Finding Nemo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Finding Nemo | |
|---|---|
 Promotional Poster For Finding Nemo |
|
| Directed by | Andrew Stanton Lee Unkrich (co-director) |
| Produced by | Graham Walters |
| Written by | Andrew Stanton (story/script) Bob Peterson (script) David Reynolds (script) |
| Starring | Alexander Gould Albert Brooks Ellen DeGeneres Willem Dafoe Brad Garrett Allison Janney Austin Pendleton Stephen Root Vicki Lewis Joe Ranft Nicholas Bird Andrew Stanton Bob Peterson Eric Bana Bruce Spence Elizabeth Perkins |
| Music by | Thomas Newman |
| Cinematography | Sharon Calahan Jeremy Lasky |
| Editing by | David Ian Salter |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 30, 2003 |
| Running time | 100 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $94 million |
| Preceded by | Monsters, Inc. |
| Followed by | The Incredibles |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Finding Nemo is an Academy Award-winning computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. It was released in the United States/Canada on May 30, 2003, in Australia on August 28, 2003, and in the UK on October 10, 2003. The movie is the fifth Disney/Pixar feature film and the first to be released during the summer season.
The movie was released on a two-disc DVD on November 4, 2003 in the United States and Canada, and in Australia on January 16, 2004. It went on to become the best selling DVD of all time at 28 million copies sold.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film tells the story of a widowed clownfish named Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) who lives on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia [2]. Marlin, after losing his wife, Coral (Elizabeth Perkins), and all but one of his children in a barracuda attack, tries his best as a parent to protect his only remaining son Nemo (Alexander Gould), but has a tendency to over-parent and stifle his son. Because Nemo has a fin smaller than the other (his "lucky fin"), and because he promised to not let anything happen to him, Marlin constantly warns his son of the ocean's dangers (although he is clearly subjecting his son to his own neurotic agoraphobic tendencies).
On Nemo's first day of school, taught by Mr. Ray (Bob Peterson), Marlin is horrified that the class is heading out to the edge of the reef, and chases after them. Nemo follows some of his classmates out to the very edge, and see a boat anchored out in the open sea. The kids dare each other to get closer and closer to the boat. Nemo is hesitant, but then Marlin turns up and starts talking about Nemo not being ready for school yet. Annoyed by his father's constant overprotection, Nemo ventures out to the boat and touches it, to assert his independence. This time, Marlin is correct, and Nemo is netted up by a scuba-diving dentist. Marlin, despite not having left the reef since Coral's death, swims after the boat as it speeds away, but cannot keep up with it.
In one of the sea lanes Marlin bumps into Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a blue tang who claims she saw a boat pass by not too long ago. After a while of chasing after her, she starts swimming erratically, before wheeling around and telling Marlin to quit stalking her. It transpires that she is suffering from short-term memory loss. Deciding that following Dory will be no use, Marlin decides to travel on his own, only to bump into a great white shark, Bruce (Barry Humphries), who invites them to a "party" in a sunken U-boat surrounded by a minefield. His menacing manner belies his purpose: Bruce and his friends have formed a support group, to encourage them to give up eating fish, in order to improve the image of sharks everywhere.
While at this meeting, Marlin spots a diver's mask, which he recognises as the one the diver who took Nemo was wearing. In his excitement, he hits Dory's nose, who gets a nosebleed. This blood triggers a relapse of feeding frenzy in Bruce, who chases after them throughout the submarine as the other two sharks try to stop him telling him that fish are friends, not food!, and the word "food" exacerbates Bruce even more. When Dory reveals she can read, Marlin asks her to read the address written on the mask. She doesn't get a chance, as in the chase, Bruce accidentally throws a disused torpedo at the minefield, causing a massive explosion.
Meanwhile, Nemo is put in an aquarium in the dentist's office in Sydney, where he meets several other fish, such as Deb (Vicki Lewis), a damselfish who believes her reflection in the aquarium glass is her sister Flo, Bloat (Brad Garrett), a blowfish who tends to inflate when over-excited, Bubbles (Stephen Root), a yellow tang, who likes bubbles (in a maniacal way), Peach (Allison Janney), a starfish who tends to explains what's going on outside of the tank, Gurgle (Austin Pendleton), a royal gramma who is germaphobic, and Jacques (Joe Ranft), a French Pacific cleaner shrimp who has a habit of always cleaning. He also meets the pelican Nigel (Geoffrey Rush), who likes to watch the dentist perform dental procedures and discuss them with the fish in the aquarium.
