- davidahallnum5
Finding Nemo 3D Blu-ray Review
MOVIE REVIEW
Finding Nemo is a 2003 crime thriller about a traumatized father named Marlin mourning the death of his wife and unborn children while also trying to raise his physically disabled son Nemo. In spite of his attempts to keep him from harm, things reach a breaking point when Nemo gets kidnapped by several grown men and Marlin has to set off on a perilous mission overseas to find him with no one else to help but a mentally handicapped individual named Dory. If you thought the plot synopsis sounds like a slightly crueler version of Taken, the twist is that this movie is animated, features its main characters as talking fish, is animated by (at the time) leading animation studio Pixar, and has a G rating. Let that sink in.
In all honesty, though, Finding Nemo does hold the test of time as a top-notch family film in many different ways. And a lot like with The Lion King, it seems like there's not much I can say about that other people already haven't. Yes, we all know that Pixar from the late 90s to late 2000s were churning out masterpieces year after year that were always pushing the limits in animation and storytelling that entertained kids with their visuals and engaged adults with their subversively mature themes. But what makes Finding Nemo harder to talk about than something like Monsters Inc. is how clearly fewer people have seen the latter film. And thus, my words on it would hopefully persuade more people to see into its genius. Finding Nemo, though, is one of those films everyone has seen at some point. And there's no denying its greatness, for sure. But to delve into why would probably make me sound like a broken record.
But then again, what else is The 3D Dinosaur here to do? Creativity? Finding Nemo overflows with it. The characters the film constructs are all super likable and fun to hang around. But the actual plot line and dialogue that utilize them are extremely witty. I've watched this film countless times as a kid and even today, I'm picking up on little details and jokes that either I didn't fully appreciate back then or just completely flew over my head. We all remember Bruce the shark and his group trying to reform themselves from eating fish in a meeting that resembles an AA session, and the exchanges that occur there still draw plenty of laughs. And the whole concept of fish trying to escape their tank in the dentist office a la The Great Escape is pretty dang clever and leads to some fun comedic moments. Stuff like that was great then and it's still great now, though I will admit, some of it has been outdone by a few of the countless YTPs of the film. And even the lesser jokes such as Marlin being forced to tell a joke because everyone thinks he's funny simply because he's clown fish can't really be called annoying, just a little pale compared to the better stuff. Besides just the story, the animation itself is also very rich in detail and at times, breathtaking, bringing the ocean to bright, vibrant life. And it's a little mind blowing to consider this film came out in 2003, just a couple years before Madagascar. The only place I can think of where the animation does show its age is whenever it deals with the human characters. But thankfully, that's not the whole duration of the film.
Of course, what makes Finding Nemo stand out from the crowd apart from just its wit is also its heart. Pixar has always been great at tugging at the heartstrings, and this movie is clearly no exception. In fact, it was probably one of the first films in their catalogue that proved how much of an emotional powerhouse it could be. I jokingly compared the plot of this film to that of a dark crime drama earlier, something that clearly was never said before. However, being how the more serious elements are contrasted with the more lighthearted tone present through most of the film, it creates a sense of genuine poignancy that I can't imagine Finding Nemo working without. The way we see the theme of facing your fears and tackling life as it comes at you head on through both Marlin and Nemo's stories, even though they're hardly together in the the majority of the runtime, is natural and well-executed, and ultimately, incredibly wholesome. And it's accompanied excellently through Thomas Newman's score. I know on paper, that all sounds pretty sappy. But like I said before, unless you're one of two people on the planet who hasn't seen the film, you know for yourself this is one heck of an effective flick.
