10 Best Films of the Decade 2000’s #10 Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, 2003): Austrailia/USA
Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.
With any ‘best of’ list there are those who will lament the omission of their choices, while others celebrate the inclusion of their choice only to take umbrage with its numerical placement on the list. With this long overdue list of the best films from 2000 to 2009, unveiled one film per week, this humble reviewer submits to you, the reader, his top ten films of the last decade, inviting you to agree, or more commonly disagree, with the opinions on this page.
Kicking off this list at number 10 is arguably Pixar’s best film to date, Finding Nemo.
A brilliant commentary on overprotective parenting, it channels the best of what classic Disney had to offer with violent reality, the death of Nemo’s mother and siblings in the film’s opening, with the inventive charm and humor that Pixar has seemingly perfected. Along the way it’s one heck of an adventure!
When Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould), a young clown fish with a bad fin, is captured by a scuba diver, his father, Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks), will stop at nothing to find him, seemingly trekking halfway across the ocean and braving sharks, jellyfish, and seagulls among other things to bring him back.
The animation is incredible with the smaller details given just as much attention as everything else, providing a rich visual experience.
The voice characterizations are near perfection with Albert Brooks deftly portraying the anxieties of a father who can’t seem to let his son go out on his own, while Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a fish with no short term memory, is simply hilarious in both conventional and unconventional ways. I love when she mutters in her sleep “Sea monkey has my money,” or when she says “I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine.” Somehow these lines, and many others, never stop being funny.
The rest of the humor is equally memorable. There are a multitude of great lines like “you guys made me ink,” and situations such as the support group for vegetarian sharks.
However, what really makes this film stand as one of the best of the decade is how well anyone can relate to it. Parents will no doubt recognize themselves in overprotective father Marlin, while most everyone can relate to Nemo’s struggle to gain trust and break free from that overprotection. The interaction between child and parent is also something most everyone will recognize. Lastly, it shows the value of a little adventure in your life. Writers Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds do an incredible job of balancing and interweaving the life lessons with the entertainment so you don’t feel it ever gets heavy handed or that you are being preached to.
Part road movie, part escape movie, it’s truly a film that both kids and parents can learn from while having a great time doing it. This one should only get better with age.
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