Embedded with quirky comedy and deep insight, this contemporary animation tale revolves around Martin, a clownfish who lives in the Great Barrier Reef with his wife. When the young couple lose their son Nemo, who ventures into the open sea, despite his father's constant warnings about many of the ocean's dangers.
Nemo is abducted by a boat and netted up and sent to a dentist's office in Sydney. So, the usually timid Marlin bravely embarks upon a journey to try and bring Nemo safely back home, Marlin meets a fish named Dory, a blue tang suffering from short-term memory loss.
The companions travel a great distance, encountering various dangerous sea creatures such as sharks, angelfish and jellyfish, in order to rescue Nemo from the dentist's office, which is situated by Sydney Harbor. While the two are doing this, Nemo and the other sea animals in the dentist's fish tank plot a way to return to Sydney Harbor to live their lives free again. Will Nemo and his father be reunited? Will they succeed in swimming free once more?
Cast: Albert Brooks, Alexander Gould, Ellen DeGeneres
Crew: Andrew Stanton (Director), Jeremy Lasky (Director of Photography), Jericca Cleland (Director of Photography), Sharon Calahan (Director of Photography), Thomas Newman (Music Director)
Rating: G (Singapore), 12 (Hungary)
Genres: Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family
Release Dates: 30 May 2003 (India)
Tagline: 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by water. That's a lot of space to find one fish.
Did you know? Director Andrew Stanton did the voice of Crush the sea turtle. Stanton never intended to do the voice of Crush, only providing the voice for the film's rough cut, but when it proved popular in test screenings, he decided to do it for the final film. Stanton recorded all of Crush's dialogue lying on his couch in his office. Read More
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as Marlin
as Nemo
as Dory
as Peach
Supporting Actor
as Gurgle
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Bloat
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
as Bubbles
Supporting Actress
as Gill
Production
Producer
Production Company
Executive Producer
Associate Producer
Distribution
Writers
Screenplay Writer
Story Writer
Dialogue Writer
Camera and Electrical
Director of Photography
Sound
Sound Re-recording Mixer
Foley Artist
Sound Effects Editor
Animation
Animator
Casting
Casting Director
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital EX, DTS, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
1.33:1, 1.78:1, 1.85:1 (Flat), 2.35:1
Stereoscopy:
Shot in 3D
Taglines:
71% of the Earth's surface is covered by water. That's a lot of space to find one fish.
Sea it for the first time in 3D (2012 re-release)
Grab shell dude!
There are 3.7 trillion fish in the ocean*, they're looking for one.
Sea it.
Wet Yourself!
Fish are just like people, only flakier.
You've never seen fish prepared like this.
Come Fly With Me.
Jaws Will Drop.
From the Creators of Monsters, Inc.
Sea it for the first time in 3D (2012 re-release)
Grab shell dude!
There are 3.7 trillion fish in the ocean*, they're looking for one.
Sea it.
Wet Yourself!
Fish are just like people, only flakier.
You've never seen fish prepared like this.
Come Fly With Me.
Jaws Will Drop.
From the Creators of Monsters, Inc.
Movie Connection(s):
Filming Locations:
Trivia:
Pixar's characters are often planned years in advance. Nemo first appeared as a stuffed toy on a couch in Boo's room in Monsters, Inc. (2001). This movie introduces the main characters of post-2003 Pixar films. A boy in the dentist's office is reading a "Mr. Incredible" comic book, anticipating The Incredibles (2004). Luigi the car is driving by the dentist's office, anticipating Cars (2006).
The great white shark's name in the movie was Bruce. "Bruce" was the nickname given to the models used for the shark in the original Jaws (1975), named after Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer.
Andrew Stanton pitched his idea and story to Pixar head John Lasseter in an hour-long session, using elaborate visual aids and character voices. At the end of it, the exhausted Stanton asked Lasseter what he thought, to which Lasseter replied, "You had me at 'fish'."
When Gil is thinking ahead about how he and the fish will escape, as the camera pans toward and out the window, the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story (1995) can be seen on the outside.
The dentist's diploma is from Pixar University School of Dentistry.
In order for it to sound like Nigel had Marlin and Dory in his mouth, Geoffrey Rush held onto his tongue as he said his lines.
