Finding Nemo Release Date: November 4, 2003 Starring: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Allison Janney, Geoffrey Rush Directed by: Andrew Stanton (TOUCHSTONE, $29.99)
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THE MOVIE: If there was any doubt that we are now in the classic era of computer animation, this Pixar-produced gem, a modern Pinocchio-like fable set among the fish of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, is the ultimate proof. John Lasseter has successfully handed the reins to protégé Andrew Stanton, who, with cowriter Bob Peterson and codirector Lee Unkrich, continues the company’s tradition of impeccable story sense and an exquisitely nuanced approach to entertaining both kids and adults. The laughs are hip and well-earned, the pathos is genuine, and the light and colors of the deep are utterly entrancing. Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres, as the overprotective clown-fish dad and his memory-impaired sidekick, seem to effortlessly match the brilliance of Pixar’s animators and computer craftsmen. Not even an unrepentant Scrooge could resist this movie’s charms.
THE DISC: This encyclopedic two-disc set is as carefully produced as the film itself. The movie is offered in letter-boxed and regular versions, and the commentary track by Stanton, Peterson, and Unkrich is interspersed with brief featurette-asides on specific topics that stop the film but can also be overridden. An enlightening making-of documentary is included, as well as a fun-house assortment of shorts and infotainment (including some live-action footage with a new-generation Cousteau as narrator and the vintage Lasseter short Knick Knack) that will occupy family members for hours. The Finding Nemo DVD is a must to own.
—Howard Karren
Our First Impression:
The computer animation reimaginings of the undersea orgies of color orchestrated by nature are mind-blowing. read more
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