The dentist reveals that he believed that, because of his small fin, Nemo was struggling out at the reef and that he "rescued" him, in order to give him to his niece Darla, as a birthday present. Nemo is terrified to learn that the last fish she got died when she kept shaking the bag. In his panic, he gets trapped in the water filtration unit. The fish look for some fake vines to pull him out, but suddenly are told to stop by Gill (Willem Defoe), their de facto leader. He speaks calmly to Nemo, assuring him he can wriggle out himself. Nemo says he can't, because of his bad fin, for that's what Marlin always said. Gill comments that it never stopped him, and shows Nemo that his own fin is badly damaged. Inspired by this, Nemo wriggles out of the pipe, much to the delight of the fish.
Marlin and Dory are sleeping inside the mask, which is caught on part of the submarine. When Marlin wakes up and tries to rouse Dory, she jerks awake, which is enough to cause the submarine to lurch, casting the mask into a deep, dark chasm. Marlin and Dory cautiously feel their way down, eventually becoming hypnotised by a strange light. The spell is broken when it is revealed to be a hungry anglerfish, who attacks them. As Marlin swims for his life, Dory reads the address on the mask. They eventually have to leave it behind, as they use it to trap the anglerfish so they can escape. Dory recites the address perfectly, which is a big deal for her, because she doesn't remember things very well. They continue on their way, Dory happily repeating the address: P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney.
That night, Nemo is sleeping in a diver's helmet, when Jacques wakes him up and gets him to follow him. All the fish are chanting around a plastic volcano, which they call "Mount Wannahockaloogie", (Wanna Haock A Loogie) with Gill presiding over Nemo's "initiation" into their club. After he successfully swims through a stream of bubbles from the volcano, Gill names Nemo "Shark Bait", and outlines his plans for the fish to escape: Nemo will swim into and sabotage the water filtration unit. With the unit broken, the tank will eventually become filthy, and the dentist will have to put them in individual plastic bags while he cleans it. While in these bags, the fish will roll out the window and into the harbour. Emboldened by his new friends, Nemo agrees to it.
Marlin and Dory are still swimming, Dory reciting the address. Marlin tries to ask a school of moonfish (all voiced by John Ratzenberger) for directions. They completely ignore him. Marlin tries to tell Dory that he doesn't need her anymore, but she starts crying. The moonfish return, and try to cheer her up with impressions. She eventually tells them about Marlin's problem, and they give her directions to the East Australian Current, which will take them right to Sydney. As Marlin swims excitedly away, they also warn Dory that when they approach a trench, to swim through it, not over it. She acknowledges this and swims after Marlin.
Dory catches up with Marlin just as they reach the trench the moonfish described. However, her memory of the warning has faded to just an uneasy feeling about going over the trench, which Marlin, who didn't hear the warning and is scared of how dangerous the trench looks, finds ridiculous. He distracts Dory and swims over it. The EAC in sight, all seems to be going well, until they are suddenly surrounded by dangerous jellyfish. Marlin tries to lead them out to open water, but they get stung several times, falling unconscious as they clear the jellyfish.
As the dentist takes a bathroom break, the fish put their plan into action. Nemo swims inside the filtration unit and jams the cogs with a pebble. He then proceeds to swim through the now still pipe. However, the pebble comes loose, and the unit starts up again, the pipe sucking Nemo back to a fan which will shred him. The fish barely get him out. Peach (Allison Janney), a seastar, tells Gill that they won't be doing that again. Gill, who had been caught up in his own desire for freedom, agrees.
When Marlin awakes, he is on the back of a sea turtle, Crush (Andrew Stanton), inside the EAC. Crush tells him about how he took on the "jellies" with amazement. Marlin looks down at Dory, seemingly unconscious. Marlin swims down to her, feeling responsible for ignoring her warnings, when she suddenly wakes up: she was just playing hide and seek with the younger turtles, including Squirt (Nicholas Bird), Crush's son. When Squirt falls behind, Marlin goes to rescue him, but Crush stops him, wanting to see how Squirt handles himself. Squirt regains control and catches up with the group, much to Crush's excitement. Marlin asks Crush how he knew Squirt would do that. Crush says you can't really know, that you just have to let go one day.
Marlin then proceeds to tell the turtles (and Dory, who has forgotten most of it), everything that has happened to him. The turtles tell passing fish, who in turn tell their friends, and eventually, the whole ocean knows of Marlin's quest to find Nemo. Eventually, the news reaches Sydney Harbour, where Nigel is talking with his Pelican friends. Upon hearing Nemo's name, he races to the dentist's office to tell Nemo that his dad is looking for him. Inspired by his father's heroic escapades, and before anyone can stop him, Nemo swims back into the filtration unit and successfully sabotages it, and gets out without any trouble. All the fish have to do now is make sure the tanks gets as dirty as possible.
After a while, Marlin and Dory part ways with the turtles as the EAC "exit" for Sydney approaches. Before they leave, Crush informs Marlin that he is 150 years old, "and still young". Marlin makes a note to tell Nemo, who had asked about it. However, with the current gone, the sea is devoid of landmarks they can use for directions. Marlin spots what he thinks is a small fish, but it turns out to be a whale. Dory tries speaking to him in "whale" (very slowly), and Marlin stops her, thinking it ridiculous. She asks him to trust her. He's about to retort when he spots a scar under her fin, from when the Jellyfish attacked them. Remembering what happened the last time he ignored her, he lets her continue. Eventually, the whale swallows them, leaving them trapped in its mouth.
Back at the tank, it's completely filthy. The dentist notices this and resolves to clean it before Darla arrives, much to the fish's joy and excitement.
In the whale, Marlin keeps trying to burst through its mouth, to no avail. Dory swims down to comfort him, and Marlin comments that he promised he'd never let anything happen to Nemo. Dory thinks this a silly promise to make, for if nothing happened to him, life would be boring. They don't have time to contemplate this, as the water in the whale's mouth is receding. According to Dory's translation, the whale wants them to swim to the back of its throat, which Marlin thinks is an attempt to eat them. Holding on to the whale's tongue as the water recedes, Dory encourages Marlin to let go and slide into its throat.
- "B-but how do you know nothing bad will happen?"
- "I don't!"
Marlin finally lets go. The two fish are blasted through the whale's spout, and land in Sydney Harbour. After thanking the whale, they start looking for the boat that Nemo was taken in.
The next morning, the fish in the tank wake up, excited that they're going to escape. However, to their horror, they realize the tank is clean. The dentist fitted an electronic filtration unit as they slept, which has automatically cleaned the entire tank. With no time to sabotage it or dirty the tank, they panic about what they're going to do. The dentist suddenly uses a net to grab Nemo. In desperation, all the fish swim into the net and swim down with enough force to knock the net out of the dentists hand. This victory is short-lived, as the dentist just scoops up Nemo in a bag and puts him in a safe place so he can't roll away. Then, to the violin music from Psycho, Darla arrives.
Marlin and Dory are still swimming about the harbour, looking for the boat. They are suddenly scooped up by a pelican who tries to swallow them, only for Marlin to jam himself in his throat, watching this pelican choke, Nigel sees the two fish. He heimlichs the pelican, and tries to convince the fish to trust him, when a flock of seagulls (All voiced by Andrew Stanton) surround them. After flying around the harbour with Marlin and Dory in his mouth, Nigel shakes them off and heads to the dentist.
The dentist is about to give Nemo to Darla, when he notices Nemo is "belly up", much to the horror of the fish. However, Nemo winks slyly at them: he's pretending to be dead so the dentist will flush him down the toilet, as the drains will lead to the ocean. However, the dentist does not approach the toilet, but instead heads towards the trash can. In the nick of time, Nigel, egged on by Marlin, flies in the room. In the resulting bedlam, Marlin sees Nemo belly up, and assumes the worst. The dentist gets Nigel out of the surgery, and Darla picks up Nemo's bag and starts shaking him violently. Gill hatches a plan which sees him launched out of the plastic volcano, landing on Darla's head, flopping constantly, trying to make her release Nemo from her hand. She drops the bag on the dental tool tray, making it burst. With Darla screaming incesently, Gill dives onto the tray in front of Nemo. Exhausted and near to death from suffocation, Gill tells Nemo to tell his dad that he said hi, and gives one last strength to flip over on the handle of a dental mirror Nemo was laying on, causing him to fling into the chair-side sink like a catapult, and gets sucked into the drain. Laying there suffocating on the tray, Gill gets spotted by the dentist, and gets put back in the tank, just in time. With the tank gang's confidence that Nemo will be all right, Nemo gets sucked down through through a bunch of sewage into the ocean.
At the edge of Syndey Harbour, Nigel leaves off Marlin and Dory and offers his sympathies before leaving. With nothing left, Marlin swims away. Dory begs him not to go, because while he's been around, she's remembered things better, and she doesn't want to forget their friendship. Marlin says he does want to forget it, and leaves her, swimming along a pipe.
At a hole in this pipe, Nemo pops out, having followed the drains to the ocean. He starts searching for his father, only to find Dory, agitated and anxious because she thinks she's lost something, but can't quite remember. Since they're both looking for something, Nemo offers to go with her. Upon telling her his name, Dory comments: "Nemo?! That's a nice name..." The two swim along the pipe, until Dory spies a word which, with difficulty, she reads as "Sydney", the word jolts her memory of the past few days. Re-recognising Nemo, she takes him to find Marlin.
Marlin is swimming apathetically among a group of trout, when he hears someone calling for him., he turns around to find it's Nemo and Dory. The happy reunion is short-lived, as a trawler is catching all the fish. Dory pushes Marlin and Nemo out of the way, only to get trapped herself. Determined to rescue her, and with his Father's reluctant approval, Nemo slips inside the net and encourages all the fish to swim down, like Gill did in the tank. Eventually, they apply enough force that the net breaks off the ship, and all the fish are free. Nemo, however, is knocked out on the sea bed. Marlin approaches him gently, his mind cast back to the night he found Nemo after Coral was killed. Nemo wakes up and the two reconcile, Marlin telling Nemo how old sea turtles can be.
Some time later, Marlin is much more outgoing, excitedly waking Nemo up in their home as he takes them to school. While waiting on Mr. Ray, he bumps into Dory, who is hanging out with her new friends, the sharks. Mr. Ray arrives, and Nemo climbs aboard, along with Squirt, who is on transfer from the EAC. Just before Mr. Ray leaves, Nemo hugs Marlin and tells him he loves him, before they go off to explore the reef.
Back in the surgery, the dentist is complaining about the electronic filter, which has mysteriously broken, despite a lifetime guarantee. He then notices the fish have disappeared. Across the street, Peach is the last of the fish to splash down into the Harbour. Everyone, still in their bags, cheers that they've escaped. After a short pause, one asks "So, now what?"
[edit] Box office
Finding Nemo set a record as the highest grossing opening weekend for an animated feature, making $70 million (surpassed in 2004 by Shrek 2). It was, for a time, the highest grossing animated film of all time, eclipsing the record set by The Lion King. However, in less than four weeks of release, Shrek 2 surpassed Finding Nemo's domestic gross. By March 2004, Finding Nemo was one of the top ten highest-grossing films ever, having earned over $850 million US.
[edit] Totals
- Budget: $90,000,000
- Marketing cost: $4,000,000
- Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic): $70,251,710
- Total Domestic Grosses: $339,714,978
- Total Overseas Grosses: $524,911,000
- Total Worldwide Grosses: $864,625,978
[edit] Voice actors and characters
Additional voices provided by Jeff Pidgeon, Jessie Flower, Aaron Fors, Leland Grossman, Bradley Trevor Greive, Jess Harnell and Marc John Jefferies
[edit] Wider effects
The film's prominent use of clownfish prompted mass purchase of the animals for children's pets in the United States, even though the movie portrayed the use of fish as pets negatively and saltwater aquariums are notably tricky and expensive to maintain.[1] As of 2004, in Vanuatu, clownfish were being caught on a large scale for sale as pets, motivated by the demand.[2]
At the same time, the film had a central theme that "all drains lead back to the ocean." (A main character escapes from imprisonment by going down a sink drain and ending up in the sea.) This allegedly caused many children to flush their living fish down toilets in imitation of the picture. Major sewage companies teamed with Disney to release press statements that attempted to address the situation with humor. "Although all drains DO lead to water," they read, "water always passes through a turbine before leading to the ocean."[citation needed] Of course, in the case of Sydney, much of the sewer system does pass directly to outfall pipes deep offshore, without a high level of treatment (although pumping and some filtering occurs).[3]
The French children's book author Franck Le Calvez sued Disney, claiming that the story and the characters were stolen from his book Pierrot Le Poisson-Clown (Pierrot the Clownfish). The idea of Pierrot was protected in 1995 and the book was released in France in November 2002. [4] [3] Franck Le Calvez and his lawyer, Pascal Kamina, demanded from Disney a share of the profits from merchandising articles sold in France. Le Calvez and Kamina lost the lawsuit on March 12, 2004, but intended to file an appeal on October 5. [citation needed]
Tourism in Australia strongly increased during the summer and autumn of 2003, with many tourists wanting to swim off the coast of Eastern Australia to "find Nemo." [citation needed] The Australian Tourism Commission (ATC) launched several marketing campaigns in China and the USA in order to improve tourism in Australia many of them using Finding Nemo movie clips. [4] [5] Queensland, Australia also used Finding Nemo to draw tourists to promote its state for vacationers. [6]
[edit] Animals featured
 |
|
|
- Clownfish (Marlin, Coral and Nemo)
- Regal tang (Dory)
- Great white shark (Bruce)
- Mako shark (Chum)
- Hammerhead shark (Anchor)
- Sea Turtle (Crush and Squirt)
- Anglerfish (attacks Marlin and Dory when they go to retrieve mask)
- Australian Pelican (Nigel and Gerald)
- Gull (seen on shore)
- Moorish idol (Gill)
- Porcupinefish (Bloat)
- Yellow tang (Bubbles)
- Damselfish (Deb)
- Royal gramma (Gurgle)
- Pacific cleaner shrimp (Jacques)
- Starfish (Peach)
- Spotted eagle ray (Mr. Ray)
- Long-Nosed butterfly fish (Tad and Phil)
- Flapjack Octopus (Pearl and Bob)
- seahorse (Sheldon and Ted)
- Flounder (seen trying to chase off some young fish)
- Parrotfish (seen in class]]
- Jellyfish (Marlin and Dory have to get past a group of these)
- Blue Whale (takes Marlin and Dory to Sydney)
- Krill (seen being eaten by Blue Whale]]
[edit] Inaccuracies
- Female clownfish are bigger than the males.
- The cleaner shrimp is the best food for a pufferfish and thus would not be good tankmates.
- A whale's blowhole is not connected to its mouth.
[edit] Awards
The film received many awards, including:
- An Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
- Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards for Favorite Movie and Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie, Ellen Degeneres.
- Saturn Awards for Best Animated Film and Best Supporting Actress, Ellen Degeneres
- Seven different Annie Awards in multiple categories
Finding Nemo was also nominated for:
- Three additional Academy Awards (Original screenplay, Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds; Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Score); Achievement In Sound Editing)
- Three additional Saturn Awards
- Three additional Annie Awards
- A BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay
- A Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- Two MTV Movie Awards
[edit] Sequel
Since the great box office response to Finding Nemo in 2003 there have been rumors about a sequel. Now that Disney has purchased Pixar, there will likely be additional pressure from Disney for a Finding Nemo 2; however, one aspect of the merger agreement was that Pixar would be given back the rights to determine which of the Disney/Pixar films released to date would be made into a sequel. Pixar would also be tasked with creative responsibilty and control for the making of any and all sequels.
Circle 7 Animation, an in-house CGI production house started at Disney largely to create Disney sequels to Pixar movies, was disbanded shortly after the merger was announced. No substantive information is available as of October 2006. [5]
[edit] Finding Nemo - The Musical
- Finding Nemo - The Musical opened 12 November, 2006 in the Theater in the Wild at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World.
- Composer/lyricists Robert Lopez (2004 Tony Award for Avenue Q) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.
- Director, Peter Brosius, (artistic director of The Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, winner of the 2003 Regional Theatre Tony Award.) The Broadway "A Year With Frog and Toad," nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award, originated at Children's Theatre Company.
- Production combines dancers, acrobats, animated backdrops. and theatrical puppetry of Michael Curry, who designed the richly detailed character puppets seen in the Broadway version of Disney's The Lion King
- Lighting Design by Beverly Emmons [7 Tony Award Nominations]
- Marlin, Dory and Nemo are depicted by actors holding larger than life puppets while other characters utilize a number of puppetry styles.
- Finding Nemo is produced for Walt Disney World Resort by Disney Creative Entertainment ( other productions around the world, include "Disney's Aladdin" (at Disneyland Resort in California), "The Lion King" (at Hong Kong Disneyland), "Twice Charmed" (on the Disney Cruise Line), and "The Golden Mickeys" (at Hong Kong Disneyland and on the Disney Cruise Line).
- Musical numbers include: "(In The) Big Blue World", "Fish Are Friends, Not Food", "We Swim Together", "Where's My Dad?", "Just Keep Swimming" and "Go With the Flow".
[edit] Cultural references
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since November 2006. |
[edit] In Finding Nemo
As usual with Pixar movies, Finding Nemo has many subtle references and sight gags.
- The title character's name alludes to Captain Nemo, the submarine captain in two of Jules Verne's novels: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (which was also released by Walt Disney in 1954) and The Mysterious Island.
- As Nemo is Latin for 'nobody', the title of Finding Nemo translates as "Finding Nobody".
- PeTA has a reference in which "Fish are friends, NOT food." is stated.
- Crush the Sea Turtle says "koo koo kachoo" at one point. This may be a reference to Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson", itself from The Beatles' song "I Am the Walrus". "Koo koo kachoo" is a common misperception of the lyric "goo goo g'joob."
- Mr. Ray sings a song, The Zones of the Open Sea (about the different biological regions of the ocean), which is a pastiche of Gilbert and Sullivan's Major General's Song.
- Mount Wannahockaloogie ("wanna hock a loogie") is the "mountain" in the dentist's aquarium. "Hock a loogie" is American slang for expectoration, a common occurrence in a dentist's office.
- The obligatory A113 inside joke: the scuba diver who briefly blinds Marlin uses a camera with model code "A-113."
- There are two nods to director Alfred Hitchcock:
- The dentist's office has a picture of Motif Number 1 hanging on the wall, a tribute by director Andrew Stanton to his hometown of Rockport, Massachusetts.
- During the scene with Marlin, Dory, and the school of fish, when the fish turn into the ship, they say "oh, it's a whale of a tale, I'll tell you lad...," a reference to the Walt Disney film adaptation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The main character, Nemo, is named after the anti-hero sea captain of that book.
- While Marlin and Dory are in a whale, Marlin calls the whale Moby, a reference to Moby Dick.
- Another nod to Stanton's roots: When the story of Marlin's journey is being spread throughout the ocean, one of the creatures telling the tale is a lobster with a Boston accent who uses the common local adjective, wicked ("It's wicked dahk down there, you can't see a thing..."). Unsurprisingly, this lobster was voiced by Stanton himself.
- Two of Dory's several misnamings of Nemo are "Chico" and "Harpo," references to the Marx Brothers. She also calls him "Elmo", the name of a popular Sesame Street character and St. Elmo the patron of sailors, and "Fabio," likely in reference to Fabio Lanzoni, the Italian male model.
- The first patient seen in the dentist's office is a Mr. Tucker. Tucker was the last name of a member of the storyboard team.
- Recurring use of the number 42, such as in P. Sherman's address ("42 Wallaby Way, Sydney") and the time it takes the dentist to use the restroom (4.2 minutes), is likely a reference to Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, in which the number 42 is supposedly the answer to the question of "Life, the Universe and Everything".
- The Great White Shark's name is Bruce, which may be a reference to the name given to the mechanical shark used to film the movie Jaws supposedly named after Steven Spielberg's lawyer. The writers were also aware that Barry Bruce, an Australian shark researcher with CSIRO, was radio tagging white sharks. Alternately, Bruce may just be considered to be a stereotypically Australian name.
- Bruce the shark has a scar on his nose in the shape of a four, this is a tribute to JAWS for which they made three mechanical sharks all named Bruce. This makes the shark in Finding Nemo the fourth Bruce.
- Several references to Monty Python's Flying Circus:
- The krill and Bruce shouting "Swim away!" during various scenes is a reference to the recurring line "Run away" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- Marlin forbidding Dory to sing is reminiscent of a scene in the Swamp Castle of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- In the scene where Bruce tries to eat the protagonists, Bruce says "Here's Brucie!" with his face showing through the door, alluding to Jack Nicholson's "Here's Johnny!" line in Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining.
- "Hop inside my mouth, if you want to live" is a reference to The Terminator series - it is used, in both Finding Nemo and The Terminator series, where a seemingly dangerous character is actually an ally.
- A notable portion of the production crew were Filipino, and the name "P. Sherman" was chosen because it sounds like how one with a Filipino accent would say the word "fisherman."
- The scene where Nemo defies his father and touches the bottom of the boat as Marlin continually warns him to stop is arguably reminiscent of the ice cream scene in Kramer vs. Kramer.
- Reference to Lilo & Stitch - Bubbles says "I knew it." in response to Nemo telling him the ocean ("the big blue") is, in fact, big and blue. Lilo replied in the same way when Nani told her that Nani's manager was an evil vampire that wanted Nani to join his cult of the undead.
- In the sunken submarine wreck, Dory sees an escape hatch with the word ESCAPE on it and says: "Esscoppay...looks like the word escape!" Dory's initial pronunciation of escape is really the Spanish pronunciation of escape.
- Character names of Finding Nemo seems to have several references to character names of SpongeBob SquarePants - The seahorse is named "Sheldon", and Nemo has a friend named "Sandy Plankton" - references to Sheldon Plankton and Sandy Cheeks.
- The seagull calls have been confirmed to be "Mine! Mine!" but many audiences hear them as saying "Mate!" in an exaggerated Australian accent.
[edit] To Other Pixar Films
There are several references to previous and forthcoming Pixar films.
- One of the toys that can be seen in the dentist's office is a Buzz Lightyear action figure from Toy Story.
- During Gill's outline of the escape plan:
- An M is for Monsters book is lying on the table, an obvious reference to Monsters, Inc..
- In the dentist room, an art project is featured hanging from the ceiling. This same handmade art piece is in Monsters, Inc., as it is made by the character Boo, and gets stuck to Sully's foot when he exits her room.
- Mike Wazowski, the green one-eyed monster from Monsters, Inc., swims across the screen as the credits roll.
- A patient in the dentist's office is reading a Mister Incredible comic book based on the then-forthcoming Pixar movie The Incredibles.
- The mermaid from "Knick Knack" can be seen on the ship's bow in the fish tank.
- One of the boat names is "For the Birds", a reference to the Pixar short For the Birds.
- There are several objects around the dentist's office, including a small device that says on the bottom, "Engineered by a bunch of Pixar TDs," with the alien from Toy Story next to it; this is a reference to the technical directors who create these objects for the sets. A diploma in the waiting room that shows the alien in the middle says "Pixar High School of Dentistry."
[edit] To Finding Nemo
- Pixar's previous film, Monsters, Inc., features three references to Finding Nemo, which was in production at the time of Monsters, Inc.'s release:
- At the Harryhausen's sushi restaurant, on the wall behind the octopus chef is a Finding Nemo wallpaper.
- The bayou room that Randall is whisked away to towards the end sports Nemo as a fishing trophy.
- When Boo is showing Sulley some of her toys, one of them is a Nemo squeaker toy.
- In the film Underclassman, Nick Cannon's character is scuba-diving and comes back up to the surface and says "I think I swallowed Nemo!"
- In a short scene near the start of Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Bugs is fishing and says, "Hey, I found Nemo!"
- The movie trailer for Flushed Away includes a scene where the main character Roddy is flushed into the sewer pipes and meets a small fish who asks, "Have you seen my dad?"
- During a scene in The Home Teachers, the main character Greg is trying to stop the flow of an overflowing toilet. He says, "Yeah, find the ocean. Find Nemo."
- The movie was parodied on The Wrong Coast as the animated version of The Search For Spock titled Finding Nemoy.
- In 2005, the movie was alluded to in the TV series Lost. One of the characters in the show, Shannon, is asked to translate some notes that are written in French. She later recognizes some of the notes as lyrics from a song played in the credits of a "cartoon fish movie." The song is Charles Trenet's "La Mer", the French original of Bobby Darin's classic "Beyond The Sea." She then proceeds to sing the song, confirming the connection, although she only refers to it as "the fish song" from that point on.
- In 2006, the movie was also mentioned on House when a seemingly overprotective mother explained that she knew that her sickly daughter needed to have some freedoms — "I need to loosen up... I saw Finding Nemo, I get it, I don't need another story," she quipped in frustration. Several episodes later, House made another reference to the movie, explaining that a little girl had gratification disorder by saying she was "marching the penguin... ya-yaing the sisterhood... finding Nemo."
