I've waited for this one for awhile now. Finding Nemo is arguably Pixar's best movie as far as depth goes and is possibly my favorite. And while Finding Dory does not necessarily capture the magic of its predecessor, what sequel ever does? Ever since John Lassiter left the reins of Pixar behind to get his dream job, head of animation at Disney, Pixar has been in a creative slump lately with such middling offerings like The Good Dinosaur and Monsters University. While at the same time, Disney is having its best creative run since The Little Mermaid era, with movies like Tangled, Frozen, Big Hero Six and Zootopia. That can't be a coincidence. Now, it's unfair maybe to compare Pixar's past success with now, but it admittedly set a very high bar. Finding Dory may be the first step on the way back, but I think Pixar is headed for some trouble as it keeps mining old material (Toy Story 4, The Incredibles 2, and Cars 3 are all in the works) while Disney keeps putting out great original fare. While I hope it isn't true, Pixar may be bankrupt of new ideas at least for the near future.
Finding Dory starts with a very young Dory and her parents telling her about her short-term memory loss problem. They are a very happy family and her parents dote on her. Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneris again, easily the best thing about the film) accidentally loses her parents when she gets stuck in an undertow and is whisked away. She immediately forgets where she is from and gradually even forgets her parents. We see a montage of her growing up until she literally runs into Marlin, (Albert Brooks) Nemo's father. We skip ahead a year and now Dory, Marlin and Nemo live together as a family until one day, Dory has a flash of her parents in a memory. She realizes she is from a marine park in California and she, Marlin and Nemo set off to find her parents in a new adventure.
So, is the movie good? The short answer is yes. It still deals with the bonds of family and friends, and even breaks some new ground about how to treat each other and relying on your talents, especially when you are handicapped in some way. The themes are deep and hit closest to home, but the film does lack a little magic. Part of the wonder of Finding Nemo was the journey itself, the obstacles to overcome, the gradual bonding of Marlin and Dory, the interesting characters they meet on the way. Finding Dory has shrunk because we spend most of the time in the marine park itself, essentially making the world smaller and less interesting. There are some great moments, almost all of them with the cranky octopus Hank (Ed O'Neill) who is constantly trying to break out of the park, but a lot of the ground is old and already covered in the first movie. The themes of family are not bad, and I like the positive way in which they are portrayed, but it feels a little worn.
That said, I can't go without mentioning Ellen DeGeneris' performance. She was probably the best thing in Finding Nemo, and because this movie is all about Dory, the responsibility of the story working falls on her shoulders. This character could easily devolve into a very annoying caricature, but Ellen's mixture of earnestness and innocence in the movie really sells it. She is fantastic in this role and it's too bad she doesn't do more in film instead of that stupid talk show she does. She is so much better and talented than that show allows her to be. I would love to see if she could do serious drama, because her timing, likability and charisma really work. This is a great movie to see, just lower your expectations a tad from the first and I think you will have a lovely time.
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