"Finding Nemo" is a perfect film for Virgin Islanders. Where else can movie-goers so easily identify with the colorful and magical world of the ocean and coral reefs? "Finding Nemo" is like Scuba diving with a special set of headphones that allows you to hear the fascinating conversations of the creatures beneath the seas.
Nemo (voice of Alexander Gould) is a young clown fish with an overprotective father, Marlin (voice of Albert Brooks). There are reasons for his concern; the ocean can be a dangerous place for a small orange and white striped fish, as proven by the initial loss of Nemo's mother, Coral, and all his siblings. Marlin promises he'll never let anything happen to Nemo, and he tries to keep him safe at home in their sea anemone.
But Nemo is an adventurous clown fist. On his first day of school, he wants to prove to the other creatures in his class that he is brave and fearless by swimming out beyond the drop-off to touch the bottom of a diving boat. But one of the divers, a dentist in Sydney, Australia, captures the little clown fish in his net and takes him back to the aquarium in his office, only to be presented as a gift to his niece, Darla (voice of LuLu Ebeling), who is known as a "killer fish shaker" to the others in the tank, who try to help Nemo find a way out of the tank and back to the ocean before Darla arrives in three days.
Marlin is distraught. He is in agony. He has lost Nemo, his only remaining son and family. But there's hope; the diver left behind his mask, which has on it his Sydney address. Marlin teams up with a forgetful triggerfish named Dory (voice of Ellen DeGeneres) to set out for Sydney harbor.
Marlin must address his own fears of the ocean in order to rescue Nemo. Marlin faces sharks, explosions of underwater mines, jellyfish and a series of mishaps caused by Dory's loss of short-term memory. Time is against him, though he's got some pelicans and sea turtles – and Dory – on his side.
The beauty of "Finding Nemo" is in its amazingly accurate depiction of the coral reef and the ocean. The story is a beauty too, and DeGeneres is just brilliant as the forgetful Dory.
You will want to run out of the film and straight to the beaches, doffing your clothes for a bathing suit, snorkel and mask. Oh yeah, and you've got to pick up a pair of those earphones. There's a whole world to look at under water. Pixar Studios has proven that it's also a world to eavesdrop on.
"Finding Nemo" is rated G. It's an hour and 31 minutes long.
It starts at Market Square East on Thursday, July 10.
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