Finding out that Finding Nemo is a fun movie...

Finding Nemo has finally arrived in New Zealand cinemas and on a recent overnight trip to town, I was scanning the paper looking for something to do when I saw that it was on at the local theatre.

Well, having heard nothing but good raves about this little movie I was as keen as mustard to go see it. Not having any kids and not wanting to go on my own, I talked Hubby into coming along with me.

I impressed upon him how great this movie would be cause all the reviewers on Epinions.com raved about it.He looked at me sideways but being a nice kinda guy, he agreed to come along with me to the kids cartoon movie.

We bought our tickets and went on in, we joined the predominantly 'under 10' crowd of movie goers and settled in to be entertained.

Finding Nemo is an animated film but I swear, at times, it seems so real that you begin to forget it's an animation. Pixars talents for animation shine through in this movie as it has in there other movies. ( Toy Story, Bugs Life etc.)


STORYLINE

The movie starts with a scene of a happy Clown Fish family. Mum and Dad are lovingly watching over a few hundred eggs, talking about how soon their babies will hatch and how wonderful life is when ...

'WHAM'

... a huge and hungry barracuda hits the scene and wrecks havoc on the little fish family.

After all the chaos dies down we are left with the distraught fish Dad (Marlin) mourning the loss
of his beloved partner and all his unhatched offspring.

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Now, if I was a little kid I think I would be a bit upset by now.

I remember walking out in tears during 'Simba the White Lion' when Simbas Mums cage fell off the boat in high seas ... ohhh, it's still upsetting.

I looked around but no kids left the theatre so maybe todays kids are made of tougher stuff.
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Marlin is coming to grips with his loss when he notices one single, solitary egg that had been overlooked by the raiding barracuda, he scoops the egg up and takes it into his little nest in the seaweed.

We catch up with Marlin a few years down the track, his little egg has hatched into the irrepressible Nemo. Nemo is keen to start school and play with all the other fish his age but Marlin is very overprotective. No way is he going to lose Nemo, his one and only child.

Nemo uses all his charms and coaxs Marlin into letting him start school. Marlin reluctantly lets him go but warns him over and over ... "Don't go over the edge of the reef"

Well, Nemo joins up with a group of friends who just have to push the limits a little and Nemo, wanting to show that he's worthy of his new friends, disobeys his fathers orders and heads out to the edge of the reef and yes, over he goes.

Unbeknown to Nemo, his father had been following him all along and when he sees what Nemo is doing, he blows his cover and orders Nemo to get back to the reef.

Wrong thing to do

Nemo stands his ground and just to prove how brave he is, heads off to a nearby boat and ... whoosh ... gets scooped up in a divers fishnet and disappears.

Marlin is beside himself and takes off after the boat, he ends up losing track of the boat but bumps into another fish (Dory) who knows which direction the boat went and offers to help him out.

Dory and Marlin head off on the adventure of a lifetime to rescue Nemo. They don't know where he is but word spreads amongst the sea creatures and everyone bands together to help Marlin find his way to Sydney, where Nemo is now living in a fish tank in a dentists office.

The following adventure takes us on a fun, hilarious and sometimes frightening ride.

Marlin and Dory have a great adventure meeting danger and making good friends along the way.

A hilarious encounter is when they meet Bruce, the ( gulp) Great White Shark. Bruce insists they come to his meeting and they reluctantly agree ( because they haven't got a choice) to go with him and meet with his two friends, a hammerhead and a mako shark.

Now, this small group of sharks has decided to try to change the image of sharks as sharks always get a bad rap and they are out to change all that by being kind to fish.

'Fish are NOT food, they are our friends' is the mantra of this wee group . They were all meant to bring along a fish friend but the Mako had a bad moment and ate his fish and the Hammerhead couldnt find one so Marlin and Dory are it.

All is going well until Dory cuts herself, as her blood trickles past Bruce's nostrils he starts losing it and gets himself into a feeding frenzy. Marlin and Dory have to flee for their lives while the other two sharks are using all the counselling skills they can muster to get Bruce to snap out of it.

Bruce keeps saying he ...

"doesn't want to eat them but if he could just, maybe, have a small bite"

... as he rabidly chases after the terrified fish.

This is but one of the encounters they have and help make this movie the enjoyable jaunt that it is.

There are lots of Aussie touches to the humour, I just loved the seagulls whose one worded vocabulary consisted of 'Mate'

This movie is a little gem and suits all age groups. The kids will be able to follow the story and the adults will enjoy the humour.

The visuals are great and the scenes of the coral reef are bordering on spectacular.

A strong cast helps this movie along and with the talented Ellen DeGeneres playing Dory, the fish with short term memory loss, the movie holds your interest right to the end.

P.S. My better half enjoyed it as much as I did.