Finding Dory happily follows Finding Nemo as an experience of pure pleasure, luxurious visual indulgence and warm humor. Yes, Nemo comes first, but Finding Dory is far more than just a sequel. Andrew Stanton (with reinforcements/new blood – co-directing with Angus Maclane and co-writing with Victoria Strouse and Finding Nemo co-writer Bob Peterson) has made what just might be the film of the summer, and certainly a film with plenty of stand-alone appeal. Full and proper disclosure – I love the ocean and could watch those animated underwater scenes again and again and again…
The wonderful thing about sequels is the pure joy of revisiting beloved characters, the tricky part is avoiding the Scylla of banal storylines and the Charybdis of tiresome repetition (à la hey it worked last time, let’s do it again). Finding Dory navigates these treacherous waters with panache, finding new depths to Dory. As a secondary character in Finding Nemo, friendly and ever-cheerful Dory the blue tang (the effervescent Ellen DeGeneres), while immensely likeable, was mostly there for laughs, her short-term memory loss an ongoing joke. Here, she’s still cute and funny, but we get to know her much better, and see her in a different light. The film opens with a glimpse of Dory as a tiny fish with her mother (Diane Keaton) and father (Eugene Levy). As they try to teach her the important message “I have short-term memory loss” one realizes Dory’s vulnerability, and her parents’ desperate need to find ways to keep their young one safe in the vast ocean. Emotions, shift to engage.
But that’s not all this film has to offer. As Dory searches for her folks, this visually exhilarating roller coaster ride of plot twists and zany action, is also full of great new characters. Hank the octopus (Ed O’Neill – Married…With Children, Modern Family) is sweetly surly, looking out for number one, yet albeit reluctantly, coming time and again to Dory’s aid. Hank is also the best sight gag around as he blends into so many different backgrounds – and then pops up again, oh so nonchalant. Stiff competition with Hank for best new characters are the sea lions Fluke (Idris Elba) and Rudder (Dominic West) who impart sage advice while vigilantly guarding their domain, keeping Gerald (Torbin Xan Bullock) off their rock.
There is a slow revolution in our attitudes towards disability which is also showing up onscreen. This is something that can be seen to a certain extent in Finding Nemo, and is more fully developed in Finding Dory. Nemo’s adventures began because he insisted on participating fully in all underwater life has to offer a young fish, despite his under-developed fin, an injury sustained while still in the egg, during the barracuda attack that claimed his mother and siblings. In this film, Dory’s short term memory loss, that functioned primarily as a source of humor in the first film, is taken more seriously, with an interesting outcome. One comes to understand the impact Dory’s disability has had on her life, and feel empathy for the loss of her parents. Yet as the film progresses, this understanding blossoms into the realization that short term memory loss is not just a disability, it is also an integral part of Dory’s identity, part of what makes this spunky blue tang so lovable. Without memory to rely on, Dory lives entirely in the moment, utilizing everything she senses around her to make choices and swim into action. Throwing herself wholeheartedly into whatever adventure her heart directs, Dory often finds herself in trouble, but she also finds her way out of it. She’s definitely the hero of her own story.
Full of beauty and fun, the wonders of the kelp forest, the magnificent sting ray migration and the horror of children’s hands grabbing and poking in the touch pool are but some of the scintillating scenes in this must-see movie!
Finding Dory
Directed by Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane (co-director); Written by Stanton and Victoria Strouse; Story: Stanton, Victoria Strouse, Bob Peterson; Cinematography: Jeremy Lasky, Ian Megibben; Editor: Axel Geddes; Music: Thomas Newman; Production Designer: Steve Pilcher; Art Director: Don Shank; Visual Effects Supervisor: Chris Chapman; Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Hayden Rolence, Ty Burrell, Idris Elba, Dominic West, Sigourney Weaver.
