Noting the similarities withTaken, some have conjectured that Marlin is always perfectly aware and in control of the situation, and is a Manipulative Bastard willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to get his son back. The film is equally enjoyable to watch with this mindset.
On a smaller, more humorous note, did Dory really forget that she could speak whale after she and Marlin were spouted out, or was she having a rare Deadpan Snarker moment? Consider that before that scene, speaking whale was one of the few things she was capable of remembering offhand.
When Marlin asked Coral if there was a hook in his lip when they met, was he teasing on kissing, or had he always been paranoid even before the barracuda?
Was the whale genuinely taking Marlin and Dory to Sydney, or was he just trying to swallow that school of krill that swam past?
And You Thought It Would Fail: Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney, stated publicly that he thought Pixar would be taken down a peg by this film's probable failure. Instead, the film became a Oscar winning megasmash hit that outgrossed The Lion King (1994) which happened at the worst possible time for him in not only undermining his reputation for his skill in the entertainment business, but it also came out near the end of Disney's contract with Pixar, putting the studio in a position of unassailable strength after a string of five consecutive blockbuster hits and owned by Steve Jobs, who loathed Eisner. At this threat of this movie powerhouse going to their competitors, the Board of Directors got rid of Eisner in part to placate Jobs.
Award Snub: Even though the film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, it failed to receive a nomination for Best Picture, despite overwhelmingly positive reviews. There are also some who would argue that Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres were robbed of nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively.
The entire soundtrack is just amazing, but special mention goes to the iconic "Nemo Egg" theme, a beautiful accompaniment to both the title screen and Marlin's first promise to protect Nemo no matter what.
Thomas Newman seems to sample some of his score from The Shawshank Redemption during the "Keep swimming" scene.
"Haiku", the piece played when Marlin and Dory are in the whale. Hauntingly sad and beautiful at once.
Catharsis Factor: Marlin and Nemo's reunion, especially after the former tackled sharks, jellyfish, anglerfish, whales, and pelicans to get to Sydney, and especially after he thought Nemo was dead upon seeing him float belly-up in the dentist's office.
Designated Villain: It's clear that Darla is just a child with no real understanding that she's killing the fish she likes so much. However, the movie clearly depicts her as creepy and ultimately humiliates her, while her uncle (who is indulging this behaviour and ultimately stops the fish from escaping intentionally) gets off scott-free.
The fish with the lisp that shouts "Oh my gosh! Nemo's swimming out to SEA!". In the sequel, she is given more lines.
The anglerfish, for being the biggest source of Nightmare Fuel in the film and being portrayed as a feral, implacable predator, in sharp contrast with the more comedic sharks and seagulls.
The random crab who nearly gets eaten by the seagulls, then proceeds to confuse them with Funny Bruce Lee Noises and karate moves before jumping back into the water.
Pearl the flapjack octopus is very popular in merchandising, despite not having that much screentime. Also helped by the fact that some people ship her with Nemo.
To a lesser extent, Coral, Marlin's dead wife. She only appeared in the opening scene and she was never brought up again in neither the rest of the movie nor in its sequel, but she is still remembered by fans for her sweet relationship with her husband and her brutal death.
Crush the elder Surfer Dude sea turtle is beloved for being a super Nice Guy who gives Marlin some pretty good advice on parenting. He's even got his own interactive show at the Disney parks, dude.
Fan-Preferred Couple: In spite of their interactions being primarily platonic and Marlin being heavily implied to have never moved on from Coral, Marlin/Dory is an extremely popular ship among the fandom because of their close friendship and extensive interactions across the movie.
Fix Fic: There's more than a few fanfics that exist of Coral and/or her and Marlin's other children being discovered to have survived the barracuda attack and gotten lost instead of eaten.
Fountain of Memes: Dory. There's a reason that the Funny Moments page on this Wiki has an entire folder dedicated to her.
Genius Bonus: Real dentists will be amused by the references to real dentistry procedures Peach made when reporting what happened in the office.
Growing the Beard: This film was a watershed moment for Pixar as a whole. It was easily Tainted by the Preview, which suggested a boring film: after all, how interesting could you make a story about fish? The answer, of course, is that it could be Pixar's first masterpiece, with a heartwarming message about The Power of Love. It solidified Pixar as a creative force to be reckoned with, a reputation that has lasted (in varying degrees) to this day.
