SUBMITTED BY Timbo

March 5, 2003 — On Tuesday evening at ShoWest in Las Vegas, Disney pulled out all the stops for Pixar's latest computer-animated film, "Finding Nemo" in a public screening for exhibitors. Robert Goulet, flanked by a chorus line of Disney dancers and in fine form, sang "You've Got A Friend in Me", a performance which culminated in an explosion of brightly colored confetti fish sprayed all over the audience. Following this lead-in came a variety of speakers: Richard Cook from Disney, Steve Jobs (representing Pixar), John Lasseter, and the film's director Andrew Stanton. All had obviously positive things to say about the film. Jobs talked about how Pixar is realizing its aim of releasing a quality film each year (Nemo is to be followed by The Incredibles, then Cars), while John Lasseter - clad in a trademark colorful shirt, untucked of course - mentioned how Nemo started as a sketch of small fish beside an enormous whale, tacked up on Stanton's bulletin board, and how proud he is that all of Pixar's features are original, not adapted, works.

The film itself was digitally projected, and was more or less finished, with animatics appearing more often towards the end of the film. It was very well received by exhibitors, with a great script, stunning animated sequences (in particular, attacks by various predators, including a barracuda, shark and electro-freaky fish, were extremely thrilling, but may jeopardize the movie getting a G rating), and lots of human interest (father in search of son, letting go of one's fears etc). Many diverse characters, and a story that just barrels along, will no doubt make this one of the big summer box office hits when it releases in late May. As one tagline on a Disney banner says, "Sea It!".