Director Andrew Stanton did the voice of Crush the sea turtle. Stanton never intended to do the voice of Crush, only providing the voice for the film's rough cut, but when it proved popular in test screenings, he decided to do it for the final film. Stanton recorded all of Crush's dialogue lying on his couch in his office.
Pixar developed a very realistic look of the surface water, but had to make it look more fake so people wouldn't think it was real footage of the ocean surface.
For the jellyfish sequence, Pixar's Ocean Unit created an entire new system of shading which they called "transblurrency" - see-through but blurred, much like a frosted bathroom window.
Director Andrew Stanton originally planned to reveal the fate of Marlin's wife gradually through flashbacks seen periodically as the story unfolded. After a few early in-house screenings, he found that Marlin came off as too much of a worrywart, and decided to reveal the entire back-story up front, thus making Marlin more appealing by establishing the reason for his over-protectiveness.
Dory does get Nemo's name right a total of 7 times, 4 of them without being corrected first. Of course some of these times are in quick succession. She also calls him Chico, Fabio, Bingo, Harpo, and Elmo, in that order.
Squirt the sea turtle is voiced by Nicholas Bird, the young son of Pixar director Brad Bird. Director Andrew Stanton was inspired to cast Nicholas when Brad Bird was showing home movies around the Pixar offices.
Among the toys in the waiting room are the jack-in-the-box and Buzz Lightyear and, on a shelf, the plane he used to "fly" in Toy Story (1995) and Pixar's trademark ball from Luxo Jr. (1986).
Nemo's father Marlin was originally voiced by William H. Macy. According to James Stewart's book "DisneyWar", it was after seeing an early cut of the film with Macy's voice that then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner infamously told his board of directors, "This will be a reality check for those guys...It's OK, but nowhere near as good as their previous films. Of course, they think it's great. Trust me, it's not." Director 'Andrew Stanton' recast the role of Marlin with Albert Brooks, and the film went on to get some of Pixar's best reviews ever and become the highest-grossing animated film of all-time.
Rendering a frame which lasted about 1/24th of a second in the film could take up to four days because of the complexity of the underwater environment with sunlight coming through the water and hitting fish scales.
Film makers were worried that comedienne Ellen DeGeneres might not be able to perform the dramatic scene where Dory begs Marlin not to leave, so at the end of a day of recording other scenes asked her to record a trial reading of the scene with the intention that she go home with a recording of it to work on her actual performance. DeGeneres agreed, but her trial reading was so heartfelt and emotional that (apart from a few small edits) this is what was used in the final cut of the film.
Afraid that kids would try releasing their pet fish by flushing them down a drain, a company that manufactures equipment used by water filtration and sewage treatment plants released a warning the Thursday after the film came out saying that, even though drains do eventually reach the ocean, before it got there the water would go through equipment which breaks down solids, and went on to say that in real life the movie would more appropriately be called "Grinding Nemo".
Albert Brooks was always Andrew Stanton's first choice to voice the part of Marlin. Although Brooks had done several episodes of The Simpsons (1989), he found voice work for a feature length cartoon to be substantially different in that he had to do it in isolation, and not alongside any other actors. He didn't particularly enjoy the experience.
Per the DVD extras, Albert Brooks spent an entire day in the recording studio improvising badly mangled versions of the anemone joke; no two tellings were fumbled in the same way. He had the recording technicians in stitches for the duration.
Though never mentioned in the film, it is revealed by the directors in the commentary that Crush and his crew of thrill-seeking turtles are headed for Hawaii. Also mentioned in the commentary is that the young turtles' shells are modeled after Hawaiian shirts.
According to the DVD, the names of the nine boats seen in the Sydney harbor are: Sea Monkey, Major Plot Point, Bow Movement, iBoat (a reference to iTunes, the company created by Pixar CEO Steve Jobs), Knottie Buoy, For the Birds (2000), Pier Pressure, Skiff-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (a reference to Song of the South (1946)'s most famous song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah"), and The Surly Mermaid.
EASTER EGG: On the Bonus Features menu on disc 2, highlight the return symbol, then press down, and a green fish will appear. Select this to see a commercial for the Aquascum 2003.
