Nemo!

Couldn't agree more. I'd gone into the movie with fairly low expectations (I mean, come on...Al Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres?!), and was simply floored by how much I enjoyed it. Gorgeous visuals, an amazing script, great performances — easily one of the best movies I've seen this year.

As a bit of a CGI junkie, what struck me most (beyond the wonderful story line, characters and and dialogue) was that this was the first computer-animated film during which I simply forgot it was computer-animated.

Highly recommend it, and yes, you just have to see it on the big screen.

I found Pixar's last film, Monsters Inc, to be one of their weaker offerings. Though certainly entertaining, it was missing a certain something.

Whatever that something is, Finding Nemo has it oozing out of the screen. The movie is a visual spectacular that never loses its funny, touching soul to the CGI. What gets me most is that this is probably Ellen Degeneres's funniest role. Every word she says is a riot!

I loved finding nemo. I went to the movie with 4 of my other friends and it was absolutly halarious. When the star fish said he was from eBay I was laughing my ass off. Unfortunatly, I was the only person in the theature that found it that funny so I was laughing by myself for about 3 minutes.

Hmm, watched it twice now and made arrangements to watch it several times more. Finding Nemo is layers and layers of goodness.
I was so happy about having seen it that I looked for some good links related to the movie.
http://www.witoldriedel.com/MT/archives/001554.shtml#001554 (sorry for just pasting the URL here.)
I think Andrew Stanton did a fantastic job here. I really love this movie.
And did anybody see the (famous) pizza truck?...

Agreed, Nemo is great. Being a Pixar freak, I'm always thrilled by the visuals of their stories, but more importantly, I feel that Pixar always puts the story first. Nemo is no exception.

One odd note, though... I'm always surprised by some of the reaction I get when friends or coworkers ask what movie I saw recently. If I say I saw Finding Nemo some people will automatically say, "Oh, do you have kids?"

I do have an 18-month-old son, but he's too young for the movies and that's really besides the point. Why do some folks think that animated works of art like Nemo are only made for kids? Strange...

I remember when Toy Story and Toy Story 2 came out. I raved and raved to everyone that they had to see these films. They're classics! But some people (not all, but a few) thought I was nuts. "Aren't those kid movies!?"

Has anyone else had an experience like that?

Todd, why would you link to Lucas Arts as one of the "other digital mavericks"? Lucas Arts makes computer games, not movies.

I think Pixar is reminding me that a good story is still the way to make a great movie.

I think a lot of people (Lucas included here) have forgone telling the story well and replaced it with telling disjointed stories that obviously bite off more than they could chew, but try to compensate for larger-than-life CGI. I think both new Star Wars films have suffered a little from this. I won't say they were bad movies, but they weren't The Empire Strikes Back, either.

Pixar just keeps cranking out movies with great graphics, but more importantly movies with great stories which are well-crafted, hilarious, touching and generally leave me feeling great about seeing them.

have you seen the trailer for the one coming later this year? i'm not going to spoil the story so go watch the trailer. it's on the apple site. i think as far as story lines and characters go, it will far surpass nemo.

Re: LucasArts

You're right. I quickly looked for any link to George Lucas and the second generation of Star Wars flicks and came up w/ that. It should be Lucasfilm.

i think pixar really understands that there's a HUGE market for kids movies with enough adult content to make it worth it for grownups to go. a lot of movies try and do this, but i think pixar does it acceptionally well.

I have not seen it yet because it wont be released here in the UK for another couple of months but I am sure I will love it because I own all the other pixar special edition dvds and they never seem to disappoint.

If you liked Finding Nemo, then why don't you get your self a copy of "The Blue Planet" a BBC documentary by David Attenborough and BBC Bristol, which I beleive has aired in the USA via the discovery channel. I read in wired that the pixar guys spent hours studying the footage of "the blue planet" widley touted as the best underwater nature documentary series ever. The visuals and animals are definatly inspired by "the blue planet".

Also did you know that demand for the "Nemo" fish has sored because of the movie ? The fish is actually I clown fish and now they are being scouped up by the thousand. See my blog entry at: http://www.smithpaul.com/archives/2003/06/23/high_demand_for_nemos.php

Count me on those who will wait till the DVD comes out - I am a fan of both classical and CGI animation, but the whole "kids movie" stigma quite gets me. Besides, watching a film with lots of screaming, crying, coke-burping, popcorn-munching brats isn't exactly my idea of getting out for an evening...

While it is evident Pixar knows its stuff and it shows, I would like to see the film critics (in my area at least) focus more on the story and less on all that digital trickery that is simply icing on the cake (it could be 2D, cutout, whatever) and that is no substitute for a well-written story, which is what keeps you on your seat for a film's length anyway.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2136732,00.html

Don't know if anyone stayed through the credits, but it had the Monster's Inc. dude at the very very end swimming with scuba gear on.

While it was an entertaining movie, I thought it was kind of sad. I could see how it might be as the mom dies first thing and the rest of the film was spent trying to unite father and son. It might hit too close to home for some (even if its only animation).

Maybe it was more for teenagers and adults (and I found the smoothed-over political comment about fish - "fish are friends not food"). Still, it was well crafted.

I almost bust a gut laughing when the Ellen DeGeneres fish was "talking" to the whales. I also laughed very loudly (alone, sigh) when the fish mentioned that the name of the volcano in the tank was Mt. Hockaloogie.

I had the luxury of going with 8-yr-old twin nieces, but I've been meaning to go again with or without them. It is worth seeing on the big screen (afraid of screaming kids? go to a late night show) because it is visually stunning. I've also always thought that funny movies were funnier in a crowd.

For design issues.. whats with this: http://www.dreamworks.com/sharkslayer/

The logo reminds of something!! :P

Btw: Nemo is very very beautiful. lovely.

LOL! Did you also notice that within 5 hours that I checked the link above they actually REMOVED the little Nemo look-a-like type treatment? :-P

Somehow the word got out to the people at Sharkslayer too... LOL.

One day, I guess, there will be no way, you can make a new design.. everything is made! :D

"PhotoRealistic RenderMan" will be available to os x users pretty soon. check it out here: https://renderman.pixar.com/products/news/power_mac_G5.html

I remember when i first saw the likes of Toy Story 1+2, Shrek, Ice age and (the not so clever) Bugs life. I was completely blown away.

Pixar for me rule all that is digital and i simply cannot wait until Nemo is released over here in the UK