By Rhianna Pratchett in London
As if life as a single parent wasn't hard enough, Marlin (Albert Brooks) the over-protective clownfish has to cope with the fact that his only son, Nemo (the up-and-coming young Alexander Gould), has been captured and whisked off to an aquarium in a Sydney-based dental surgery. Now Marlin has to overcome his timid nature and with the, sometimes unwanted, help of Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) who is suffering from a kind of piscine Alzheimer's, he must brave the big blue to try and rescue his son.
Although Finding Nemo is geared slightly more towards a Toy Story audience, rather than those who preferred the ultimately darker style of Monsters Inc., there's still a lot to persuade adults not to simply drop the kids off at the cinema door. The visuals, as you'd expect from Pixar, are stunning and with a whole ocean to animate, it was clear the only thing they might run out of was blue ink on the movie posters.
The action swings between Dory and Marlin's reluctant water-trip adventure and the exploits of Nemo, as he and his other aquarium friends, such as a neat-freak shrimp, a bubble-hoarding yellow tang and a craggy angelfish (Willem Dafoe), attempt to escape from their Aquatraz. There are lots of great voice cameos, particularly Barry Humphries as Bruce, the leader of a trio of reformed sharks who've sworn off eating fish. The fact that Bruce was the name the film crew had for the animatronic shark in Jaws may be a subtle nod towards what the sharks are eating instead of fish.
The only real downside comes from the fact that the film would have been a perfect vehicle for gently educating kids about the relentless destruction of the very same beautiful coral reefs that Finding Nemo depicts. You keep waiting for the message but it never comes, pollution and over-fishing instead being glossed over in favour of the Disney feel-good factor. But as long as you give the little dears a copy of David Attenborough's Blue Planet when they get home, Finding Nemo will make for an enjoyable family outing.
Verdict: Beautiful, family entertainment.
CWW Rating 8
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