Demand for tropical fish exploded right after the film's release, especially for clown fish and blue tang, the main characters' species. And just like Darla, many new pet buyers had no idea how to take care of their pets and ended up killing them. It was later revealed that saltwater tropical fish need a 30-gallon aquarium with carefully controlled salinity levels, anything less will kill them. The rise in demand took fish importers by surprise and the population of clown fish dropped to 75 percent in some areas. Although this isn't the first time something like this happened, Finding Nemo is different, because this time the whole premise of the movie was freeing the animal from being a pet. Then again, pet owners who took that premise to heart didn't respond much better. Some released their venomous fish into the ocean, ruining Florida's ecological balance. Others flushed fish down the toilet to free them and these fish died before even reaching the sewers.
Megan Mullally revealed that she was originally doing a voice in the film. According to Mullally, the producers were quite disappointed to learn that the voice of her character Karen Walker on the television show Will & Grace (1998) wasn't her natural speaking voice. The producers hired her anyway, and then strongly encouraged her to use her Karen Walker voice for the role. When Mullally refused, she was fired.
The dentist's camera's model number is A-113, a number which appears in all Pixar movies as a reference to the California Arts University room where the animators of Pixar Studios attend.
In the original cut of the movie, the whale that swallows Marlin and Dory approaches them from the front. This version of the scene appeared in an early trailer. The final version, with the whale coming from behind, was inspired by an early animation test showing a whale emerging from the murk of the ocean behind a small fish.
Work first began on the movie in 1997. Physical production actually began in January 2000 with a crew that ultimately comprised 180 people.
The names of the two main Turtles are also the names of citrus soda brands popular in the United States: Crush and Squirt.
One musical theme that Thomas Newman composed for the score did not end up in the final film but still appeared both in one of the trailers and on one of the DVD menus.
The great white shark's name in the movie was Bruce. "Bruce" was the nickname given to the models used for the shark in the original Jaws (1975), named after Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer.
Andrew Stanton pitched his idea and story to Pixar head John Lasseter in an hour-long session, using elaborate visual aids and character voices. At the end of it, the exhausted Stanton asked Lasseter what he thought, to which Lasseter replied, "You had me at 'fish'."
When Gil is thinking ahead about how he and the fish will escape, as the camera pans toward and out the window, the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story (1995) can be seen on the outside.
The dentist's diploma is from Pixar University School of Dentistry.
In order for it to sound like Nigel had Marlin and Dory in his mouth, Geoffrey Rush held onto his tongue as he said his lines.
Director Andrew Stanton did the voice of Crush the sea turtle. Stanton never intended to do the voice of Crush, only providing the voice for the film's rough cut, but when it proved popular in test screenings, he decided to do it for the final film. Stanton recorded all of Crush's dialogue lying on his couch in his office.
Pixar developed a very realistic look of the surface water, but had to make it look more fake so people wouldn't think it was real footage of the ocean surface.
For the jellyfish sequence, Pixar's Ocean Unit created an entire new system of shading which they called "transblurrency" - see-through but blurred, much like a frosted bathroom window.
Director Andrew Stanton originally planned to reveal the fate of Marlin's wife gradually through flashbacks seen periodically as the story unfolded. After a few early in-house screenings, he found that Marlin came off as too much of a worrywart, and decided to reveal the entire back-story up front, thus making Marlin more appealing by establishing the reason for his over-protectiveness.
Dory does get Nemo's name right a total of 7 times, 4 of them without being corrected first. Of course some of these times are in quick succession. She also calls him Chico, Fabio, Bingo, Harpo, and Elmo, in that order.
Squirt the sea turtle is voiced by Nicholas Bird, the young son of Pixar director Brad Bird. Director Andrew Stanton was inspired to cast Nicholas when Brad Bird was showing home movies around the Pixar offices.
Among the toys in the waiting room are the jack-in-the-box and Buzz Lightyear and, on a shelf, the plane he used to "fly" in Toy Story (1995) and Pixar's trademark ball from Luxo Jr. (1986).
