Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo is an American computer-animated comedy-drama film written and directed by Andrew Stanton, released by Walt Disney Pictures on May 30, 2003, and the fifth film produced byPixar Animation Studios. It tells the story of the over-protective clownfish named Marlin (Albert Brooks) who, along with a regal tang named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), searches for his abducted sonNemo (Alexander Gould) in Sydney Harbour. It is Pixar's first film to be released theatrically during the Northern Hemisphere summer. The film was re-released in 3D on September 14, 2012 and it was released on Blu-ray for the first time on December 4, 2012.

The film received critical acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It was the second highest-grossing film of 2003, behind The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, earning a total of $868 million worldwide. Finding Nemo is also the best-selling DVD of all time, with over 40 million copies sold as of2006 (which was both before and after the release of the 2006 film Cars), and was the highest-grossing G-rated film of all time, before Pixar's own Toy Story 3 overtook it. It is also the 5th highest-grossing animated film of all time and the 27th highest-grossing film of all time.

In 2008, the American Film Institute named it the 10th greatest animated film ever made during their Top 10. A sequel is currently in development, and is to be released in 2016.

Plot
Two clownfish, Marlin and his wife Coral, are admiring their new home in the Great Barrier Reef and their clutch of eggs that are due to hatch in a few days. Suddenly, a barracuda attacks them, leaving Marlin unconscious before eating Coral and all but one of their eggs. Marlin names this egg Nemo, a name that Coral liked.

A few years later, Nemo's first day of school arrives. Nemo has a tiny right fin, due to a minor injury to his egg from the barracuda attack, which limits his swimming ability. After Marlin embarrasses Nemo during a school field trip, Nemo disobeys his father and sneaks away from the reef towards a boat, resulting in him being captured by scuba divers. As the boat sails away, one of the divers accidentally knocks his diving mask into the water.

While unsuccessfully attempting to save Nemo, Marlin meets Dory, a blue tang with short-term memory loss. While meeting three sharks on a fish-free diet, Bruce, a great white shark, Anchor, a hammerhead shark, andChum, a mako shark, Marlin discovers the diver's mask that was dropped from the boat and notices an address written on it. However, when he argues with Dory and accidentally gives her a nosebleed, the scent of blood causes Bruce to lose control of himself and attempt to eat Marlin and Dory. The two escape from Bruce but the mask falls into a trench in the deep sea. During a hazardous struggle with an anglerfish in the trench, Dory realizes she is able to read the words written on the mask, "P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney." The address leads them to Sydney, Australia, and Dory manages to remember it. After receiving directions to Sydney from a large school of moonfish, Marlin and Dory accidentally run into a bloom of jellyfish that nearly sting them to death; Marlin falls exhausted after the risky escape and wakes up to see a surf-cultured sea turtle named Crush, who takes Dory and him on the East Australian Current. In the current, Marlin reluctantly shares the details of his journey with a group of young sea turtles; his story spreads rapidly across the ocean through word of mouth and eventually reaches Nemo in Sydney.

Meanwhile, Nemo's captor - P. Sherman, a dentist - places him into a fish tank in his office on Sydney Harbour. There, Nemo meets a group of aquarium fish called the "Tank Gang", led by a crafty and ambitious moorish idol named Gill. The "Tank Gang" includes Bloat, a pufferfish; Bubbles, a yellow tang; Peach, a starfish; Gurgle, a Royal gramma; Jacques, a pacific cleaner shrimp; and Deb, a Blacktailed Humbug. The fish are frightened to learn that the dentist plans to give Nemo to his niece, Darla, who is infamous for killing a goldfish given to her previously, by constantly shaking her bag. In order to avoid this, Gill gives Nemo a role in an escape plan, which involves jamming the tank's filter and forcing the dentist to remove the fish from the tank to clean it manually. The fish would be placed in plastic bags, at which point they would roll out the window and into the harbor. After a friendly pelican named Nigel visits with news of Marlin's adventure, Nemo succeeds in jamming the filter, but the plan backfires when the dentist installs a new high-tech filter.

Upon leaving the East Australian Current, Marlin and Dory become lost and are eaten by a whale. Inside the whale's mouth, Marlin desperately tries to escape while Dory tries to communicate with it. In response, the whale carries them to Sydney Harbour and expels them through his blowhole. They are met by Nigel, who recognizes Marlin from the stories he has heard and rescues him and Dory from a flock of hungry seagulls by scooping them into his beak and taking them to the dentist's office. By this time, Darla has arrived and the dentist is prepared to give Nemo to her. Nemo tries to play dead in hopes of saving himself, and, at the same time, Nigel arrives. Marlin sees Nemo and mistakes this act for the actual death of his son. When Nigel suddenly gets thrown out the window by the dentist, Gill helps Nemo escape into a drain through a sink after a chaotic struggle.

