Hooked on Nemo

Finding Nemo
Stars the voices of Barry Humphries, Ellen Degeneres, Geoffrey Rush. Rated G.
Reviewer: PTE Simone Heyer

Marlin the clownfish and Dory encounter three sharp-toothed friends in their search for Nemo.

There aren’t enough entirely enchanting films, but Finding Nemo is one.

Marlin and his lovely clownfish wife have a new home in an anemone and a brood of eggs.

Though living the ideal fish life, they’re paid a visit by a nasty character, and Marlin is left alone with his only son, Nemo, who he promises to take care of forever.

Marlin has problems letting Nemo go to school with the other fish and is terrified of losing him.

On the school’s first excursion, Nemo takes up the other fish’s dare and, to spite his father, swims out into the ocean, out of the safety of the Great Barrier Reef.

He’s captured by a Sydney dentist and from there Marlin starts his epic adventure to save Nemo from certain death.

Both characters meet all sorts of wonderful sea life, including Crush the turtle, the neurotic bunch of fish in the dentist’s tank, masses of mindless seagulls, dedicated sharks and Marlin’s faithful friend, Dory, who has the memory of a fish. As a result, she tends to forget their goal – and Nemo’s name. She’s also fluent in whale and is absolutely fearless.

You’ll recognise a few voices and be aghast at the particularly ocker accents.

The Sydney sites are spot on and the underwater scenes (90 per cent of the movie) are just beautiful.

The depth and diversity of characters is excellent, considering this is a kids’ movie.

Pixar has done an exceptional job, and it’s interesting to see that in a few short years, computer-generated imagery has caught up with and overtaken cartoons.

How the movie rates: