Finding Nemo
| Finding Nemo | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Andrew Stanton |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Andrew Stanton |
| Produced by | Graham Walters |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | David Ian Salter |
| Music by | Thomas Newman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution[a] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 100 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $94 million[1] |
| Box office | $940.3 million[2] |
Finding Nemo is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama film[3] directed by Andrew Stanton, who co-wrote it with Bob Peterson and David Reynolds. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, and Geoffrey Rush. It tells the story of an overprotective clownfish[b] named Marlin (Brooks) who, along with a forgetful regal blue tang named Dory (DeGeneres), searches for his missing son Nemo (Gould). Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and comes to terms with Nemo taking care of himself.
Pre-production of the film began in 1997. The inspiration for Finding Nemo sprang from multiple experiences, going back to Stanton's childhood, when he loved going to the dentist to see the fish tank, assuming that the fish were from the ocean and wanted to go home. To ensure that the movements of the fish in the film were believable, the animators took a crash course in fish biology and oceanography. Thomas Newman composed the score for the film.
First premiering at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on May 18, Finding Nemo was released in theaters in the United States on May 30. Upon its release, it received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised the visual elements, screenplay, animation, Newman's score and characters who have been cited as entertaining to both children and adult moviegoers.[5] It became the highest-grossing animated film at the time of its release, and the second-highest-grossing film of 2003, as well as the seventh-highest-grossing film overall at the time of its release, earning a total of $871 million worldwide by the end of its initial theatrical run.[6] The film received four nominations at the 76th Academy Awards, and won the award for Best Animated Feature, becoming the first Pixar and Disney film to do so. In 2008, the American Film Institute named it as the 10th greatest American animated film as part of their 10 Top 10 lists.[7] Since then, it has been widely regarded as one of the greatest animated films of all time.[8][9][10]
Finding Nemo is the best-selling DVD title of all time, with over 40 million copies sold as of 2006[update],[11] and was the highest-grossing G-rated film of all time before Pixar's own Toy Story 3 overtook it in 2010. The film was re-released in 3D in 2012. A sequel, Finding Dory, was released in June 2016.
Plot
Marlin and Coral, a clownfish couple who are waiting for their eggs to hatch, live on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef. After a barracuda knocks Marlin unconscious, Marlin awakens to find Coral and all but one of the eggs gone. Marlin names the surviving child Nemo and vows to keep him safe.
Years later, Marlin and Nemo live in a secluded sea anemone. Nemo is eager to start school and explore the outside world; however Marlin remains anxious and hyperprotective of his son. While dropping Nemo off at school, Marlin warns the teacher of Nemo's deformed pelvic fin. After discovering Nemo's class will be visiting the "drop-off", where the reef meets the open sea, Marlin panics and tries to withdraw Nemo from school. Nemo defiantly swims to a nearby speedboat to prove his independence and is captured by a pair of scuba divers.
Marlin frantically races after the boat, disappearing into the horizon. He meets Dory, a blue tang with short-term memory loss who offers to help him locate his son. The pair encounter Bruce, a great white shark who is part of a support group of sharks trying to abstain from eating fish. At the meeting, Marlin finds a diver's mask from the boat with an address written on it. When Marlin accidentally injures Dory, Bruce smells her blood and relapses into a rampage that sets off old naval mines. As they escape, Dory recalls that she can read the address.
Meanwhile, Nemo is placed in a fish tank in dentist Philip Sherman's office in Sydney. He meets the "Tank Gang", led by Gill, a scarred Moorish idol and consisting of Peach the Sea Star, Deb the striped damselfish, Gurgle the royal gramma, Bloat the pufferfish, Bubbles the yellow tang, and Jacques the cleaner shrimp. They inform him that Sherman plans to gift Nemo to his hyperactive niece, Darla, who has an infamous history of killing her pet fish. To prevent this, Gill hatches an escape plan: Nemo, the smallest of the gang, will clog the tank's filter, forcing Sherman to clean it and bag the fish. Then, they can roll their bags out of the window and into the harbour. Nemo attempts the plan but is nearly killed by the filter's machinery in the process, causing Gill to feel deeply regretful.
Dory accidentally drops the mask into an abyss and encourages Marlin to help her search for it. They find the mask but are attacked by an anglerfish. Dory exploits the anglerfish's light to read the address while Marlin traps the anglerfish with the mask. Their victory boosts Marlin's confidence and helps Dory remember the address. Marlin tries to continue his search without Dory until she convinces a school of moonfish to give them directions to the East Australian Current. On their way, Marlin and Dory become trapped in a forest of jellyfish. While trying to escape, they are both stung and fall unconscious.
Marlin and Dory awaken in the East Australian Current with a large group of sea turtles, including Crush and his son, Squirt. Crush teaches Marlin to relax and be less worried about Nemo. News of Marlin's journey spreads across the ocean and reaches Nigel, a pelican who regularly converses with the Tank Gang. Nigel informs Nemo of Marlin's efforts; inspired, Nemo successfully clogs the filter and the tank quickly becomes covered in green algae. However, this plan is foiled due to the dentist cleaning the tank while the fish sleep and installing a newer filtration system.
After leaving the current, Marlin and Dory become lost and are consumed by a blue whale. Marlin fears the worst, but Dory urges him to trust the whale, which safely expels them through its blowhole into Sydney Harbour. Nigel rescues Marlin and Dory from a flock of seagulls and delivers them to Sherman's office, where they see Nemo playing dead to fake out Darla. Sherman forces Nigel out and Gill helps Nemo escape down the sink drain and into the harbour.