Overcome with despair, Marlin leaves Dory and begins to swim back home. Dory then loses her memory and becomes confused, but meets Nemo, who has reached the ocean through an underwater drainpipe. Dory's memory is restored after she reads the word "Sydney" on a nearby drainpipe and, remembering her journey, she guides Nemo to Marlin who changes his sadness to happiness. After the two joyfully reunite, Dory is caught in a fishing net with a school of grouper. Nemo bravely enters the net and directs the group to swim downward to break the net, reminiscent of a similar scenario that occurred in the fish tank earlier. The fish, including Dory, succeed in breaking the net and escape. After some days, Nemo leaves for school once more and Marlin is no longer overprotective or doubtful of his son's safety, proudly watching Nemo swim away into the distance.

Back at the dentist's office, the high-tech filter breaks down and The Tank Gang have escaped into the harbor, but realize they are confined in plastic bags of water that the dentist put them into (when their plan has now worked) while cleaning the tank.

Cast

 * Albert Brooks as Marlin, a male clownfish, Nemo's father
 * Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a Pacific Regal Blue Tang
 * Alexander Gould as Nemo, a juvenile clownfish, Marlin's son
 * Willem Dafoe as Gill, a Moorish Idol, and the leader of the group
 * Brad Garrett as Bloat, a Pufferfish
 * Allison Janney as Peach, a Starfish
 * Austin Pendleton as Gurgle, a Royal Gramma
 * Stephen Root as Bubbles, a Yellow Tang
 * Vicki Lewis as Deb (and "Flo," Deb's reflection), a Four-Striped Damselfish
 * Joe Ranft as Jacques, a Pacific Cleaner Shrimp
 * Geoffrey Rush as Nigel, a Brown Pelican
 * John Ratzenberger as the school of Moonfish
 * Andrew Stanton as the seagulls, and Crush, a Green sea turtle
 * Nicholas Bird as Squirt, a juvenile Sea Turtle, Crush's son
 * Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, a Spotted Eagle Ray, the school bus of the class, and the teacher of the class
 * Barry Humphries as Bruce, a Great white shark
 * Eric Bana as Anchor, a Hammerhead Shark
 * Bruce Spence as Chum, a Mako Shark
 * Jordy Ranft as Tad, a juvenile Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish
 * Erica Beck as Pearl, a juvenile Flapjack Octopus
 * Erik Per Sullivan as Sheldon, a juvenile Seahorse
 * Bill Hunter as Dr. Philip Sherman, the dentist
 * LuLu Ebeling as Darla, the dentist's niece
 * Elizabeth Perkins as Coral, Marlin's wife
 * Rove McManus as a Crab

Additional voices

 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Jack Angel
 * James S. Baker
 * Bob Bergen
 * Bobby Block
 * Susan Blu
 * Geoff Brooks
 * Jane Carr
 * Jennifer Darling
 * Paul Eiding
 * Jessie Flower
 * Aaron Fors
 * Leland Grossman
 * Bradley Boylan Greive
 * Jess Harnell
 * Lili Ishida
 * Marc John Jefferies
 * Caroline Kindred
 * Oliver Kindred
 * Noah Luke
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Danny Mann
 * Andrew MacDonough
 * Mickie McGowan
 * Rove McManus
 * Alec Medlock
 * Laura Marano
 * Vanessa Marano
 * Nicole Miller
 * Laraine Newman
 * Annelise Nolting
 * Lisa Peers-Lyleson
 * Bob Peterson
 * Jeff Pidgeon
 * Phil Proctor
 * Jan Rabson
 * Katherine Ringgold
 * Daryl Sabara
 * Evan Sabara
 * David Ian Salter
 * Emmett Shomaker
 * Eliza Schneider
 * Andrew Stanton
 * Ben Stanton
 * Lee Unkrich
 * James Kevin Ward
 * Kali Whitehurst

Trivia

 * The Polish title is translated as Where's Nemo.
 * When Bruce bursts through the submarine door and shouts, "Here's Brucey!", this was a reference to The Shining.
 * When Dory wants to ask the whale for directions and Marlin doesn't, she says, "What is it with men and asking for directions?" this line was also in Mulan II.
 * Nemo appears in Monsters Inc. in a cameo. He is also mentioned by Bugs Bunny in the film Looney Toons: Back in Action when he was fishing in a flooded Alfa Romeo car and says Hey, what do ya know? I found Nemo!
 * Nemo's mother's death was intended to be previewed in a series of flashbacks, but Lasserter insisted it to be shown in the beginning of the film to explain why Marlin was so over-protective towards his son.
 * The lines "Curse you, AquaScum!", "He's dead" and "He's not dead" were censored when the movie was aired in Disney Junior due to inappropriate language for children
 * This is also the similar case to The Incredibles in Dash's line We survived but we're dead
 * The voice clips that were previously recorded are later being replayed in the movie.

Allusions

 * When Nemo first realizes he's in a fish tank in a waiting room, a Buzz Lightyear toy is seen on the floor.
 * As Gill is telling his plan, the camera is in the view of the fish. After dropping out of the window, the Pizza Planet truck drives past.
 * In the credits, Mike Wazowski appears wearing the diving gear he wore to protect himself from Boo in Monsters, Inc..
 * A113 appears on a diver's camera.