remember who he is. Along the way, they get assistance from a family of turtles and Bruce, a shark in a 12-step program to treat fish as friends, not food. A shark named Bruce? I found this Jaws reference highly amusing.

Meanwhile, Nemo has been locked up with a rag-tag bunch of fish in an aquarium at the dentist's office. He is initiated into the group through the "volcano of fire" and he works with the gang to plot their escape. Time is of the essence, though, as the dentist has promised Nemo to his four-year old niece, who is very much like Sid in Pixar's first movie, The Toy Story. 
This movie is a complete delight to watch. With every film Pixar does, the animation gets more and more life-like. There were several instances with the divers in the boat where I really thought it was live action, not animation. And the colors of the ocean are so vibrant, from Marlin and Nemo's orange stripes to Dory's blue body.

Of course animation would be nothing without the proper voices for each character. And this movie delivers on that, as well. As Marlin, Albert Brooks [also currently seen in the remake of the In-Laws] is perfect as the worried timid father who eventually finds the courage he needs to get his son back. Geoffrey Rush is also perfectly matched as the voice of Nigel, the pelican who provides the missing link in Marlin's search. But my pick for MVP in this movie is Ellen DeGeneres, who absolutely steals the show as Dory. When, as Dory, she attempts to "speak whale" to ask for directions, I was in tears from laughing so hard. 

Finding Nemo is a true joy to watch no matter what your age. Children will enjoy the characters and the physical humor-especially the fart jokes. Adults will enjoy the witty dialogue and clever pop culture references. And everyone will appreciate the lessons of the father learning to let his son grow up and of the son learning his father does things out of love, not spite.

"Fish are our friends", says Bruce. Anyone seeing Finding Nemo will agree.

10 out of 10