Ryan’s Movie Corner

By Ryan Vickers

 

Here are two uplifting films to start 2023!

 

Finding Nemo

Academy Award-winning animated feature, 2003.

 

Who knew a story about a clownfish would not only become an industry award-winning film but also, as of the end of 2020, the best-selling DVD of all time? I’m sure I didn’t!

 

Nemo, a clownfish, gets placed in a dentist’s office aquarium, escapes from the aquarium, and then has many adventures to get home. Nemo is joined by other friends in the aquarium, such as a Moorish idol, a sea star and a yellow tang. Let us not forget Dory, the regal blue tang who eventually would prove so popular that the character would spawn an additional film in the storyline years later – arguably helped by the voice performer Ellen Degeneres endlessly campaigning for it on her daily talk show.

 

Speaking of additional properties – besides the 2016 Finding Dory sequel/spin-off (that’s a debate in itself), it has inspired the creation of not only a video game but attractions at Disney Parks around the world. These include “Turtle Talk with Crush” at Walt Disney World’s Epcot Centre and Tokyo Disneyland, as well as the new 2022 “Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond” at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom.

 

So remember, the next time you are out diving and see a clownfish and you tell someone about it, tell them that you saw “Nemo,” and the conversation might go a little easier for you!

 

Finding Nemo (and the companion movie Finding Dory) can be viewed by finding Disney Plus on however you stream. Alternatively, you can grow the best-selling DVD sales by picking up a copy wherever you find your DVDs.

 

Scuba Diver Dreams

Documentary, 2006

 

I was looking through several sources for what would be a good pairing of a film or tv series to go with the positivity of Finding Nemo.

 

And then, I found something that I found to be quite inspiring.

 

Scuba Diver Dreams is a movie about Timmy, who has Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS). For humans who have traits of CdLS, this means that you have a range of physical, cognitive and medical challenges. For some scuba instructors, this might mean there are a series of red flags in relation to the possibility of training someone with CdLS.

 

However, Timmy would not be deterred. His dream was to become a scuba diver, and he wanted to work through the steps just like anyone else. We all want to be treated the same, and Timmy said words that really hit home – “Underwater, I feel equal.”

 

The film Scuba Diver Dreams can be found in full on the director’s YouTube page – simply search “Scuba Diver Dreams,” and it can be found at the top of the search results.

 

That’s it for this issue of Movie Corner – here’s to a great year of diving in 2023, wherever you are!