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Film Review : FInding Nemo 3D

Sep 19, 2012 06:12AM ● By Justin Buettner

Pixar animation's 2003 break out hit has been re-released in theaters in 3D. The film follows the journey of Marlin, a father on a desperate search for his son Nemo who was abducted by a deep sea diver and taken to a salt water aquarium in an Australian dental office. Along for Marlin's journey is Dory, a fish with memory loss. Will Marlin be able to rescue his son before the dentist gives Nemo to his niece, a little girl notorious for accidentally killing her pet fish?

While visually Finding Nemo is perhaps the greatest animated achievement in modern times.  This remains true ten years later, it's an masterpiece of eye candy. However I always thought the story was a mixed bag. The movie never seemed to have a good flow and I always thought the aquarium scenes and Marlin's scenes never fit quite right together. The two stories were so different it felt almost like two different movies. There are however exceptional individual scenes in the film, including the bold and frightening opening featuring a barracuda.
 
Finding Nemo is packed full of fun ideas, including the vegetarian sharks and surf centric turtles. The supporting characters are all lively and interesting. Unfortunately the main character of Marlin is not nearly as likable. Putting these vibrant supporting characters next to Marlin really highlights how boring of a character Marlin truly is. Although his mission of risking everything to rescue his son in noble, Marlin has little else to offer as a character. He's a worry wart, kind of mean, kind of selfish, unfunny clown fish. If only the movie had given some more fun and likable characteristics to its lead character. Dory on the other hand is an excellent character. She's fun, interesting and the plight of her memory loss gives her character a very unique twist. Dory's emotional plea to Marlin near the end of the film is just heartbreaking and is certainly the emotional punch to the film. Dory is also impressively voiced by Ellen DeGeneres.
 
Finding Nemo is a film best seen on a big screen. Does the 3D add anything though? In some scenes sure, overall not really. It is important to remember that Finding Nemo was never filmed with 3D in mind, by converting the film to 3D some scenes work better than others. I would recommend seeing the movie in digital 2D which retains the brilliant vibrancy of color as 3D glasses always mutes the picture, and you save a few dollars at the same time.
 
Finding Nemo is a great family film. It's fun, imaginative, and has a whole host of great supporting characters. Although I have my problems with some story elements and the main character, they are not large enough to prevent me from whole heatedly recommending the movie. No matter what age you are there is something to love and relate to in this movie. Finding Nemo is the best family film released this year even though it was made almost ten years ago.
 
Films like Finding Nemo : Pinocchio, The Rescuers, and 101 Dalmatians


Justin Buettner is Style's resident movie dude! How did he get this role? Well, he graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Arts in film Production and a duel minor in Animation and Business with an emphasis in the entertainment field. He later went on to work on several independent films in various key roles including writer and later worked in the special effects field as a motion capture artist. He has since relocated to the Sacramento area with his family and continues writing for small independent films in addition to his movie reviews for Style Magazine.

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