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Starring
The Voices Of: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe,
Geoffrey Rush, Barry Humphries, Austin Pendleton, John Ratzenberger, Allison
Janney, Stephen Root, Brad Garret, Vicki Lewis, Bruce Spence, Eric Bana, Bob
Peterson, Andrew Stanton, Nicholas Bird, and Joe Ranft
Writers:
Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds
Based
On A Story By: Andrew Stanton
Director:
Andrew Stanton
Feature
length: 100 minutes
Extras:
Filmmakers’ Visual Commentary Including Deleted Scenes And Recording Sessions,
Making Of Finding Nemo Documentary, The Art Of Finding Nemo, Exploring The Reef
With Jean-Michel Cousteau Featurette, Virtual Aquariums, Knick Knack Short,
Fisharades Game, Learning Fun With Mr. Ray’s Encyclopedia, Pixar Animation
Studios Tour, Storytime, Trailers, TV Spots, Publicity Gallery, Bonus Trailers
Languages:
English, French, and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 32
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2003/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: G
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“Finding
Nemo” is arguably the best and most accessible for adults as well as kids CGI
animated comedy fantasy to be produced by Pixar Animation Studios so far. The
reason why is in the simplicity of the story. Marlin (Albert Brooks) is an over
protective clown fish who loses his only child Nemo (Alexander Gould) to divers
on his first day of school. Forced to overcome his fear of the wide-open sea,
Marlin sets off on an odyssey of comedic underwater adventure to find his son
with the help of a friendly, but forgetful blue fish named Dorey (Ellen
DeGeneres.) Meanwhile Nemo is in a large aquarium tank within a Sydney,
Australia’s dentist’s office where he forms some new friendships with other
captured fish, who hope to escape the tank before the dentist’s bratty niece
comes over to terrorize them.
This
is a great film for the whole family and there truly is something for everyone
to enjoy in this film, but kids will especially love what I think will go down
in the history of collaborations between the Walt Disney and Pixar Animation
Studios as being a true classic. I found myself empathizing with the character
of Nemo as well as the father and falling in love with Dory and all of the
various cute undersea characters encountered in the film. I wish I had kids of
my own to share this with because as much as I enjoyed “Finding Nemo,” the
truth is kids are going to watch this DVD set over and over again like never
before. Don’t even think about buying a VHS tape version of the film, if there
will even be one, because the tape would get worn out within a week your young
ones start watching this film.
This
noted, Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Pixar Animation Studios have crafted
one of the best DVD releases I have seen all year. The disc is geared toward
both film fans and kids alike with a nice amount of extra value features spread
evenly across both DVD discs. Disc one presents “Finding Nemo” in a
beautiful direct digital transfer that preserves the film’s (1.78:1)
theatrical exhibition aspect ratio with anamorphic enhancement while the second
DVD presents “Finding Nemo” is a reconfigured (1.33:1) full framed aspect
ratio, which is also a direct digital transfer that alters the visual
compositions in the film in such a way so that nothing is lost in the 4 by 3
screen format. Both transfers are THX certified complete with the THX Optimizer®
program for proper picture and sound calibration. Both the widescreen and full
screen versions feature beautiful and enveloping English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
Surround Sound with the full screen version sporting French and Spanish Language
Dolby Digital 5.1 EX Surround Soundtracks as well. English Captions and Closed
Captions for the hearing impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles are
encoded as options respectively while English Captions can also be viewed for
the majority of the extra value features on both discs. The widescreen version
features an enhanced visual commentary track, which periodically breaks off to
show storyboarded deleted scenes, interview clips, and clips from the recording
sessions as well as other materials as it relates to the filmmakers’
discussion. Be sure to listen through the entire soundtrack to hear one of the
filmmaker’s reveal “the secret of life” too! Near the end of the credits
there is a quick cameo from one of the characters from “Monster’s Inc.” so
keep an eye out for it. The
visual commentary running time with additional clips runs just over 136 minutes.
The clips can easily be skipped over while the film is in progress and there is
a separate onscreen menu detailing the contents for the visual commentary
presentation.
Each
disc has filmmaker introductions at (1:14) and (1:05) respectively. The majority
of the elements included on both discs reveal running times, but I tend to go by
what my player notes and not by what the menus note as the length of a specific
feature so in some cases the times detailed on the DVD and what my player
reflected back to me differed. In those cases I went by what my player
displayed. Extra features on the first disc include a detailed behind-the-scenes
documentary on the making of “Finding Nemo” (25:25), design galleries
detailing an animated review of the artwork (8:33) and twenty-three characters
(6:49) that can be viewed individually or as one reel. Environments and images
from the color script are included too. Virtual aquariums can be accessed
individually from the various menus wherever there is a fish in a box like icon
at the corner of a specific screen or from a menu of selections. The virtual
aquariums on disc one include the reef, plate coral, a school of fish, the drop
off, anemones, jellyfish, and the sandy reef while the virtual aquariums on disc
two include images of locations within the aquarium as seen in the film, which
are the volcano by day, volcano at night, shipwreck by day, and tikis at night.
Bonus
features on disc two also include a humorous, yet educational featurette
entitled “Exploring The Reef” (7:01) with Jean-Michel Cousteau, the 1989
Pixar animated short “Knick Knack” (3:35), a narrated look at the various
fish the characters were developed from that can be viewed individually or as
one reel (7:30) entitled “Mr. Ray’s Encyclopedia,” the set top
“Fisherades” game, a read long version of the story for children that also
enables children to read it to themselves without the narration, a studio tour
(5:25), and character interviews (2:29) with Marlin, Nemo, Dory, and Bruce.
Under
the publicity heading are the theatrical teaser (2:05), trailer #1 (2:09),
trailer #2 (1:27), and trailer #3 (2:12) with full 5.1 Surround Sound. Three TV
spots featuring “Bruce The Shark” (1:03), “Crush The Sea Turtle” (1:03),
and “Nigel The Pelican” (1:03) are also included along with a gallery of
one-sheet art, banners, and publicity shots.
Disc two concludes with bonus trailers that include a teaser for
Pixar’s “The Incredibles” (2:01) and Disney’s “House On The Range”
(2:08) and home video trailers for “The Lion King ˝” (2:19), “The Santa
Clause 2” (1:16), two-disc special editions of Disney’s “Pocahontas,”
“Lilo & Stitch,” and “Alice In Wonderland” and “Spy Kids 3D: Game
Over” (2:03) and all of the home video trailers feature 5.1 Surround Sound
too.
The
two discs come housed within a single size two-disc keep case with an insert
detailing contents and even an easy to follow navigation map for accessing the
extra value features within this DVD set. The interactive menus are easy to
navigate and well rendered. “Finding Nemo: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition”
will debut on DVD-Video at retailers on and offline on Tuesday, November 4, 2003
from Buena Vista Home Entertainment and I highly recommend seeing this DVD set
for yourselves.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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