In theaters

FINDING NEMO, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, written by Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds, 104 minutes, rated G.

If you’re going to spend $80 million serving fish to audiences, the last thing you want to offer them is a turkey of the sea.

And so, in “Finding Nemo,” an underwater adventure about a tiny clown fish torn from his overprotective father, Disney and Pixar Animation Studios prove once again that they know how to set a table and keep the crowds fed.

Indeed, in their fifth collaboration, the studios behind “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2,” “A Bug’s Life” and “Monsters, Inc.” have filled their latest virtual tank with their best-looking movie to date.

Set in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the film tells the story of Nemo (voice of Alexander Gould), a young, motherless clown fish who wants to prove to his father, Marlin (Albert Brooks), that in spite of being born with a miniature right fin, he’s fully capable of taking care of himself.

It’s just that streak of independence that’s tested early on, when Nemo is scooped up by a deep-sea diver and stolen away to Sydney. There, in a dentist’s aquarium, he joins a ragtag team of other fish being held captive while his father, joined by a dorky blue tang named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), enlists the help of the sea in an effort to find Nemo and bring him home safe.

Blending elements of “Bambi” and “The Little Mermaid,” “Finding Nemo” isn’t as thematically rich or as emotionally satisfying as the studios’ previous forays into the supercharged world of computer-generated movies; there are times when its focus wanders and moments carry a whiff of deja vu. Still, for its intended audience of tots, it comes through with enough action and humor to keep them rooted to their seats.

Helping that cause is the film’s outstanding animation, which is easily the best of the computer-animated lot. Water has always been a challenge for animators to duplicate realistically, but in “Nemo” those barriers have been conquered. The underwater environments are beautifully rendered, painstakingly created, as bright and as colorful as Nemo’s healthy imagination.

Especially good is how directors Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich don’t sugarcoat the sea. It’s a dangerous world out there, filled with predators eager to prey on unsuspecting souls like Nemo. Without question, it’s that message that will resonate most with parents.

Grade: B

On video and DVD

ABOUT SCHMIDT, directed by Alexander Payne, written by Payne and Jim Taylor, 124 minutes, rated R.

Alexander Payne’s “About Schmidt” is about a man forced to face himself in retirement, figure out who he is in the process and get on with his life in spite of sensing that the world couldn’t care less if it went on without him.

The man in question is 66-year-old Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson), and the first time we see him, he’s staring at the clock in his empty office, waiting for the day to end so he can begin his new life as a retired actuary from Omaha’s Woodmen of the World Insurance Co.

In spite of what you might expect, the prospect of retiring from a place called Woodmen of the World is hardly something that delights Warren. Indeed, if anything, it means he’ll soon be touring the country with someone he fears he doesn’t know and never really has known – his wife of 42 years, Helen (stage actress June Squibb).

But when a sudden, life-altering event occurs and Warren is cast into uncharted territory, an inward journey of self-discovery erupts, one that finds him trying to prevent his only child, Jeannie (Hope Davis), from throwing away her life by marrying a mullet-haired loser named Randall (Dermot Mulroney), while also pouring out all of his sadness and rage in countless letters to Ndugu, the 6-year-old Tanzanian boy Warren adopted through a children’s aid agency for $22 a month.

With Kathy Bates as Randall’s multiorgasmic, twice-divorced hippie mother, Roberta, “About Schmidt” is funny and poignant.

What it gets right are the small details of a life not so much lived as existed, such as the retirement party Woodmen throws for Warren, which feels more like a wake than a celebration, or when Warren returns to his childhood home to see that it has been turned into a tire store.

“My bedroom was over there,” Warren says to the bewildered manager. “And the living room, over there.”

The emotional pull of that scene comes from the idea that for Warren, there appears to be no room left for living. His quest to overcome the deep emptiness and grief he feels at that moment is what makes “About Schmidt” such a memorable and ultimately moving film.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, at 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.