Harsher in Hindsight: A throw-away line by Dory during her meeting with Marlin, "Yeah, I forget things almost instantly. It runs in my family... at least I think it does. Hmm, where are they?", becomes crueler after the release of Finding Dory, which revolves around her looking for her family. At least one of the trailers for Dory included this line.
Crab: (after Dory asks if him if he's seen Nemo) Yeah, I saw him, Bluey, but I'm not telling you where he went, and there's no way you're going to make me!
All the more so as it's said by a character with an Australian accent.
Albert Brooks is mostly known for his work as a stand-up comedian and comedic actor, and while he does get a lot of funny lines as Marlin, he also does an incredibly convincing job of portraying Marlin's grief over losing his wife and concern for Nemo.
Hype Backlash: When it first came out in 2003, people absolutely loved it and praised it for its animation, the tear-jerking story and its colourful characters. Even to this day, it's still one of the most beloved Pixar films and it's often in the Top Five lists of their best movies. While it's hard to find anyone who hates it, you will often hear people calling it overrated.
Love to Hate: Darla and her uncle. She may be a Bratty Half-Pint and he may have been responsible for separating Nemo from his dad, but they're both just so damn entertaining to watch.
Memetic Badass: Marlin becomes one in-universe as his misadventures become more and more construed due to oral reports.
Misaimed Fandom: The filmmakers probably did not intend to start a trend of kids buying cute little orange fish and then flushing them down the toilet. All drains do NOT lead to the ocean! And even if they do, there's something nasty filtration blades along the way... Let alone that the movie had sparked an interest in moorish idols due to Gill being a badass, totally ignoring not only all his attempts to get free, but also the very real issue that this kind of fish does very poorly in small aquariums.
Squirt as well. He has the most adorable voice ever.
Nausea Fuel: Bloat, what with his disgusting eating habits, burping nastily in the face of others, as if the dirty fish tank in the dentist's office he swims in wasn't enough.
The Tank Gang and Nemo swimming around the muck-filled tank after sabotaging the filter. It's pretty clear they're swimming among their own waste. Made worse when we see Bloat eating it and belching in the others' faces afterwards.
Bruce sniffing Dory's blood as it travels up his nose.
Strawman Has a Point: Marlin is shown to be in the wrong for not letting Nemo go to the outside and enjoy life, but he's really trying to protect his only son who has a small underdeveloped fin due to a scratch on his egg and lost his wife and nearly all of his unborn kids due to being eaten by the barracuda, so it's understandable why he's so overprotective. Also, Marlin is further proven to be in the right very early in the movie when Nemo is kidnapped by a diver. Sure, Nemo only ended up in that situation because his father's overprotective tendencies caused him to behave rebelliously, but the danger was always present, especially since they're sea creatures.
Honest Trailers: Watch as this neurotic dad learns to let go of his fear that the ocean is trying to kill you...even though he's totally right, as this children's movie treats the ocean like a non-stop murder parade!
Ugly Cute: Darla may look slightly creepy with her braces and being a dreaded fish killer in-universe, but she's still an adorable toddler with an aura of innocence.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Five movies in, and with brain-crappingly amazing water effect that have come a long way since Toy Story, Pixar still hadn't gotten rid of that pesky "plastic human" look. Watch near the end when the characters are escaping the net. Everything but Nemo, Dory and Marlin looks completely realistic those three just seem out of place.
This is one of Pixar's most eye-catching films. The water, reefs, and animals are all animated beautifully.
Humorously, early test animations of Nigel flying were scrapped because he looked too real.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: This film is intended for all audiences, but it features a slaughter in the first five minutes, harsh reminders about the true nature of an ocean ecology (i.e. brutal and unforgiving), a missing child kidnapped and placed in a small confined space with creatures driven insane by their confinement and isolation, a neurotic father whose traumatic death of his partner scarred him for life, and an amnesiac with modified forms of both anterograde and retrograde amnesia who holds no memory of her identity. This is one of those rare times when it's not the individual content of the scenes that act as a Parental Bonus but the context and serious subject matter that underlie it when translated to a human perspective.
