The best film I’ve seen this year so far

“Finding Nemo” may be at first glance a colourful ode of a fathers slightly overprotective love for his son but look , ahem… “deeper” and it’s a road movie mixed with a prison drama with a touch of mild horror thrown in.

After all things are constantly trying to eat half the cast and Nemo is in danger of being shaken to death by a dentally challenged brat.

The film also extols the value of teamwork (“All swim down together“) of letting your children discover and learn things for themselves and learning from them in order to take a few chances yourself. Ultimately it says more about relationships than any other film I’ve seen this year so far.

The characters are terrific, from the sharks trying to abstain from eating fish-”Fish are friends too”, to the hippyish turtles, and the seagulls who’s only dialogue is a constant cry of “Mine, mine”.

It’s not as witty as “Shrek” and lacks a real villain in the class of “Hopper” from “A Bugs Life” but it is gently amusing and at times it’s genuinely tense and exciting. The animation is breathtaking as we’ve come to expect from Pixar.

As with many films ostensibly aimed at kids its actually more rewarding viewing for adults (both my kids were bored after half an hour).

Great fun and the happy ending that I would balk at in an adult film is just right. If it can cure the cynic in me then it can do it for anyone.