- In an episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, when Jimmy is looking at a list of the greatest movies in the universe, a scene from Finding Nemo can be heard.
[edit] Trivia
- Finding Nemo was originally to be released in November 2002. [citation needed]
- The tikis in the tank are caricatures of three Pixar employees.
- This film was the first Pixar film to have a advisory warning put on its G rating in Australia, which said "Some scenes may frighten young children." [citation needed] This is obviously referring to Dory and Marlin's encounter with the hideous deep-sea anglerfish and Bruce the Shark's feeding frenzy. [citation needed]
- The movie was dedicated to Glenn McQueen, a Pixar Animator who died of Melanoma in October 2002.
- The royal gramma in the tank, Gurgle, is not actually addressed by name in the film script. The name of this character was worked out by fans though a process of elimination of the character list in the movie credits.
- The face of Gill was specifically designed to resemble Willem Dafoe who provided the voice.
- The small hut in the fish tank wherein Nemo sleeps in is called a "kubo", a nipa hut commonly found in farms and other agricultural areas in the Philippines. The animator of the kubo in the film is a Filipino.
- An internet pictorial joke, which circulated within a year after the film was released, bore the title "They found Nemo" and featured a typical group of sushi rolls that resembled Nemo.
[edit] Attractions
- Walt Disney World's Epcot: The Seas With Nemo And Friends
- Disneyland: Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
- Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom: Finding Nemo - The Musical
[edit] Attached short film
The theatrical and video/DVD release of this film includes Knick Knack, a Pixar short made in 1989.
[edit] References
- ^ Jackson, Elizabeth. "Acquiring Nemo", The Business Report, 29 November, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-11-10.
- ^ Corcoran, Mark. "Vanuatu - Saving Nemo", ABC Foreign Correspondent, 9 November, 2004. Retrieved on 2006-10-23.
- ^ Coastal sewage treatment plants operated by Sydney Water. Sydney Water (unknown date). Retrieved on 2006-11-26. North Head and Bondi would be the closest sewage treatment plants to the location of the film. Further explanation of "primary" sewage treatment can be found here.
- ^ Willsher, Kim. "Disney 'copied my idea for Nemo' claims French author", Telegraph, 28 December, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-11-10.
- ^ Mitchell, Peter. "Nemo-led recovery hope", The Age, 3 June, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-10-23.
- ^ Dennis, Anthony. "Sydney ignores Nemo", The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 August, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-10-23.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official Disney site
- Pixar's Finding Nemo site
- Finding Nemo at the Internet Movie Database
- Finding Nemo at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Finding Nemo at Rotten Tomatoes
- Finding Nemo at Metacritic
- Finding Nemo at Box Office Mojo
- Finding Nemo Sound Clips
- What Kind of Creature Is It? Finding Nemo - Cast of Characters
|
2001: Shrek | 2002: Spirited Away | 2003: Finding Nemo | 2004: The Incredibles | 2005: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit |
| Pixar Animation Studios |
|---|
| Feature Films: Toy Story (1995) • A Bug's Life (1998) • Toy Story 2 (1999) • Monsters, Inc. (2001) • Finding Nemo (2003) • The Incredibles (2004) • Cars (2006) • Ratatouille (2007) • Toy Story 3 (TBA) Short Films: Luxo Jr. (1986) • Red's Dream (1987) • Tin Toy (1988) • Knick Knack (1989) • Geri's Game (1997) • For the Birds (2000) • Mike's New Car (2002) • Boundin' (2003) • Jack-Jack Attack (2005) • One Man Band (2005) • Mater and the Ghostlight (2006) • Lifted (2006) See also: The Adventures of André and Wally B. • List of Disney theatrical animated features • Edit this template |
Categories: Wikipedia articles with plot summary needing attention | Articles that are too long | Articles with unsourced statements | Cleanup from November 2006 | All pages needing cleanup | 2003 films | Pixar feature films | Films featuring anthropomorphic characters | Films about animals | Fish out of water films | Best Animated Feature Academy Award winners | Kids' Choice Awards winners | American films | Computer-animated films | English-language films | Children's films | Hugo Award Nominee for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
