Finding Nemo

Pixar’s fifth film, Finding Nemo follows clownfish Marlin (Albert Brooks) as he embarks on a fairly epic journey to track down his missing son (Alexander Gould’s Nemo) – with the character eventually receiving help from an oddball blue tang fish named Dory (Ellen Degeneres). There’s little doubt that Finding Nemo starts with an incredible amount of promise, as filmmakers Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich kick off the proceedings with an unexpectedly moving sequence detailing the death of Marlin’s wife – with the narrative subsequently stressing Marlin’s charming efforts at safely (very safely) raising his young son. It’s only as the action shifts to the central character’s aforementioned quest that Finding Nemo begins to lose its grip on the viewer, with the increasingly episodic bent of Bob Peterson, David Reynolds, and Stanton’s screenplay paving the way for an erratic, hit-and-miss midsection. The watchable yet rarely engrossing vibe that ensues is perpetuated by an ongoing emphasis on underwhelming sequences and set-pieces, with, for example, the heroes’ encounter with a group of stoner turtles and their eventual efforts to escape from the belly of a whale contributing heavily to the movie’s less-than-enthralling atmosphere (ie such moments are simply not terribly compelling and, for the most part, go on far too long). Finding Nemo benefits substantially, then, from the superb animation and stellar voice performances, and it’s clear, too, that the film’s third act is far more exciting and captivating than one might’ve anticipated – which ultimately does confirm the movie’s place as a good-but-hardly-great animated endeavor from Pixar.

**1/2 out of ****