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Finding Nemo

From Pixar Wiki

Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Lee Unkrich
Written by: Andrew Stanton
Bob Peterson
David Reynolds
Release date: May 30, 2003
Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Full Credits Trivia
Home Video Awards
Soundtrack Characters
Merchandise Locations

Finding Nemo is the fifth Disney/Pixar feature film, produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on May 30, 2003. It is the best selling Pixar movie to date and ranks in the top 20 best selling movies of all time for both domestic and worldwide markets [1].

The movie was released on a 2-disc DVD on November 4, 2003 in the United States. It became the best selling DVD of all time, with 28 million copies sold. [2]

Contents

Plot

Marlin, a clownfish, loses his wife, Coral, and all but one of his unborn children to a marauding barracuda. He promises that he will never let anything happen to the remaining egg which he names Nemo, because that was one of Coral's favorite names.

Years later, Nemo -- born with a deformed fin -- begins his first day at school and is frustrated and embarrassed by his overprotective father. This is taken to such an extreme that Nemo deliberately disobeys his father by swimming out into open water. In the process he is captured by a diver, who immediately leaves on a speedboat.

Marlin chases after the speedboat, but soon loses it. Asking for directions, he meets Dory, a blue tang with "short-term memory loss". She helps him find out Nemo has been taken to Sydney and the two of them travel there on the East Australian Current. During their time together Dory teaches Marlin to be more carefree.

Meanwhile, Nemo is placed in a fish tank in a dentist's office. He discovers that he is to be the birthday present of the dentist's niece Darla, "a fish killer" according to the other fish in the tank. It appears that she simply gets over-excited and shakes the fish bag too much. Gill, one of the fish in the tank, proposes an escape plan involving Nemo jamming the filter in the tanks, which Nemo attempts, but initially fails at.

Meanwhile, Marlin and Dory, meets fish-friendly sharks, who had sworn not to eat a fish and to have a buddy. But Marlin notices the main clue as to Nemo's whereabouts is mask (water goggles). But when he and Dory fight over how to read it, it hits her nose, causing a small nose bleed, which Bruce accidentally sniffs, causing him to go wild; his shark friend tried to restrain him as the two fish try to escape. But an accidental torpedo launch causes every depth charge near by to explode, though no one gets killed. Unfortunately, while sleeping, the sub they're on is about to tumble down into the depths, as well as the mask. The two fish follow it down, as the darkness overtakes them. Dory's forgetfulness causes her to think Marlin is her conscience before they see a light, but it turns out to be a lure from anglerfish. Marlin keeps it busy while Dory tries to read the mask, which directs to someplace called Sydney. A school of fish to take the Eastern Australian Current, but advises Dory to go through the trench, but she forgets. Marlin paranoia of the trench has them swim above it, only to find a school of jellyfish. Luckily, the tops of the jellyfish don't sting, they treated it like a game. But Dory fails to get out, having been stung repeatedly. Marlin manages to get her out before passing out. He later awakes with a legion of sea turtles on the EAC. After getting near their destination, they accidentally get swallowed by a whale, who was chasing krill. while inside, Dory tries to "talk" to him and the whale tells them to let go as he sprouts them out. The tale travels faster than Marlin by way of gossip among the sea creatures and eventually Nemo hears it from Nigel, a brown pelican who occasionally comes to visit the fish in the tank. Upon hearing all of his Dad's adventures, Nemo is inspired to attempt to jam the filter again. This time he is successful. The tank begins to "get really really dirty." At this point in Gill's plan, the dentist would take the fish out of the tank and into small plastic bags. The fish would then roll out the window, onto an awning, across the street and into the conveniently situated harbour. However, the dentist installs a laser filter which cleans the tank while the fish are sleeping.

Marlin and Dory meet Nigel who agrees to take them to the dentist's office. While they are en route, the dentist puts Nemo in a bag to give to his niece, but Nemo gets the idea to pretend to be dead so that the dentist will flush him down the toilet, which will take Nemo to the ocean. Marlin, Dory and Nigel arrive at the office and are horrified to see Nemo "dead". Gill saves Nemo from getting thrown in the trash can instead of the toilet, and helps Nemo escape via the dentist's sink.

Marlin, depressed, determines to go home while Dory, becomes forgetful again until she meets Nemo. When she reads Sydney on a water tube, her entire memory suddenly returns and helps Nemo finds Marlin. She forces a crab to tell where Marlin went. Marlin and Nemo are reunited, but moments later they find that Dory is caught in a fishing net. Nemo has a plan to save her, but Marlin is reluctant to let him go for fear that he will lose him again. Marlin realizes he must let him go, and Nemo's plan succeeds. They return home and Nemo leaves for school, with Marlin telling him to "go have an adventure".

As an epilogue, the fishes in the dentist's fish tank are shown to succeed -- after a fashion -- in their last escape attempt after sabotaging the filter. However, they are still in their plastic bags, floating in the water. During the credits, it is shown they have left their bags.

Voice cast

Box office results

According to Box Office Mojo, Finding Nemo ranks number 1 of all Pixar movies in both the domestic (at $339.7 million) and international ($524.9 million) markets. Finding Nemo set a record as the highest grossing opening weekend for an animated feature, making $70 million (surpassed in 2007 by Shrek the Third). With a total domestic gross of $339.7 million, Nemo was, for a time, the highest grossing animated film of all time, eclipsing the record set by The Lion King. However, about a year later, 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 worldwide.

Awards

Finding Nemo was the first Pixar feature-length film to receive an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. It was nominated for three additional Academy Awards: Original screenplay (Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds); Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Score); and Achievement In Sound Editing. It also won a number of other awards.

Finding Nemo - The Musical

Larger-than-life puppets in a scene from the stage adaptation of Finding Nemo at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

A half-hour live show, Finding Nemo - The Musical, is performed four times daily at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando Florida. The show opened on January 24, 2007.

The show was written by Tony Award-winning Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez. [3] Tony Award-winning director Peter Brosius signed on to direct the show, with Michael Curry, who designed puppets for Disney's successful stage version of The Lion King, serving as leading puppet and production designer.

Anderson-Lopez said that the couple agreed to write the adaptation of "one of their favorite movies of all time" after considering "the idea of people coming in [to see the musical] at 4, 5 or 6 and saying, 'I want to do that'... So we want to take it as seriously as we would a Broadway show." To condense the feature-length film to thirty minutes, she said she and Lopez focused on a single theme from the movie, the idea that "the world is dangerous and beautiful." [4]

Several musical numbers take direct inspiration from lines in the film, including "(In The) Big Blue World," "Fish Are Friends, Not Food," "Just Keep Swimming," and "Go With the Flow." In January 2007, a New York studio recording of the show was released on iTunes, with Lopez and Anderson-Lopez providing the voices for Marlin and Dory, respectively. Avenue Q star Stephanie D'Abruzzo also appeared on the recording, as Sheldon/Deb.

It is unknown whether the show will be expanded and transfer to Broadway, though Walt Disney Parks & Resorts executive Ann Hamburger has said that "she would love for that to happen." [4] Nemo is notable for being the first non-musical animated film to which Disney has added songs to produce a stage musical.

Attractions

References

  1. ↑ [http://boxofficemojo.com/ Box Office Mojo
  2. ↑ "DVD continues spinning success", USA Today. January 5, 2005.
  3. ↑ "Avenue Q Composer Lopez Co-Pens Musical Finding Nemo for Disney," Ernio Hernandez, Playbill.com. April 10, 2006.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Swimming with big fish", Elizabeth Maupin, Orlando Sentinel. November 26, 2006.
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