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Story
For those living under the sea since its 2003 premier, the story of the animated film kicks off with a tragedy: a family of fish is eaten by a barracuda, leaving only the dad and one son. Yes, this is a G-rated kids movie, just like Bambi. Fast forward a few years and the son, Nemo, swims a little too far away from an overprotective father and is captured by a scuba diver to live in a fish tank in a dentist’s office. His father, Marlin, frantically sets out to save him. With the help of a forgetful fish, Dory, he journeys to Sydney, Australia, encountering sharks, jellyfish and sea turtles.
Review
The vibrant video comes in 1080p High Definition with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The audio track is presented in 7.1 Dolby TrueHD. Both provide a beautiful view with to-die-for sound. The original animated imagery is starting to show its age as it isn’t as sharp as newer films, but that’s about the only minor complaint one can make. Watching this, one literally feels like they are under the sea with the fish.
As far as the story goes, it is your typical rescue scenario of a parent losing a child. The film is full of humor and an assortment of enjoyable characters. You’ll get emotional throughout, rooting for the success of the rescue. A definite winner, as shown by its 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
Extras
Disney is well known for putting lots of extras on their discs, and this release is no different. Your typical outtakes and deleted scenes are there, but also present is a roundtable discussion by the filmmakers. There is even the early artwork of an alternative opening (no spoilers here). Given the underwater nature of the film, there is a great HD Aquarium that you can just leave running all day. This looks amazing on the LED TV. The 3-minute Pixar short Knick Knack is also included, along with a Making Nemo documentary.
You can’t forget mentioning the now Disney standard CineExplorer feature though. That wraps all the commentary/extras and shows them at the right time in the movie, enhancing the viewing experience to better understand what the directors (director Andrew Stanton, co-director Lee Unkrich, and co-writer Bob Peterson) were thinking at production time on the alternative audio track: think picture-in-picture-type environment. My favorite feature of the extras though is the Reinventing the Submarine Voyage production. It is a 15 minute showing of the upgrading of the Submarine Voyage ride at Disneyland into the Finding Nemo Submarine Adventure ride.
Conclusion
What parent of a young children doesn’t love Nemo? If you’re not into 3D, this is the first Blu-ray release of the film. It looks great on the home system. With a big enough set up, you’ll feel like you are in the theater. If you’re a big enough Nemo fan, you won’t want to miss upgrading to this amazing presentation with an assortment of extra special extras. About a 9.5 out of 10 in my book.
Danielle blogs on behalf of Sears and other brands she uses.