Nemo's father Marlin was originally voiced by William H. Macy. According to James Stewart's book "DisneyWar", it was after seeing an early cut of the film with Macy's voice that then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner infamously told his board of directors, "This will be a reality check for those guys...It's OK, but nowhere near as good as their previous films. Of course, they think it's great. Trust me, it's not." Director 'Andrew Stanton' recast the role of Marlin with Albert Brooks, and the film went on to get some of Pixar's best reviews ever and become the highest-grossing animated film of all-time.
Rendering a frame which lasted about 1/24th of a second in the film could take up to four days because of the complexity of the underwater environment with sunlight coming through the water and hitting fish scales.
Film makers were worried that comedienne Ellen DeGeneres might not be able to perform the dramatic scene where Dory begs Marlin not to leave, so at the end of a day of recording other scenes asked her to record a trial reading of the scene with the intention that she go home with a recording of it to work on her actual performance. DeGeneres agreed, but her trial reading was so heartfelt and emotional that (apart from a few small edits) this is what was used in the final cut of the film.
Afraid that kids would try releasing their pet fish by flushing them down a drain, a company that manufactures equipment used by water filtration and sewage treatment plants released a warning the Thursday after the film came out saying that, even though drains do eventually reach the ocean, before it got there the water would go through equipment which breaks down solids, and went on to say that in real life the movie would more appropriately be called "Grinding Nemo".
Albert Brooks was always Andrew Stanton's first choice to voice the part of Marlin. Although Brooks had done several episodes of The Simpsons (1989), he found voice work for a feature length cartoon to be substantially different in that he had to do it in isolation, and not alongside any other actors. He didn't particularly enjoy the experience.
Per the DVD extras, Albert Brooks spent an entire day in the recording studio improvising badly mangled versions of the anemone joke; no two tellings were fumbled in the same way. He had the recording technicians in stitches for the duration.
Though never mentioned in the film, it is revealed by the directors in the commentary that Crush and his crew of thrill-seeking turtles are headed for Hawaii. Also mentioned in the commentary is that the young turtles' shells are modeled after Hawaiian shirts.
According to the DVD, the names of the nine boats seen in the Sydney harbor are: Sea Monkey, Major Plot Point, Bow Movement, iBoat (a reference to iTunes, the company created by Pixar CEO Steve Jobs), Knottie Buoy, For the Birds (2000), Pier Pressure, Skiff-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (a reference to Song of the South (1946)'s most famous song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah"), and The Surly Mermaid.
EASTER EGG: On the Bonus Features menu on disc 2, highlight the return symbol, then press down, and a green fish will appear. Select this to see a commercial for the Aquascum 2003.
Demand for tropical fish exploded right after the film's release, especially for clown fish and blue tang, the main characters' species. And just like Darla, many new pet buyers had no idea how to take care of their pets and ended up killing them. It was later revealed that saltwater tropical fish need a 30-gallon aquarium with carefully controlled salinity levels, anything less will kill them. The rise in demand took fish importers by surprise and the population of clown fish dropped to 75 percent in some areas. Although this isn't the first time something like this happened, Finding Nemo is different, because this time the whole premise of the movie was freeing the animal from being a pet. Then again, pet owners who took that premise to heart didn't respond much better. Some released their venomous fish into the ocean, ruining Florida's ecological balance. Others flushed fish down the toilet to free them and these fish died before even reaching the sewers.
Megan Mullally revealed that she was originally doing a voice in the film. According to Mullally, the producers were quite disappointed to learn that the voice of her character Karen Walker on the television show Will & Grace (1998) wasn't her natural speaking voice. The producers hired her anyway, and then strongly encouraged her to use her Karen Walker voice for the role. When Mullally refused, she was fired.
The dentist's camera's model number is A-113, a number which appears in all Pixar movies as a reference to the California Arts University room where the animators of Pixar Studios attend.
In the original cut of the movie, the whale that swallows Marlin and Dory approaches them from the front. This version of the scene appeared in an early trailer. The final version, with the whale coming from behind, was inspired by an early animation test showing a whale emerging from the murk of the ocean behind a small fish.
Work first began on the movie in 1997. Physical production actually began in January 2000 with a crew that ultimately comprised 180 people.
The names of the two main Turtles are also the names of citrus soda brands popular in the United States: Crush and Squirt.
One musical theme that Thomas Newman composed for the score did not end up in the final film but still appeared both in one of the trailers and on one of the DVD menus.
