Director: Andrew Stanton
By Alex Watson
You always forget what emotional experiences Pixar movies can be and how often they seem to always triumph with sequels. Finding Dory is no exception and wonderfully conjures up what was so magic about the first experience and also adds a new poignant emotion that new animated studios offer. Once more dazzling our eyes, this whole adventure feels like a fresh and new swim through the ocean. All the while director Andrew Stanton also makes us think hard about the notion of family and longing to be reunited.
Blue tang fish Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) has begun to recover memories of her old life with her mother Jenny (Diane Keaton) and her father Charlie (Eugene Levy). She was separated from her family as a child and has been searching ever since. When suddenly it hits her that her family lives in California she along with her long-suffering friend Marlin (Albert Brooks) and his son Nemo (Hayden Rolance) set out on another across ocean adventure. Along the way, they will become acquainted with slippery Squid Hank (Ed O'Neill).
Breathe easy (without gills) Pixar fans, Finding Dory lays fresh new ground and doesn't make any of your fond Finding Nemo memories feel trodden on. Starting with a poignant and gut wrench introduction to Dory's early life and her separation from her parents, the hardest heart will melt into a pool of water. Happily settled into her over and over again routine with Marlin where she literally tries his patience, one day her mind reawakens an old memory that makes her world change. Remember she has a family makes her set out to find them but more than that she needs to discover the hows and whys that left her lost and stranded. This is more of a movie of self-discovery than about recovering the past.
Across the ocean (aided by old Nemo favourite Crush the turtle) Dory's adventures takes to the Marine Institute of California (complete with Sigourney Weaver voiceover). While quarantined, she crosses paths with Squid Hank, who is desperate to be sent to a Cleveland aquarium rather than be released into the ocean. The trip through the park is like a mini odyssey in itself as the duo cross paths with a struggling beluga whale Bailey (Ty Burrell) and a near-sighted whale shark (Kaitlin Olson). Best of all are a pair of boisterous sea lions (Idris Elba and Dominic West) who aide Marlin in his quest to find his lost friend. Although the road is bumpy and wet, Dory and Hank strike up and unusually close friendship and it appears the trickster may have more heart than we think (three hearts in fact).
What really scores Finding Dory big points is Stanton's expert handling of the emotional content. Our hearts go through the grinder as each little bit of hope both whithers and dies. Dory is desperate to find her way home but there is a firm lack of closure throughout and a part of us wonders will a happy ending be in store? While it may not elevate itself above Up or Inside Out in terms of storytelling, this picture is a realistic depiction of the horrors children and adults experience someone goes missing. The main element to this tale is about Dory's finding herself again, part of her feels guilty for losing herself in the first place due to her short term memory loss and she is determined to retrace her steps. Her constant in and out memory is smartly not made the butt the films jokes and instead it is a firm message about a child feeling stranded and alone in this world.
Ellen DeGeneres has proven the perfect choice and her chatterbox persona has suited this blue tang like a glove. Impressively she is at ease with the heavier side of this character and effortlessly convinces during the movies sadder content. Albert Brooks reminds us just what a fine voice actor he is (Just watch his Simpsons appearances) and Marlin is the type of overly cautious yet big-hearted character he was born to play. As Hank, Ed O'Neill threatens to steal the picture out from under the two leads with a confident yet neurotic turn. Hank desires to live in a tank for the rest of his life, but Dory might just help him overcome his fear of the ocean.
Finding Dory might just prove to be the big summer competition for Captain America: Civil War and offers the first glorious family offering the year. No one does magic like Pixar and unless animation stops entirely they are unbeatable!
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