Despite her memory problems, Dory manages to stay positive and optimistic most of the time, but towards the end, when Marlin leaves her, she is very much a straightforward version of this. And that's not counting the second film, in which not only is she is a Woobie throughout, but it's revealed that she has been one her entire life.
While it's Played for Laughs, you can't help but feel bad for Bruce when he breaks down about not knowing his father. Bruce in general is kind of a tragic character. He's a terrifying-looking shark who everyone is scared of, but he's genuinely a Nice Guy who means no harm to anyone and is trying to rein in his instincts. Sadly, they sometimes get the better of him.
Nigel in his final appearance. As he returns Marlin and Dory to the ocean, he clearly feels terrible about leading Marlin to a dead Nemo and can only apologize. As he is never shown finding out that Nemo is alive and was reunited with Marlin, this would seemingly be a particularly tragic case, considering he would live with that burden for the rest of his life.
The Tank Gang are clearly unhappy about being stuck in a tiny glass prison and just want to be free, but have resigned themselves to spending their entire lives in captivity by the time Nemo comes along. Several of them, particularly Deb and Bubbles, have even gone somewhat mad from their time in the tank, with Deb believing her own reflection is her sister and Bubbles becoming obsessed with bubbles.
Woolseyism: In the Swedish dub, as the boat/butt joke in the beginning wouldn't translate no matter how you spun it, the translators decided to change it into fartyg/sattyg. While "fartyg" means boat, it generally refers to larger ships. "Sattyg" meanwhile ends up working fantastically as it generally means "mischief", which fits quite well with the scene. Similarly, Marlin's joke is changed completely to a sea cucumber joke instead (...I know I look under the weather, I'm about to be pickled/committednote as in "committed to a hospital"..)
YMMV items that apply to the game:
Awesome Music: The game features a soundtrack that can rival the film in terms of quality, being handled by Andy Blythe and Marten Joustra — who also worked on other Pixar games like Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life — and having a lot of tracks that are very atmospheric and relaxing, but also adventurous. Many agree that the East Australian Current stage theme is the best song in the game, and The Field Trip is also frequently praised.
Porting Disaster: It's functional, but the Gamecube version is noticeably less optimized compared to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, often chugging in framerate and suffering the most from long loading times. To put it in perspective, it's the only version of the game that needed a revised disc in order to fix some of the issues from the launch release.
The Problem with Licensed Games: The tie-in console game adaptation was a pretty uninspired Gameplay Roulette game, with lousy visuals, Loads and Loads of Loading, and mediocre gameplay. It tried way too hard to keep with the movie shot-for-shot, which really constrained the scope of the game. The loading times on some versions were almost unforgivably bad.
The Krill that protect you falls heavily into this, as while there is (seemingly) no cap as to how many you can carry with you at once, it's wildly inconsistent when it comes to defending damage. Some enemies will only take one krill away. Others can knock out three. The fact that they become harder to find on repeat deaths makes the krill system even more frustrating, as well as how they don't follow you into chase sequences.
For some reason, this game's idea of enforcing a challenging puzzle onto the player is having them do a 15 Puzzle in order to progress. There are four of these that are mandatory, and given the strict set up and moves you have to pull in order to complete one (even compared to real-life slide puzzles), it is very easy to trap yourself and artificially extend the stages to much longer lengths than they need to. And for the record, there is no way to naturally reset the puzzle if you mess up, save for restarting the entire stage itself.
Switching between Marlin, Dory and Nemo on the fly had potential for different puzzles — since each character has their own abilities and attributes — but the only level to feature all three characters at once is a bonus level at the end of the game. Marlin and Dory also only get to manually switch between each other in one level, as all subsequent levels simply have the player controlling one of them at a time, then automatically switching over to the other when the gameplay changes.
Nemo's ability to enter anemones and become invincible upon exiting is only used twice in the entire game, with one use being in the tutorial and the other being used to find Bloat in the Hide and Seek level.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Most of the character models look very off, due to a combination of low-poly models, muddy textures and bizarrely cartoony, exaggerated animations making them look very unsettling compared to the more realistic, well-done designs from the movies. Nemo and Marlin are the biggest examples, with Nemo having piercing red eyes and Marlin having a very bulgy face.
Taken, some have conjectured that Marlin is always perfectly aware and in control of the situation, and is a Manipulative Bastard willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to get his son back. The film is equally enjoyable to watch with this mindset.