Release Year: 2003

Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family

Director: Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

Writer: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds

Stars: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould

Ready to head under the sea? Darling, it's better down where it's wetter.

Oops. Sorry, wrong Disney movie.

Okay, obviously Finding Nemo isn't the only animated film to be made about the lives of undersea creatures. There's The Little Mermaid, of course. Also A Shark's Tale. And who could forget Ponyo? But, this story about a little father and son fish in a big ocean is probably one of the greatest animated movies of all time.

(Ariel, we love you, but the whole giving-up-your-voice-for-a-guy thing is just creepy.)

This beloved 2003 film tells the story of Marlin and Nemo—a pair of father and son clownfish. Marlin loves his son, but sometimes he's a little bit protective of the kid. In fact, he's a lot protective. When Nemo is taken by a diver and whisked off to live in a fish tank on land, all Marlin's worst fears come true.

And while Nemo's ocean adventure features a whole bunch of fun fishy jokes—clownfish really do live together in sea anemones and some fish have surprisingly short memory spans—it's really not about fish at all. The movie has something to teach us humans about big important ideas like fathers and sons, friendship, fear, trust, courage, memories, and love.

Fish—they're just like us.

Of course, it helps that the concept for Finding Nemo came from one of Pixar's senior animators. Andrew Stanton got the idea for this father-son fish tale when he realized how overprotective he was of his own son. We guess lots of parents (and their kids) could relate because Finding Nemo went on to become one of Pixar's highest grossing and most critically acclaimed movies. Oh, it also won an Oscar, too.

Basically, the Pixar team behind Nemo deserves high fives—or is that high fins?—all around.

Parents.

No one likes their nagging—not even parents themselves. Look both ways before crossing the street. No shoes on the couch. Don't pick your nose. Don't smear vanilla frosting all over the corgi. Don't fingerpaint the new sofa.

And don't even get us started on the unholy humiliation that is having a parent lick their finger to get a smudge off of your face. That may be the single grossest act in the history of gross acts.

The struggle between parents and their kids is real.

And Finding Nemo understands this age-old conflict…and understanding that it crosses species and genus boundaries. Dads—like Marlin—want to keep their young ones safe and secure as long as possible. But kids like Nemo want to rush out into the world and experience all that dangerous stuff for themselves.

According to doctors, kids start testing limits when they're as young as one or two years old. But that's totally normal. What would actually be creepy is children never disobeyed your parents. After all, rebelling against authority figures is how kids learn to think for themselves.

And, obviously, parents should set limits (no one likes a corgi coated in vanilla frosting, except maybe the corgi himself), but they need to find a healthy balance between keeping their kids safe and letting them make their own mistakes. Kids that never learn to fail can grow up and become adults who are afraid to try new things or to take any chances at all.

(And, more importantly, they can grow up to be horribly annoying adults.)

Of course, Marlin isn't the only über controlling movie parent. (Just think about the dads in 10 Things I Hate About You or Footloose.) Like overprotective cinematic papas before him, Marlin has to learn to chill. As for Nemo, he learns to love and appreciate his dad's guidance…once Marlin tones down the you'll-shoot-your-eye-out paranoia.

But, hey: just in case a feel-good movie about parents and kiddos learning mutual love and respect sounds nauseating to you (we promise it's not—Pixar does touching, not cheeseball), here are a few other reasons you should get your Nemo on:

• There's a shark-led, twelve step meeting
• Willem Dafoe proves he's creepy even as a voice-actor playing a fish.
• Ellen DeGeneres. Need we say more?
• The Tank Gang personifies #squadgoals

And, last but not least:

This movie will make you want to save the dang Great Barrier Reef. Seriously. You cannot watch this movie and not want to do whatever it takes to save this crazy-beautiful natural wonder. (Although this movie also makes us want to never, ever, ever come face to face with an anglerfish. Those creatures are pure nightmare food.)