
In a scene that I'm sure Gary Larson of "Far Side" fame loved, a pelican discusses with a group of fish the intricate details of dentistry. There is a strong sense of locale, as Marlin (Albert Brooks) travels across the Pacific to Australia, where even the animals speak with an Australian accent. The fish tank is constructed out of real devices. All of the animals are based on real species. Instead, the movie invests its world of sentient animals with a surprisingly scientific texture. But such sequences only call attention to how far this movie generally departs from old cartoon conventions. There are occasional nods to this brand of humor in "Finding Nemo," as when a flock of seagulls ram into a boat and we see their beaks crowing on the other side of the sail. Humor in traditional animation is usually based on broad slapstick and physical exaggeration.



I have enjoyed most of the computer-animated films made so far, ranging from Pixar films like "Toy Story" and "The Incredibles" to DreamWorks films like "Shrek." But "Finding Nemo" is the one that remains unparalleled, not because of its comedy or creativity, both of which are equaled in the "Toy Story" movies and in "Monsters Inc.," but because it truly, more than any of the previous computer-animated features, reinvents the genre of the children's animated film.
