Evaluation essay focused on the animation film ‘Finding Nemo’.

Evaluation essay focused on the animation film ‘Finding Nemo’.

During the summer of 2003, Pixar Studios made a big opening for their fascinating animation film ‘Finding Nemo’. The animation film was directed by Andrew Stanton whose deputy was Lee Unkrich. ‘Finding Nemo’ was based on a young clown fish that ended up in an aquarium forcing his parents and friends to launch a search (Stanton et al., 2016). In the adventure that ensues, the directors introduce their audience to various themes such as parents letting go, child inadequacy and other important yet fascinating life lessons. However, as this evaluation essay will eventually reveal, the main theme was slightly misplaced since the early 2000s were marred by many cases of irresponsibility among the youth. Consequently, this animation film’s theme of parents letting go could have been contradictory.

Although the producers chose their talent well, the film’s main strength was its introduction and development of the theme of parents letting go. Nemo gets lost while his parents get overly worried while they mount a major search. Marlin, who is Nemo’s father, is particularly worried since he has a relatively small fin (Hom, Loter, & Mackerel, 2011). The small fin represents some character trait that makes parents hold on to their children for unnecessary long periods of time. Therefore, ’Finding Nemo’ introduces the concept of parents attachment to their children and how the same could be unhealthy.

Currently, many parents identify particular traits in their children and associated them with either strength or vulnerability. This concept get a fresh new look as Stanton introduces a young clown fish with a small fin that worries his father. When Nemo gets lost forcing Dory and Nemo’s parents to find him, his father is worried about the small fin and how it might affect his survival ‘out there’ (Marsoli, Sciarrone, & Hoopla digital, 2016). This particular concept represents the current practice among parents where they seek vulnerabilities in their children and agonize over them at the expense of support system development (Militz & Foale, 2017). However, the film demonstrated that even as parents remain worried, their children succeed in overcoming perceived vulnerabilities and overcome life challenges.

The animation film ‘Finding Nemo’ revolves around a clown fish that gets lost alongside with his friend Dory. While they try to find their way back home, the clown fish and his friend meet three sharks Bruce, Chum and Anchor who though pretending to be vegetarians, are in fact scheming evil plans. This relationship marries into director Stanton’s earlier intention of teaching parents to identify when to let go (Stanton et al., 2016). Although Nemo was constantly in danger, he finds ways to stay safe and prevails. Additionally, the directors also demonstrate the power of good friends in young individual’s lives. Although Dory has short term memory loss, he always finds solutions for the challenges the two faced in their quest to find their way back home. Therefore, ‘Finding Nemo’ also develops good demonstrations of the influence of good friendships in young peoples’ lives.

One interesting metaphors the directors use to demonstrate the hardships of the world comes up at the start of the film. Nemo’s parents had a tough start when they partnered after losing all their eggs to a barracuda. Additionally, even the only egg that has been left is slightly damaged as is evidenced in Nemo’s short right fin. However, the ability of the Marlin and Coral to weather these harsh challenges and raise the solo clownfish appropriately is evident in the frantic search following his disappearance (Ray, 2011). ‘Finding Nemo’ may have a gloomy fairy tale beginning that reminds one of other animation classics such as ‘Cinderella’ or ‘Sleeping Beauty’ but the developments lead to a good end. The animation film cements itself as another successful animation film that idolizes family ties and unity in the face of adversity. The latter was especially important given that the United States was still recovering from the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Indeed, ‘Finding Nemo’ demonstrated the American capability to rally its citizens in a wave of support as the country went to war in Iraq. The film represented one of the country’s many film productions advancing the agenda of unity.

Although the characters in the animation film ‘Finding Nemo’ suffer from little character development, the setting is well defined. One of Hollywood’s hardest animation tasks is rejuvenating underwater scenes while maintaining the deep blue sea feeling. Many films before and even after failed in this task (Hom, Loter, & Mackerel, 2011). However, Stanton and his crew do a fantastic job leading to the fascinating environment the film seems to revolve around. Even scenes created out of the water such as the dentist’s office are accurate and sharp; which is a great fete for a marine-based animation film. The directors seemed keen to make their audience forget that the entire film lacks in character development instead concentrating on the expedition of a young naïve clown fish and his demented blue tang friend.

While the animated film introduces and develops themes such as parental overzealousness, family ties and positive relationships, its portrayal of Marlin as an overzealous father is somewhat exaggerated.  The clown fish father figure lost his partner and 399 eggs early on in the film and becomes overprotective of his only son. However, the film’s keenness to demonstrate this concept may have been shadowed by reality in the American society where many parents lose their children to society because of loosening their grip (Militz & Foale, 2017). The use of a lesbian in the form of Ellen Degeneres also erodes social expectation as homosexuality did not enjoy the same acceptance it does currently. Therefore, while the film started off with the right thematic intentions, its choice of character and the developed themes contrast with the social expectations and reality.

‘Finding Nemo’ was huge animation film when Pixar Studios released it back in summer of 2003. The film, directed by Andrew Stanton, featured renowned talent in the voices of Ellen Degeneres and William Dafoe. It featured a young clown fish named Nemo who gets lost after a dentist captures prompting his father to start a frantic search. The young clown fish is accompanied by Dory who has memory problems. Throughout the film, strong themes such as parental love, overzealous parenting, positive relationships among the youth and unity in the face of adversity undergo development. However, the film does fall short in some aspects as with all animation and family-themed films. First, the development of the theme of parents learning to let go seemed misplaced since American society suffered many cases of juvenile delinquency in the early to mid-2000s. Additionally, the choice of a lesbian in the voice of a major character may have eroded the film’s image in a society that was yet to embrace homosexuality.