The Academy Award®-winning creators of the “Toy Story” films, “A Bug’s Life” and “Monsters, Inc.” dive into a whole new world of computer-animated fun, fantasy and heartfelt emotion with their splashy new underwater adventure, “Finding Nemo.” This latest feature from Pixar Animation Studios, presented by Walt Disney Pictures, follows the comedic and eventful journeys of two fish – the overly cautious Marlin and his curious son Nemo – who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef. Buoyed by the companionship of Dory, a friendly-but-forgetful fish, Marlin embarks on a dangerous trek and finds himself the unlikely hero of an epic effort to rescue his son – who hatches a few daring plans of his own to return safely home.
Written and directed by Oscar® nominee Andrew Stanton, who co-directed the 1998 Disney/Pixar hit, “A Bug’s Life” and is credited as co-screenwriter on all four of Pixar’s previous features, “Finding Nemo” sets a new “high water mark” for the art and technology of computer animation with its incredible underwater world populated with memorable characters. Lee Unkrich, co-director of “Toy Story 2” and “Monsters, Inc.” once again serves in that capacity and lends his filmmaking expertise to this project. The film was produced by Graham Walters, a nine-year Pixar veteran who most recently served as production manager on “Toy Story 2.” Based on an original story by Andrew Stanton, the screenplay for “Finding Nemo” was written by Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds. Making his Pixar debut on “Finding Nemo” is multiple Academy Award®-nominated composer Thomas Newman, whose exciting and sophisticated score came to be regarded by the filmmakers as a character in the film.
Lending guidance to the overall project in his role as executive producer was John Lasseter, Pixar’s executive vice president of creative, and the Academy Award®-winning filmmaker who directed “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life” and “Toy Story 2,” and served as executive producer on “Monsters, Inc.”
According to Lasseter, “This movie absolutely raises the bar for Pixar and for the art of computer animation. I’m so proud of Andrew for making a film that carries out his vision and gives us some of the most charming characters Pixar has ever created. The film is breathtakingly beautiful and filled with real drama, real emotion and depth, as well as great comedy. Being the father of five sons, this was definitely a story I could relate to. As filmmakers, we love to have the emotion be true and honest. And even though ‘Nemo’ is a complete fantasy, it’s based on things that are familiar to audiences. The father-son relationship, going to school for the first time – these are things everyone understands yet this film is about fish on a coral reef. “Technically, we’ve pushed things beyond anything Pixar has done before,” Lasseter continues. “Just animating fish was difficult, but our technical team has created an underwater environment that is graceful and beautiful. The real underwater world is so spectacular that it’s already a fantasy world. Our challenge was to let the audience know that our ocean is caricatured. We wanted them to know that this wonderful world doesn’t exist, but then using the amazing tools that we have in computer animation make it look totally believable. Our goal is always to make things believable, not realistic. By stylizing the design of things, adding more geometry and pushing the colors, we were able to create a natural and credible world for our characters.”
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