FINDING DORY:
AS PERFECT A
FINDING NEMO FOLLOW-UP AS YOU COULD GET!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: **** out of 4
DISNEY/PIXAR
Dory
off on another incredible adventure that she probably won’t remember in Finding Dory
What am I talking about again? Oh
right, Finding Dory, the dynamic duo,
Disney and Pixar Animation Studios return with their follow-up to the 2003
animated smash, Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo was a critical and
commercial success upon release and even to this day people still talk about
the impact the film had and it’s basically a timeless classic now, in fact they
re-released in 3D not too long ago.
The film had very memorable
characters, quotable lines, comedy, drama, suspense, and the film as a whole is
fueled on emotion, something Pixar is
almost always great at. Now over ten years later, Pixar continues the adventures of clownfish, Marlin (voiced by
Albert Brooks-Lost in America, Defending Your Life, The Simpsons Movie), his son, Nemo
(voiced by newcomer Hayden Rolence, replacing Alexander Gould from the first
film), and of course everyone’s favorite forgetful Pacific regal blue tang,
Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres-Dr.
Dolittle, EDtv, Ellen) with Finding Dory.
When I first heard they were doing a
sequel to Finding Nemo, I was both
extremely excited but also a little skeptical. The reason, Finding Nemo is one of those movies that I consider a “Perfect Film”,
everything is in its right place it was powerful in drama, comedy, and
character, it’d be tricky to make a sequel to it and still have it be just as
amazing as the first film.
Not to mention, the non-Toy Story related Pixar sequels haven’t been all that great, Cars 2 was disliked by critics, making it the first Pixar dud and Monsters University was okay at best, but nothing spectacular. I
was at least excited to see the characters I grew up with again on the
big-screen and curious to see if the film would turn out fine.
Fortunately, Finding Dory turned out to be a perfect follow-up to Finding Nemo, it embraced everything
that made it a great film, added new memorable characters, lots of humorous
jokes and visual gags, and it cranks up the emotion, like Inside Out on emotional steroids. In my opinion, it’s the best non-Toy Story Pixar sequel, throw Cars 2
and Monsters University into the
ocean.
Ever since she was a little fish,
Dory always had Short-Term Memory Loss and would forget things easily, like
where she is, what she’s talking about, and who her parents are. One day she
got separated from her parents and since then she spent pretty much her whole
life trying to find them, until she bumped into Marlin when he was trying to
catch the boat that took his son, Nemo.
One year after the events of Finding Nemo, Dory volunteers as a
teacher’s assistant for Mr. Ray (voiced by Bob Peterson-Monsters Inc., Up, Toy Story 3). Mr. Ray gives Nemo and his
class of fish a lesson on migration and how it means going home to where you’re
from and Dory soon realizes that she had a family at one point.
Dory, with the help of Marlin, Nemo,
sea turtle, Crush (voiced by director, Andrew Stanton), and a colorful cast of
new characters, sets off on another journey across the sea to find her parents.
Along the way Dory gets captured and put into an aquarium where she meets an
ill-tempered octopus named Hank (voiced by Ed O’Neill-Wayne’s World 1 and 2, Modern
Family, Wreck-It Ralph), her childhood
friend and whale shark named Destiny (voiced by Kaitlin Olson-It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Leap Year, Brickleberry), and a beluga whale named Bailey (voiced by Ty
Burrell-The Incredible Hulk, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Muppets Most Wanted) to name a few that
accompany Dory on her journey.
Meanwhile Marlin and Nemo get the
aid of two sea lions named Fluke (voiced by Idris Elba-Marvel Cinematic Universe, Zootopia,
The Jungle Book) and Rudder (voiced
by Dominic West-Chicago, Arthur Christmas, John Carter) and an offbeat, kooky, loon named Becky, who does not
talk, to help them find Dory and bring her home.
The film also features the voices of
Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, The Godfather trilogy, Father of the Bride) as Jenny, Eugene
Levy (American Pie franchise, The Man, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian) as Charlie, Bill
Hader (Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs,
Men in Black 3, The Angry Birds Movie) as Ned, and Kate McKinnon (Life Partners, Balls Out, The Angry Birds
Movie) as Inez.
Overall, Finding Dory is a fantastic movie and one of the best sequels I’ve
seen in a while, especially for a movie I thought was so self-contained that
following it up would have been completely pointless, thank God I was wrong.
You can tell the filmmakers behind the film are writing from their hearts and
they put a lot of passion and care in their projects, except for when they just
want money from the little kids (I’m looking at you Cars 2!).
The film has a perfect balance of
familiar characters and new characters and they’re all memorable. Although I
was hoping to get more screen-time with Nemo’s misfit friends from the first
film and appearances from Bruce and the sharks, but the characters they brought
in are just as good and you really don’t care if not all the characters from
the first film are in here.
The animation is gorgeous, and I’m
not just talking about underwater, the design of the aquarium and the surface
look incredible. Like many of Pixar’s
films, the humor and writing are very clever and the movie is filled with
hilarious jokes and visual gags, even a couple adult jokes are hidden in there,
but don’t worry it’s nothing the little kids would think about.
The drama and emotion are amplified
here, the way Dory’s backstory is told is very heartbreaking, I actually recall
jerking a tear or two, and this is an animated film for kids, and I love Pixar for doing that, it’s not silly all
the time but it’s not too serious or depressing, it has enough to keep a wide
audience engaged.
If you loved the first film, you’re
probably at the theater watching it right now.
Just keep swimming, just keep
swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, what do we do? We swim.
Alright I’ll stop now.
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