As of now, I can't really think of anything negative to say about Finding Nemo. And I've been praising it for being nothing but animated excellence for the past few paragraphs. In theory, that should probably lead to a perfect 5/5 rating. And perhaps if this is where Pixar's winning streak ended, it might be. However, since then, we've gotten plenty more films, especially from Pixar, that have challenged how creative and emotionally captivating animated family movies can be. Personally, I think it all came to a peak with the four "big boys": Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, and Toy Story 3. So all things considered, Finding Nemo still is a superb animated film on pretty much all technical levels, but I would probably draw the line at calling it one of my personal favorites today. Still, it's a movie with an ample amount going for it and it plays its cards pretty much to perfection. That in and of itself is a remarkable achievement. I know some people have probably watched Finding Nemo into oblivion and it's understandable if most parents, or even children, want to watch something else every once in a while. But that doesn't change the fact that objectively, this is still a high point in Pixar's streak of animated delights and one that kids and adults will find well worth revisiting.
OVERALL FILM RATING: 4.5/5
3D REVIEW
I believe at this point, only A Bug's Life, The Incredibles, and Wall-E are the only 3 Pixar movies without a 3D version created of them. And that would be because ever since 2009 with Up, not only has Pixar released ever film of theirs in 3D (even ones like Soul and Luca that haven't been initially released in 3D still have a 3D version of them out there somewhere), but they've also gone back and converted some of their older films during the 3D craze arisen from Avatar, and Disney's success with The Lion King's 3D re-release. It's a shame the craze died out before those aforementioned three films could get their own 3D conversions as I bet given the proper care, they could've probably been the best-looking 3D movies of the Pixar bunch. But still, I am glad we got the films we did, especially with Finding Nemo.
The first time I saw this film in 3D, it was at the theater during its re-release. But I hardly remember anything from it as that was over a decade ago. However, I do remember purchasing the film on 3D Blu-ray and watching it just a few years back. And back then, I remember initially thinking that while the 3D conversion was good overall with ample depth and great attention to 3D detail, I just wasn't really all impressed, thinking that the story was still essentially the same and the 3D was exactly necessary to fully enjoying it. To a degree, I can still see where my past self was coming from. However, as I've gotten into watching as many 3D films as I have as of late, I've come to view certain aspects of 3D differently than I had before. Back then, I was highly impressed with films that were high on pop out fun. But the more films I watched that tried poking things out of the screen often, the more the thrill effect seemed to just kinda wear off. I still enjoy some good 3D madness, just not quite to the same degree as before. Conversely, I have also learned to enjoy that 3D doesn't just have to be used for some dumb, gimmicky fun. In the right movie with the right direction, it can also simply just make the world of the movie all the more inviting, immersive, and full of small details your eyes can get lost exploring. And in films like Titanic and Jurassic Park where the environment of the film itself is part of the attraction, the 3D becomes almost a crucial part to its experience. That's why many animated films just tend to work well with 3D. They're often naturally bright, vibrant, and colorful. And so going back onto it with fresh eyes, I find Finding Nemo's 3D to not only be better than I remember, but also the definitive way to see it.
One of the best things that Finding Nemo does as a film that translates well into its 3D usage is the way its camera direction and composition place you right beside our tiny fish protagonists and makes the environment around them feel all that much bigger. It greatly emphasizes the stakes that Marlin has to overcome in order to find his son by showing off just how huge the ocean is. But even in someplace as modest as a dentist office, you still feel right at home alongside those fish in the tank. Finding Nemo wasn't filmed with 3D in mind, which in something that would typically hurt an ordinary film's chances of working in 3D. But here, the way the film naturally takes in its underwater environment allows much to get engaged in on the 3D side of things. You can look past all the different tentacles on the sea anemone Marlin and Nemo live in, there are particles and bubbles floating around pretty much non-stop (there's one scene in particular which utilizes lots of green moss), fish and other such creatures swim all around the frame, sometimes in schools, you can look down onto the sea floor which can include everything form sand to grass to rocks to sponges, you can get lost looking off at a boat or a whale in the deep blue horizon, and there's some nice composition involving the ocean surface which stretches out as far as the eye can see. There are also some neat reflection shots that appear a time or two involving the ocean surface or the glass tank. Even in the aforementioned fish tank, there's still some great 3D composition involving plants, a volcano, a claustrophobic tank filter, and even some mild dirt on the sides of the tank that not only help separate the environment inside the tank from what's outside, but also make the dentist room feel all that much larger. And there's even a few pretty great shots where Nemo and/or Gill look out the window of the dentist room onto the city of Sydney far away.
