finding nemo

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.

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 one of the biggest selling DVD of all time at 22 million copies.^{citation needed]}

Plot

The film tells the story of a widowed clownfish named Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) who lives on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia [1]. Marlin, after losing his wife, Coral, and children in a barracuda attack, tries his best as a parent to protect his only remaining son Nemo, 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).

Embarrassed too often by his father's overprotection, Nemo ventures out into open water towards a fishing boat to assert his independence. This time, Marlin is correct, and Nemo is netted up by a scuba-diving dentist. Marlin, on his quest to rescue his son, soon meets Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres), a blue tang suffering from short-term memory loss. The companions travel a great distance, encountering various dangers (sharks, anglerfish, jellyfishes), in order to rescue Nemo from the dentist's office in Sydney. Meanwhile, Nemo is involved in a plot with the other fish in the aquarium to escape from the dentist's office and return to the ocean and Sydney Harbour to live their free lives again.

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.

Totals

• Budget: $90,000,000
• Marketing cost: $40,000,000
• 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

Voice actors and characters

Uncredited actors and characters

• Bob - Pearl's father
• Ted - Sheldon's father
• Bill - Tad's father
• Barbara - P. Sherman's secretary
• Gerald - Nigel's clumsy friend
• Dolphins, lobsters, and swordfish - spread the word about Nemo
• Davy Reynolds - one of P. Sherman's favorite patients (a take on David Reynolds, one of the writers of the movie)
• Mike Wazowski (of Monsters Inc.) - cameo appearance, swimming underwater in the end credits
• Mr. Johanson - flounder; resides at the school area. Sheldon, Pearl, and Tad enjoy playing in his "yard".
• Jellyfishes - a group of them surrounded Marlin and Dory

• Caroline Kindred
• Sandy Plankton - An associate of Nemo's (claims boats are "butts" and turtles live up to a 100 years)
• Anglerfish - the "monster" of the sea
• Chuckles - Darla's first fish; died when Darla shook his bag too much
• panchito- swallowed Dory and Marlin
• Barracuda - the fish that killed most of Marlin's family
• Squishy - a small jellyfish that stung Dory
• Blenny - the timid fish Anchor brings to the meeting,and later eats the "monster" in the end credits of the film
• Mr. Turtle - Crush's father and Squirt's grandfather
• Jeff Pidgeon
• Jessie Flower
• Aaron Fors
• Leland Grossman
• Bradley Trevor Greive
• Jess Harnell
• Marc John Jefferies

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. [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." This led to the term "Grinding Nemo". [3] Of course, in the case of Sydney, much of the sewer system does pass direct to outfall pipes offshore, without treatment (although pumping does occur).

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] [5] 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 has strongly increased during the summer and fall of 2003, with many tourists wanting to swim off the coast of Eastern Australia to "find Nemo." The Australian Tourist 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. [6] [7] Queensland, Australia also used Finding Nemo to draw tourists to promote its state for vacationers. [8]

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, M.D. 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."

Animals featured

In the wild

• Marlin, Coral, and Nemo: Clownfish
• Dory: Regal Blue Tang, Blue Tang fish, or Blue Hippo
• Bruce: Great White Shark
• Chum: Mako Shark
• Anchor: Hammerhead Shark
• Crush and Squirt: Sea Turtle
• "Monster": Anglerfish
• Nigel and Gerald: Brown Pelican
• Seagulls

In the tank

• Gill: Moorish Idol
• Bloat: Porcupinefish
• Bubbles: Yellow Tang
• Deb: Zebrafish
• Gurgle: Royal Gramma
• Jacques: Pacific cleaner shrimp
• Peach: Seastar

The class

• Mr. Ray: Spotted Eagle Ray
• Tad and Phil: Long-Nosed Butterfly Fish
• Pearl and Bob: Flapjack Octopus
• Sheldon and Ted: Seahorse

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

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, "enthusiastic" 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. [9]

Finding Nemo - The Musical

• Finding Nemo - The Musical opens 12 November, 2006 in the Theater in the Wild at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World.
• Composer/lyricists Robert Lopez (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
• 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).

Trivia

• As usual with Pixar movies, Finding Nemo has many subtle references and sight gags.
• As Nemo is Latin for 'nobody', the title of Finding Nemo translates as "Finding Nobody".
• Nemo is also backwards for Omen, which makes the title "Finding Omen" or "Finding an Omen"
• PeTA has a reference in which "Fish are friends, NOT food." is stated.
• Finding Nemo was originally to be released in November 2002.
• Crush the sea turtle says "koo koo kachoo" at one point. This may be a reference to The Beatles song "I Am the Walrus". "Koo koo kachoo" is a common misperception of the lyric "goo goo g'joob." Additionally, "koo koo kachoo" does appear in the Simon & Garfunkel song "Mrs. Robinson".
• 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. When Nemo jumps through the "Ring of Fire" at the summit of Mount Wannahockaloogie, he earns himself the new name Sharkbait.
• Marlin shouts out to one of Nemo's friends' father, "Ponyboy", which is the name of the main character in the teen novel The Outsiders.
• 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 overhead shot of the seagulls gathering to dive for Marlin and Dory stylistically echoes a similar gull scene in The Birds.
  • In the dentist's office, two shots of dangerous brat Darla's face are accompanied by the shrieking violin glissandi from the shower scene in Psycho.
• 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.
• 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 which shows the alien in the middle says "Pixar High School of Dentistry."
• 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.
• There are several references to previous and forthcoming Pixar films.
  • The Blue fish in the tank thinks that her reflection is actually her sister. She calls her "Flo". This is a reference to the new Pixar film,Cars, in which a character's name is Flo.
  • 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:
    • One of the cars which flashes by is a "Pizza Planet" delivery truck, as seen in Toy Story.
    • Vehicles from Cars can also be seen, including an early version of the character Luigi, which can be seen when the tank gang escapes.
  • 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.
  • The tikis in the tank are caricatures of three Pixar employees.
  • When Nigel the Pelican first appears in the movie, a picture of Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles can be seen.
  • One of the boat names is "For the Birds", a reference to the Pixar short For the Birds.
• 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". Also, one of the sharks has a particular dislike for dolphins, possibly another reference to Hitchhiker's, as dolphins are featured prominently in the series.
• 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.
• Several references to Monty Python's Flying Circus:
  • Bruce is also a reference to the famous Bruces sketch about a group of Australian university professors, all of whom are named Bruce.
  • 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, in which Kyle Reese says to Sarah Connor "come with me if you want to live" or more likely from the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day where Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers the line to Linda Hamilton, as he is seen as an enemy even though he wants to help.
• 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.
• The movie was dedicated to Glenn McQueen, a Pixar helper who died the year before its release.
• The purple and yellow fish in the tank, Gurgle, is not actually named 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.
• 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.
• This film was the first Pixar film to have a advisory warning put on its G rating in Australia. Is said "Some scenes may frighten young children." This is obviously referring to Dory and Marlin's encounter with the hideous deep-sea anglerfish and Bruce the Shark's feeding frenzy.

Film references 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."

Attached short film

Main article: Knick Knack

The theatrical and video/DVD release of this film include Knick Knack, a Pixar short made in 1989.

See also

• Competing films with similar plots
• List of animated feature films

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