Finding Nemo, Bruce the Shark, Dory, Marlin, Nemo, Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks

My Favorite Scene: Finding Nemo (2003) “Bruce the Shark’s Rehab Group”

Finding Nemo remains one of my three favorite Pixar films despite the overwhelming amount of “just keep swimming” advice I have received since my wife passed.  This is a subtle hint to people that we’ve capped out on that particular advice.  “Baby steps” will also not serve as an acceptable substitute.  Nemo, after perhaps the most gruesome holocaust of family members in Disney history (His mom and HUNDREDS of brothers and sisters???  What is Disney’s issue?)

Thirteen years later, the film’s sequel, Finding Dory (in which I assume her family will NOT die as she is going to find them) hits theaters this Friday.  Dory may be my favorite Pixar character.  There’s something so guilelessly joyful about her and that’s in large part to the wonderful job Ellen DeGeneres does with her voicing.  No more is her complete lack of fear (and comprehension) more demonstrable than when she and Marlin (Albert Brooks) meet Bruce the Shark.  But then it turns out Bruce is part of a rehab group for sharks trying to befriend fish and we get an AA meeting parody.  It’s hilarious, a great twist, and just one of the reasons the film is a classic.  Here’s hoping Finding Dory is more Toy Story 2 than Cars 2 or Monsters University.Finding Nemo

One thought on “My Favorite Scene: Finding Nemo (2003) “Bruce the Shark’s Rehab Group””

  1. I know there are people who would really disagree, but to my mind Finding Nemo was the first great Pixar film. Instead of centering on a childlike grownup, it was about a grownup with truly adult hang-ups and fears, a guy who had experienced horrible loss and was terrified of losing everything. Also, that barracuda attack was the first time the traditional Disney undercurrent of darkness and tragedy entered the Pixar cannon, and the film broke ground in the pantheon, in terms of emotion and weight. And the previous Pixar films would all have worked in traditional animation, but the world of FN was so artful and technically skilled that it was inseparable from character and story.


    I have serious doubts that Finding Dory can even come close, but I’m not ruling out the possibility. The Pixar people have let me down a handful of times, but mostly they’re creative geniuses. Gilliam once said he would kill to be a janitor at Pixar, and he’s not the humblest guy in the universe.

    You might be right about Dory being the best character.


    Like

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