Movie Journals |
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Finding Nemo
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Finding Nemo With so many vibrant colors how could someone not see the appeal of Finding Nemo (101 minutes)? Pixar does amazing things with animation. The real-life motion and spectacular colors of the fish, reefs, and human world rival most cinematic experiences. Plot points come as expected and are easy to spot. Perhaps the degree of ease in finding plot points has a correlation to the degree of simplicity of the film. Plot point 1—Nemo gets lost, diver snatches Nemo swimming too far off the reef. Plot point 2—Nemo gets found, Dory finds Nemo (or rather, remembers who Nemo is and finds his father.) The most pronounced character arc is seen in Nemo’s father, Marlin. Although, the first time I saw the movie (yes, I admit I’ve seen it twice now), I thought Marlin was shown to be too scared by the end of the first act to have accomplished all that he did by the end of the second; however, this time I noticed that Marlin’s potential for bravery and having fun was there all along. From my research on character arc, I recall that in order to undergo a realistic transformation a character must have already had a nugget of potential for the change from the very beginning. Finding Nemo effectively shows this nugget of Marlin’s potential in the scene where he play chases his wife and swims away from the reef carefree. It was only the life-changing experience of losing his wife and all but one child that lead him to a constant state of fear. Neat how even in cartoons all the elements of good film can be spotted. Since I’m a Pixar junkie it is somewhat irrelevant to find out my opinion of the film because unquestionably it will be that I liked it. And I did like Finding Nemo.
Karen Walker 20 November 2003 |