Movie #272 Finding Nemo *2003*

You can't go wrong with Pixar.  This film was one of the minor Pixar movies for me.  I love WALL*E and Ratatouille.  I like Up and The Incredibles a lot.   I enjoy all 3 Toy Story movies and so forth.  Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. were movies that I thought were cute and sort of funny, but not great cinema. 

This past weekend I took my kids up to my girlfriends house and we all watched the fish together.  I think I might have enjoyed it the most of any of us.  It made me laugh out loud (in a very honest way) several times.  I was touched when I was supposed to be, but not overly so.  I thought the animation was first rate, I thought the story was a little formulaic but solid for what it was, the voice actors were mostly fantastic and so on.

Ellen DeGeneres stole the show with her character Dory, a fish with short memory loss.  This could have easily been an excessive and hammy role.  Especially since this is a "childrens cartoon".  But she held back and made the most of the big moments.  I really enjoyed Albert Brooks as the father too.  What a brave choice to go with such a recognizable voice.  Most of the supporting roles held their own.  I really liked Willem Defoe as the battle tested fish in the aquarium. 

The only voice that I didn't like was that of a sea turtle.  It was voiced by Andrew Stanton, the director of the film.  He went for a California surfing dude speech pattern that really felt forced and wedged in.

This was a great weekend and a great film to boot.  I give Finding Nemo ★★★1/2.