Journal Entry #2

For my second journal entry, i watched and reviewed the movie Finding Nemo, which was released in 2003. I choose this movie to review because it was an animated movie and i thought it would be interesting to critique. The main characters of the movie are Nemo, who is taken away by a net from fishers. Nemo's father, Marlin, is set on an adventure to find his son and get him back to his home. On the way, Marlin encounters Dory, a forgetful fish that annoys Marlin, but ends up saving his and his sons life in the end. What Marlin doesnt know is that Nemo is in a cage with other fish that were also captured. The fish in the tank listen to Nemo's story and create a way to get him out and back into the ocean. The plan goes well and Nemo is back in the ocean, now all that has to happen is Nemo and Marlin somehow meet up in the large ocean.

The directors of the film, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich really used sounds and incorporated them well to set the mood right for each scene, also known as nondigetic sounds. For example, when Nemo is being chased by fish that want to eat him, the music gets high and intense, which sets up the audience to become intense. The director also uses low-angle shots very well. When Nemo is in the cage with the other fish, Gill, who is a wise older fish, is shot from a low-angle. It gives Gill a powerful look and it portrays him to be extremely important.

Another reason why this film is in the top 100 greatest movies is because of the great colors incorporated into the movie. The ocean is bright blue and the seaweed is very colorful, it makes it seem like the place to be. All the fish are differently colored, so it makes it easy for the viewers to not get confused between fishes.

Some negatives to this film is how the film is targeted towards infants and young children, but it has moments where even im scared to watch. When the fish encounter the large shark, the teeth shown by the shark is visually frightening to look at and young children are not going to be excited to see that. Another reason why critics say this is a weak film is because the pace of the movie is slow. I felt like when i was watching it, I got really tired of watching and just wanted to go to sleep because there were not enough exciting and adventerous moments when Marlin is on the way to find Nemo. If an 18 year-old cant stay awake during the movie, how is a 3 or 4 year-old going to?