Disney's best effort since THE JUNGLE BOOK

Rating: 9/10 (29 July 2004)

I'm a big fan of the classic Disney era(late thirties throughout the forties),I don't really like the modern movies.Movies like FANTASIA and DUMBO are from that time and these two are my favorite Disney movies.Since that period only JUNGLE BOOK really lives up to my expectations.Now finally,Disney created a new animation classic:FINDING NEMO.A lot of this success is thanks to Pixar,the computer animation company that created a new world in animation.
FINDING NEMO leans very much on the old success movie DUMBO.Both have got a troubled parent-child relationship(Dumbo and his mother versus Nemo and Marlin)together with a troubled child-friend relationship(Dumbo and his buddy Timothy Mouse versus Nemo and his girlfriend Dory)and in both movies the leading character has got a physical handicap,Dumbo with his big ears and Nemo with a short fin. Besides that FINDING NEMO is still an original tale in itself.
FINDING NEMO has got several references to old films like JAWS,THE GREAT ESCAPE,PSYCHO and THE BIRDS.It is probably the only movie that has put both PSYCHO and THE BIRDS imitations in the space of 5 minutes. There is also a nice reference to the Disney short TUGBOAT MICKEY.
The characters are very well worked out,Nemo is very sympathetic and so is his dad.I must say that the presence of the shark Bruce is not very big in the movie and that's a bit of a shame.Another pretty annoying part is the "whale language" by Dory. The voices are not by the most famous of actors,but it's still very good.Willem Dafoe(PLATOON,MISSISSIPPI BURNING,BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY,CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER,LULU ON THE BRIDGE)is my favorite voice of the movie as he speaks for Gill.Other voices come from Albert Brooks(who had a supporting role in TAXI DRIVER)as Marlin and Ellen DeGeneres as Dory.
The computer animations are superb which makes it a very pleasant experience. 9/10