There are plenty of highlights throughout Finding Nemo's 3D presentation. One of the earlier ones involves Bruce the shark when he takes Marlin and Dory to his battleship hideout complete with a field of floating mines held to the ground by chains, an overgrown internal of the battleship, and plenty of long corridors that become claustrophobic when Bruce starts chasing them. Later, Marlin and Dory end up on the pitch black bottom of the ocean, with the rocky ground lit up only by an anglerfish's light. The pair end up everywhere from a jellyfish field, the East Australian Current full of schools of turtles surrounded by cylinder-like streams of water, the claustrophobic inside of a whale's mouth, and in a pelican's mouth as he flies away from a flock of birds. On Nemo's side of things, he ends up in a narrow tube a couple of times, swims through a volcano spouting bubbles, and finds himself in danger of a young girl named Darla who likes tapping on the tank glass.
On the pop out side of things, there isn't much in the way of gimmicky fun. There are some neat shots of turtles or fish swimming towards the camera (there's one scene involving a menacing fish early on that I bet would've made me jump, but the disc I was using was scratched, and only in that one scene no less), a ship falling our way, birds, a falling mask, and spraying water. But there aren't terribly frequent. But like I said before, that's because this film uses its 3D on the subtler side. And there are plenty of times objects protrude the screen in that fashion. Like I said before, there's an ample amount of plankton and particles that hang about. But some of my favorite usages of screen protrusion involve the fish, which float about within arms reach, making you feel all that much closer to our protagonists. Besides that, there's also the much subtler stuff such as pieces of the environment like rocks, bubbles, plants, and other such things.
I, like many other people, don't believe everything should be converted to 3D. But as films like Finding Nemo show us, if the right people pick the right film and give it the right treatment, we can see 3D gold appear from places we never thought it could come. I bet no one was really asking to see Finding Nemo in 3D. However, Disney played their cards right and not only ended up with an $69.3 million on a re-release of an old film, but also gave us a 3D conversion that's more than worth writing home about. Is it up there with the likes of Kung Fu Panda? Well, comparing any 3D conversion to that film would just be unfair. But like any good 3D film, it utilizes the 3D so that not only does it give us some decent 3D views, but also immerses you in the story of the characters. Films like Jaws and Monsters Inc. are great examples of films that weren't filmed with 3D in mind, but managed to create an unforgettable experience superior to the 2D version. And now, Finding Nemo can join that list.
3D RATING: EXCELLENT
OTHER SOURCES THAT REVIEW THIS MOVIE'S 3D
Cinemablend's To 3D or Not Review: https://www.cinemablend.com/new/3D-Or-3D-Buy-Right-Finding-Nemo-Ticket-32968.html
High-Def Digest's Review: https://bluray.highdefdigest.com/7143/findingnemo_3d.html
Go Find Fun's Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV-x67PlMdE
FINAL THOUGHTS
Finding Nemo is a fantastic movie for everyone of all ages full of humor, heart, and visual pleasance. You know that. What you're here for is whether or not Finding Nemo is worth picking up in 3D. The answer to that is absolutely. It opens up the world of this film in a whole new light and puts you right alongside Marlin as he tries to navigate the vast, perilous sea to find Nemo, and right alongside Nemo as he tries to find a way out of the fish tank along with his friends before the dreaded Darla arrives. If you're looking to see this old classic in a new way, the 3D version of Finding Nemo is certainly the way to go. And if you're seeing this for the first time, do yourself a favor and pick this up. It'll make your first viewing all that much better.
BUY IT HERE
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