ÃFinding Nemo' finds an audience
By Nicole Rodriguez
It is probably true that Disney isn't the studio name that lures most college-aged viewers into theaters. And, in most cases, this attitude is completely warranted. After all, what twenty year old in their right mind wants to sit through something as bland and generic as ìTreasure Planetî if there isn't a five year old making them do it?
Of course, there is an exception to every rule, and ìFinding Nemoî -- a beautifully animated under the sea adventure with witty writing, definitely breaches this rule.
Comedian Albert Brooks (ìThe In Lawsî) lends his voice to the character of Marlin, a happy go lucky clown fish who's underwater world gets turned upside down when he loses his wife and all but one of his children.
The remaining child is Nemo (voiced by newcomer Alexander Gould), who is just as free-spirited and adventurous as his father used to be. It is, of course, this feeling of adventure that gets Nemo into trouble. When swimming near a fishing boat on his first day of school, Nemo is captured by a scuba diving dentist who takes the little clown fish to be part of his office aquarium.
With the help of his newfound friend Dory (Ellen Degeneres gives her voice to this hilarious scene stealing blue tang fish with short term memory loss), Marlin must travel across the ocean to Australia to get back his son.
Also included in the all-star cast are ìSpidermanî star Willem Dafoe and ìThe West Wingî's Alison Janney as two of the wisecracking tank fish who take care of Nemo after his kidnapping, as well as ìCheersî alum John Ratzenberger who makes a cameo as a school of fish helping Marlin find his way to Sydney.
Pixar animators spent five years perfecting the look of this computer graphic film and it is safe to say that their work has paid off tremendously. Building off the same technology they displayed in films such as ìToy Storyî and ìMonsters Inc.,î the company has created an entirely believable underwater environment that mimics reality so well that both children and adults will be spellbound.
Animation aside, Pixar also made the inspired decision to fill the cast with many stand-up comedians and give them free reign to improvise with the script -- a decision that proves to have yielded a final story simple enough to be followed by children and yet witty enough to keep adults entertained throughout the 101 -minute movie.