FINDING NEMO

Director: Andrew Stanton (Bug's Life) & Lee Unkrich (Monsters Inc, Toy Story II)
Starring: voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen Degeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Defoe

From the land of Pixar comes its next formulaic computer-generated kids flick "with enough laughs for the parents". Is the formula getting old? Well, yeah, a little bit. If you think about it though, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays on only about 3 different formulas, and those certainly have held up pretty well, so simply following a formula does not instantly imply a bad story. No, Finding Nemo is not bad because it follows a similar format as the Toy Story movies. It's not bad at all. It's actually quite good. There is certainly some new material in this story of a timid father clown fish risking hell and high water to find his son, Nemo, who has been captured by a Sydney Dentist and held in an office aquarium.

Visually, I don't think the computer-generated effects broke any new ground technically, but there was little in this film that wasn't beatiful to see. Additionally, this was a sweet touching story, maybe not overly moving for an adult, but I think it will go over very big with the kids. Personally, I rate this film below some of the best computer generated childrens formula flicks, but really not all that far behind. I think what this story missed most was laughs for the adults. I only chuckled once or twice throughout, and that was a bit disappointing. Still there is much to enjoy, and it's certainly a movie you would be happy to show your child. Perhaps just as important is that it's a movie your child would be happy to be shown.

Standouts: Visuals, sweet affirming story and touching child-like voice acting by the cast.
Blowouts: It didn't appeal to me as an adult as much as some of the other formulaic digitized flicks out recently.

Grade: B+