6. Finding Nemo

When you open a movie with a fish losing all but one child to a barracuda attack, you immediately set the stakes for that baby fish’s safety. And when Nemo, the sole survivor of the attack, is captured by scuba divers, his father Marlin ends up going on an ocean-spanning journey to find his son and bring him home. Finding Nemo manages to weave Marlin’s trauma into a story that somehow manages to be an absolute hoot while never diminishing what the guy has been through. Marlin plays the straight man to some of Pixar’s most iconic characters, many of whom have had a long-lasting impact, such as the amnesiac Dory, who would go on to get her own movie 13 years later, Bruce the pacifist(?) shark, and Crush, the surfer dude turtle who helps them along the way. Meanwhile, Nemo is taken under the fin by several other captive fish in a dentist’s office, and they’re all tied up in their own trauma after being captured themselves. Finding Nemo is a story of fish people trying to make the most of the life they’ve been given while also being desperate to hold onto it by any means necessary. But as Marlin comes to learn, if you love something, you let it go. It will come back if you stop holding on so hard. — KS