Believing Nemo is genuinely dead, Marlin says goodbye to Dory and leaves, but Dory soon finds Nemo and reunites them. A fishing trawler captures Dory and a school of groupers. Nemo persuades Marlin to let him swim into the net and lead the groupers down; the fish in turn break the trawler, freeing Dory. Marlin praises Nemo's bravery and tells him about his own journey.
Weeks later, Marlin drops Nemo off at school, and Dory arrives shortly afterward. Nemo and Marlin share a warm hug before Marlin waves goodbye to Nemo and tells him to "go have an adventure".
In a mid-credits scene, Gill and the Tank Gang manage to finally escape the tank after breaking the new filtration system. After they fall into the harbour, still in their bags, Bloat asks what they should do next.
Voice cast
- Albert Brooks as Marlin, a clownfish and Nemo's overprotective father.
- Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a regal blue tang with short-term memory loss.
- Alexander Gould as Nemo, Marlin's only surviving son, who is excited about life and exploring the ocean, but gets captured and domesticated as a pet.
- Willem Dafoe as Gill, a scarred Moorish idol fish living in an aquarium in Philip Sherman's dentistry clinic, and the leader of the Tank Gang.
- Brad Garrett as Bloat, the aquarium's pufferfish.
- Allison Janney as Peach, the aquarium's sea star.
- Stephen Root as Bubbles, the aquarium's bubble-obsessed yellow tang fish.
- Austin Pendleton as Gurgle, the aquarium's obsessive-compulsive royal gramma fish.
- Vicki Lewis as Deb, the aquarium's striped damselfish.
- Lewis is also credited for voicing "Flo", the name Deb gives her reflection that she believes is her twin sister.
- Joe Ranft as Jacques, the aquarium's cleaner shrimp.
- Geoffrey Rush as Nigel, an Australian pelican, who often visits the dentist clinic and is friends with the aquarium fish.
- Andrew Stanton as Crush, a green sea turtle.
- Elizabeth Perkins as Coral, Marlin's wife and Nemo's mother.
- Nicholas Bird as Squirt, Crush's son.
- Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, a spotted eagle ray and Nemo's schoolteacher.
- Barry Humphries as Bruce, a great white shark, who, despite abstaining from eating fish, continues to fight his instinctive will to eat them; he is also friends with Anchor and Chum.
- Eric Bana as Anchor, a hammerhead shark who is friends with Bruce and Chum.
- Bruce Spence as Chum, a mako shark who is friends with Bruce and Anchor.
- Bill Hunter as Philip Sherman, a dentist who keeps Nemo and the Tank Gang in an aquarium.
- LuLu Ebeling as Darla, Sherman's rambunctious young niece.
- Jordan "Jordy" Ranft as Tad, a butterfly fish fingerling and Nemo's school friend.
- Erica Beck as Pearl, a young flapjack octopus and Nemo's school friend.
- Erik Per Sullivan as Sheldon, a young seahorse, and Nemo's school friend.
- John Ratzenberger as the school of moonfish.
Production
Development
The inspiration for Finding Nemo sprang from multiple experiences, going back to director Andrew Stanton's childhood, when he loved going to the dentist to see the fish tank, assuming that the fish were from the ocean and wanted to go home.[13] In 1992, shortly after his son was born, he and his family took a trip to Marine World. There, after seeing the shark tube and various exhibits, he felt that the underwater world could be done beautifully in computer animation.[14] Later, in 1997, he took his son for a walk in the park but realized that he was overprotecting him and lost an opportunity to have a father-son experience that day.[13]
In an interview with National Geographic magazine, Stanton said that the idea for the characters of Marlin and Nemo came from a photograph of two clownfish peeking out of an anemone:
It was so arresting. I had no idea what kind of fish they were, but I couldn't take my eyes off them. And as an entertainer, the fact that they were called clownfish—it was perfect. There's almost nothing more appealing than these little fish that want to play peekaboo with you.[15]
In addition, clownfish are colorful, but do not tend to come out of an anemone often. For a character who has to go on a dangerous journey, Stanton felt a clownfish was the perfect type of fish for the character.[13] Pre-production of the film began in early 1997. Stanton began writing the screenplay during the post-production of A Bug's Life. As a result, Finding Nemo began production with a complete screenplay, something that co-director Lee Unkrich called "very unusual for an animated film".[13] The artists took scuba diving lessons to study the coral reef.[13]
Stanton originally planned to use flashbacks to reveal how Coral died but realized that by the end of the film there would be nothing to reveal, deciding to show how she died at the beginning of the movie.[13] The character of Gill also was different from the character seen in the final film. In a scene that was eventually deleted, Gill tells Nemo that he's from a place called Bad Luck Bay and that he has brothers and sisters in order to impress the young clownfish, only for the latter to find out that he was lying by listening to a patient reading a children's storybook that shares exactly the same details.[13]
Casting
William H. Macy was the first actor cast as Marlin. Although Macy had recorded most of the dialogue, Stanton felt that the character needed a lighter touch.[16] Stanton then cast Albert Brooks in the role, and in his opinion, it "saved" the film.[13] Brooks liked the idea of Marlin being this clownfish who isn't funny and recorded outtakes of telling very bad jokes.
The idea for the initiation sequence came from a story conference between Stanton and Bob Peterson while they were driving to record the actors. Although he originally envisioned the character of Dory as male, Stanton was inspired to cast Ellen DeGeneres when he watched an episode of Ellen in which he saw her "change the subject five times before finishing one sentence".[13] The pelican character named Gerald (who in the final film ends up swallowing and choking on Marlin and Dory) was originally a friend of Nigel. They were going to play against each other with Nigel being neat and fastidious and Gerald being scruffy and sloppy. To maintain the film's pace, Gerald's role was minimized after filmmakers struggled to integrate him effectively.