Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo is a 2003 American computer-animated adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Andrew Stanton, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Bob Peterson and David Reynolds. The film follows Marlin, an anxious clownfish voiced by Albert Brooks, after a diver captures his only surviving son, Nemo, voiced by Alexander Gould, on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Ellen DeGeneres voices Dory, a blue tang with short-term memory loss who joins Marlin in the search. At the beginning, a barracuda attack kills Marlin’s mate, Coral, and nearly all their eggs, leaving Nemo with one smaller fin. Marlin’s protectiveness contributes to Nemo’s frustration and the boy’s decision to swim toward a boat. Nemo is taken to an aquarium in a dentist’s Sydney office, where he meets fish known as the Tank Gang, including Gill, voiced by Willem Dafoe, and the fish intend to escape before Nemo is given to the dentist’s niece, Darla. Marlin and Dory travel through the ocean and encounter three sharks—Bruce, Anchor, and Chum—who are trying not to eat fish. They also pass through a field of jellyfish and receive directions from sea turtles led by Crush. A current in the East Australian Current carries them toward Sydney. Meanwhile, Nemo helps Gill execute an escape plan by jamming the aquarium’s filter. The film premiered in Los Angeles on May 30, 2003, and opened in the United States on May 30, 2003. It became the highest-grossing animated film at that time and earned more than $940 million worldwide during its original theatrical run. Finding Nemo won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 76th Academy Awards, Pixar’s first Oscar in that category. It also received nominations for Original Screenplay, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing. Its digital animation was created by Pixar, with underwater lighting and movement developed to support the setting. Thomas Newman composed the score. The film’s voice cast also includes Geoffrey Rush as Nigel, a pelican, Allison Janney as Peach, a starfish, and Stephen Root as Bubbles, a yellow tang. Finding Nemo was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2024, recognized as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Its story continued in Pixar’s 2016 sequel, Finding Dory, directed by Stanton and centered on Dory’s search for her parents. The original film remains one of Pixar’s most commercially successful theatrical releases.