Finding Nemo

If you want animation that is not just for kids, Finding Nemo is available in Australia on Disney Plus, and in the US on Disney Plus and Hulu right now. It knows exactly what kind of film it is from the opening scene, and never loses that thread. 20,691 viewers have already rated it on TMDB — the kind of consensus that does not happen by accident. Watch it in order — the character development is cumulative. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Disney Plus.

Finding Nemo is not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus is exactly what makes it work. Visually distinctive and narratively ambitious, Finding Nemo operates well above the genre average. Nemo, an adventurous young clownfish, is unexpectedly taken from his Great Barrier Reef home to a dentist's office aquarium. It's up to his worrisome father Marlin and a friendly but forgetful fish Dory to bring Nemo home -- meeting vegetarian sharks, surfer dude turtles, hypnotic jellyfish, hungry seagulls, and more along the way. Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres bring voice work that does more than the format usually asks for. Finding Nemo came out in 2003. The visual gags in Finding Nemo reward close attention without ever depending on it. The hit rate here is high enough that skipping ahead never feels like an option.

Finding Nemo belongs on any best-of list regardless of format. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. A contained runtime means every scene is doing real work. Albert Brooks brings more to the role than the format usually demands. A harder one to justify skipping than to start.