4) Finding Nemo (2003)
Overplayed and over-referenced in the subsequent decade following its mid-2003 premiere, many shrink in fear of applauding Finding Nemo for its strengths after watching it on ABC Family for the zillionth time. But, here’s the simple truth: Andrew Stanton’s classic is a game changer, and no amount of basic cable re-runs can alter that.
The casting is maybe Pixar’s best, seamlessly matching each cartoon to its ridiculously on-point celebrity personality: Ellen DeGeneres’ quirky Dory and Albert Brooks’ worry-wart Marlin, especially. The flick — packed with shock-to-the-system messages for adults to trust their tykes and, in turn, for kids to learn to fend for themselves — is also one of Pixar’s best plotted, Marlin and Dory’s hijinks ebbing and flowing hypnotically from one to the next with humorous interludes to Nemo’s Dentist-office captivity balancing out the quest.
Not to mention, to every child across the planet — and some adults — any orange fish with stripes is a “Nemo” and any vaguely blue-hued one a “Dory.” Perhaps not the best support for the healthy understanding of sea creatures, Finding Nemo is so ingrained in our collective subconscious — maybe more so than any of Pixar’s works — that it becomes easy to dispense with and overlook and forget how monumentally mind-blowing a continuous 100-or-so minutes were to each of us back in the Summer of 2003.