This was a great movie. Not a run-of-the-mill kid’s film by any stretch of the imagination. A truly great kid’s film.
The plot is simple. A mother clownfish is killed while trying to save her eggs from a barracuda. The father clownfish finds only one of the eggs left, and from it comes Nemo. Nemo’s egg was damaged in the attack that killed his mother, so he has a fin that is smaller than it should be — a handicap when you are trying to swim. Father is overprotective, and Nemo begins to chafe under his father’s fears and restrictions.
On Nemo’s first day of school, matters come to a head, and Nemo, trying to prove that he isn’t handicapped by his trick fin, is fish-napped by a diver. Father immediately sets out to find him. As he traverses the Pacific Ocean, he meets an addlepated fish named Dory who tries to help but usually ends up being a nuisance.
Nemo, meanwhile, is stuck in an aquarium at an Australian dentist’s office. When the other fish in the tank discover that he is to be a birthday gift for the dentist’s neice, a rotten little snot who invariably kills her fish, they all band together to help save Nemo. Their premise (incorrect, but let’s willingly suspend our disbelief for purposes of the movie, shall we?) is that all pipes lead to the ocean; that is, if Nemo can just get himself flushed down the loo, he’ll end up in the big drink and can reunite with his dad. Getting flushed is not as easy as it looks. Eventually, and hilariously, Nemo manages to escape, reunite with his dad, and save Dory’s life.
There are myriad lessons learned in this movie. Nemo learns just how dangerous life can be, and begins to respect his father’s fears. Father learns that overprotection can cripple a child much more than an physical handicap can, and that erecting too many fences around a child can destroy the parent-child relationship. Father learns patience in dealing with adversity and the faults of others. Nemo learns what true courage, as opposed to bravado and derring-do, is. And both father and son learn that there are certain things that are worth risking your life for.
There are things that I didn’t like about the movie. It is extremely intense at several points; so much so that I am not sure any child under the age of 5 or 6 should see it — definitely they shouldn’t see it without a parent. Also, Nemo never tells his dad that he is sorry for saying that he hated him, and for disobeying his dad. I can overlook that objection, though, as the consequences that Nemo has to face as a result of his disobedience are definitely punishment enough.
I found this an excellent movie, and far, far above the usual dreck that is served up to kids, garbage that has no moral, no timeless truth, no application to wider life. This is a very well-told story with important and timeless lessons to be derived from it. It does not descend to puerile bathroom humour or gratuitous violence, yet it is a funny, scary, poignant movie. My kids loved it, I loved it, and my parents loved it. I’m going to take my kids and my brothers to see it again this weekend.