Finding Nemo 3D: A Visit To Pixar Studios To Talk About The Animated Adventure's Return To Theaters

One of the things that works really well for Finding Nemo is that there numerous scenes that seem built to look beautiful in 3D. Unkrich said one of his favorite scenes to see in 3D was when Marlin is taking Nemo to his first day of school. It's one of numerous scenes that really benefits from the 3D upgrade, and that's as much a testament to the work put into the 3D version of the film as it is the original movie. Unkrich told us his instincts have always been with staging and depth.

My philosophy has always been - my instincts have to do with staging and depth anyway. Even if I'm just making a 2D film, I'm always trying to make use of depth in the frame. So, as a result, when we do these 3D versions of the films - at least that I was involved with - I find that it almost feels like they were designed to be in 3D in the first place, because I just naturally make use of depth so much. When we go into 3D it's just there. It's kind of there from the get-go. I made Toy Story 3 knowing that that was going to be released in 3D, but I very rarely made any choices specifically for the 3D.

I've seen movies in 2D that were shot in 3D where there are moments because I feel like a second class citizen because I'm not watching it in 3D. Like I see things that I think, "Oh well, clearly they're doing that, or they shot that in that way because it would look cool in 3D. And here I am thinking about it and feeling like I'm missing out somehow." I don't like that feeling as a movie-goer. So, I think it's a challenge but it's more interesting, I think, to try to create a movie that works just as well no matter how you're seeing it. And people who are into 3D movies can have a great time seeing that 3D version, but if somebody doesn't want to see it in 3D or they're seeing it at home and they can't see it in 3D, that it holds up just as well and it doesn't feel like it's compromised in any way because it's not in 3D.

As for the story, the focus on an overprotective parent trying to get to his son and also learning how to let go is as relevant today as it was nine years ago, and it'll probably be just as relevant a decade from now. "Every parent is afraid of letting their kid go out into the big dangerous world," Unkrich said. "And every kid wants to go out into the big dangerous world. I think that's why it affected so many people, is that it was about such fundamental truths about our experiences as parents and kids."

And it seems like the success of Nemo emboldened the people at Pixar to take a more emotional approach with their stories. "It gave us confidence to be more emotional and attack deeper things," Unkrich said. "I guess if Nemo had tanked, maybe we wouldn't have been so bold with some of the other choices we made." Use of the word "tank" in this context got a laugh from all of us at the table. Fish puns!