Everyone loves a good origin story, and after 12 years of waiting, we’ve finally got one!
Finding Dory explains how Dory ended up lost in the ocean when she meets Marvin, or more accurately, the movie explains how Dory has been lost her entire life. In order for us to find her, Dory has to herself through random flashbacks that are pieced together at the heart-warming end. I actually think it’s a quite clever tactic: it gets the audience to stay the through the whole movie so they can figure everything out. Aside from the flashbacks, Dory actually goes on adventure to find her parents, which gives the audience the chance to see familiar faces on the big screen again such as Crush, Squirt, and Mr. Ray. (Honestly I was waiting to see the sharks again, but they’re only mentioned).
During the adventure we are also introduced to new characters, some of which I was happy with, and some of which I was not. Obviously we meet her parents, who seem understanding and loving despite their child’s memory loss. They are what gives this film those ‘family values’ the audience look for so desperately.
The comic relief is mainly shown through side characters: The shining stars of the entire film, the sea lions, only appear for a total of ten minutes or so. Two simple sea lions lying on a rock, and then suddenly, we have Gerald. Oh, Gerald.
Gerald is a goofy sea lion with a unibrow and a look of idiotic splendor. Poor Gerald, all he wants to do is lay on the rock, but he is denied by the other sea lions. Honestly, I would be fine if the movie just involved those three. Stupid, idiotic comedy is life’s greatest gift. Finding Gerald. Let’s make it happen.
Of course, then we have the main characters. My least favorite character was the whiniest whale around: Bailey. Apart from having a generally annoying voice, (sorry Ty Burrell), all the character does is whine. He’s like that friend who constantly complains about everything and always makes excuses not to do something, and then when they finally actually do something, they won’t stop bragging about it. That is exactly what Bailey does. You’re the worst type of person, Bailey.
While Bailey is unpleasant in is own way, Hank the octopus is just as predictable as they come: he’s naturally selfish but eventually ends up having a change of heart, thus strengthening the bond between
him and the protagonist. Also somewhere along the way he saves their life or something like that… you get the point. However, I do need to give props to the animation team for being able to make this septopus come to life with the movements of the tentacles.
Speaking of the animation, Pixar and Disney have blown my mind yet again. My jaw literally dropped at how beautiful they made the squid look as it glowed underwater. It was marvelous! And the crew didn’t skip out on the details either! You can get a real sense of how everything moves under water and the texture of everything is so spot on, even the lighting. The movement of the characters was flawless and with all the miraculous scenes filled unique marine life, I can understand now why this movie took so long to make!
One of my favorite scenes from the movie is actually towards the end.
I kid you not, everyone was dying of laughter as all the fish falling from the truck in slow motion while Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World” played in the background. My mom turned red with laughter as the fish ate each other like those little Russian dolls. The humor in the movie was great, although, times have obviously changed. Of course this movie is more comedic than the original; Finding Nemo, though it has its funny moments, was deeper (pun totally intended). While Finding Nemo had its serious moments, Finding Dory just seemed like one big, wild ride. The comedy is idiotic, with not much thinking done, but it is a kid’s movie set in 2016, so what can we expect?
Walt Disney believed that sequels are unnecessary and that time and imagination should be used for creating new movies, not reproducing old ones. We’ve seen a good example of why we shouldn’t have sequels: Cars 2, Cars 3, Return to Neverland, Cinderella II, Cinderella III, the Aladdin sequels. However, there are some sequels that do get it right, like Toy Story 2 and Lion King ½. So I ask our loyal readers, which category would Finding Dory fall under?
