Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or Henry's favorite movie. They belong to ABC and Disney/Pixar, respectively.
My Favorite Movie
by Henry Mills
My favorite movie is Finding Nemo. It is about a father clownfish who travels to Sydney, Australia to find his son. I first saw Finding Nemo when I was really little. I don't think I understood it, though. I don't remember much about that first time, but I remember that my mom told me I was like Nemo. And I remember that I wasn't happy about that because Nemo didn't have a mother and couldn't find his father.
I think my mom really meant that I was "too rebellious," but now that I'm older, I don't mind being like Nemo. He was amazing! He swam out to sea and touched a boat, and he was brave enough to break the fish filter in the dentist's office. He was so brave, he rescued an entire town of grouper fish from evil fishermen! On top of that, Nemo had good friends like Gill and Squirt, and a beautiful mother who did everything she could to give him his best chance. I like to think that my birth mother did that for me, too.
But the best thing about Nemo is that Marlin and Dory never stop looking for him. No matter what Nemo did to make his dad angry and no matter how scared Marlin was, he knew he would always find Nemo. When I watch the movie now, I always pretend that I have people out there somewhere who are looking for me, too.
Finding Nemo gives me hope that the people who love me will find me. It inspires me to never give up believing. That's why it's my favorite movie.
The last lines were a little hard to read, because by then, Mary Margaret's eyes had welled up with tears. Grading papers alone in her living room, she had never felt closer to Henry.
She was about to place Henry's report on her "finished" pile when she noticed a small note written in shaky cursive in the back right-hand corner of the paper.
Dear Miss Blanchard,
The same goes for you.
Mary Margaret had to push the stack of loose leaf away from her to avoid smearing the ink with a stray tear. She promptly decided that her class was due for a movie day, and was about to order Finding Nemo on her laptop when she remembered there was something she had to do first. She read Henry's essay once more.
A+