Finding Dory, though an unnecessary sequel, is still a solid emotional family film that is up to the high standards audiences set for Pixar films.
I was never of the belief that Finding Nemo needed a sequel, none the less having it to do with the character of Dory, a fish with short term memory. Don't take it the wrong way, I like the character of Dory. She brought humor when it needed to be present and was not as annoying as she could have been. I just did not see the potential of basing a movie around this character, especially given that she had a great story arc in the first movie. Also, Disney has not done well with animated sequels (Toy Story aside). Most end up going straight to video and are basically babysitters for young children as they add no value to the story and botch, or worse destroy, traits of beloved characters. With a character like Dory, there was the risk of making her memory loss trait very annoying and maybe even uncomfortable given that memory loss is a very serious mental disorder. But thankfully, the good people at Pixar put their best into this and what we got was a surprisingly good film.
The story takes place one year after Finding Nemo, and focuses on Dory trying to find her parents after remembering them. And its not just, "oh she left home and her parents were just inside the house the whole time", she, much like Nemo, was taken away from her parents by forces out of her control. It's the basic formula for Pixar movies, character gets taken out of home/comfort zone and must find a way back home or get somewhere safe. But it is the characters and the emotions they go through that get us invested in these stories. We want to see Woody and Buzz get back to Andy, we want to see Marlin find his son, and we want Dory to find her parents. It's the characters and their journey that make the story work.
And probably for the best, this movie has a lot of good characters in it. A good Dory movie would have her interacting with characters and have the characters work off of each other. You have a squid voiced by Ed O'Neil who wants nothing more than to be in Cleveland, a pair of whales voiced by Ty Burrell and Kaitlin Olson, and a pair of seals voiced by Idris Elba and Dominic West. The movie does have scenes with Dory on her on and it is very dramatic (I say this in the best way possible). It goes with her character and gives us the emotional moments we look for in Disney movies.
Finding Dory is just as good as its predicessor and is a great film for all members of the family.
Rating: 4 stars
I was never of the belief that Finding Nemo needed a sequel, none the less having it to do with the character of Dory, a fish with short term memory. Don't take it the wrong way, I like the character of Dory. She brought humor when it needed to be present and was not as annoying as she could have been. I just did not see the potential of basing a movie around this character, especially given that she had a great story arc in the first movie. Also, Disney has not done well with animated sequels (Toy Story aside). Most end up going straight to video and are basically babysitters for young children as they add no value to the story and botch, or worse destroy, traits of beloved characters. With a character like Dory, there was the risk of making her memory loss trait very annoying and maybe even uncomfortable given that memory loss is a very serious mental disorder. But thankfully, the good people at Pixar put their best into this and what we got was a surprisingly good film.
The story takes place one year after Finding Nemo, and focuses on Dory trying to find her parents after remembering them. And its not just, "oh she left home and her parents were just inside the house the whole time", she, much like Nemo, was taken away from her parents by forces out of her control. It's the basic formula for Pixar movies, character gets taken out of home/comfort zone and must find a way back home or get somewhere safe. But it is the characters and the emotions they go through that get us invested in these stories. We want to see Woody and Buzz get back to Andy, we want to see Marlin find his son, and we want Dory to find her parents. It's the characters and their journey that make the story work.
And probably for the best, this movie has a lot of good characters in it. A good Dory movie would have her interacting with characters and have the characters work off of each other. You have a squid voiced by Ed O'Neil who wants nothing more than to be in Cleveland, a pair of whales voiced by Ty Burrell and Kaitlin Olson, and a pair of seals voiced by Idris Elba and Dominic West. The movie does have scenes with Dory on her on and it is very dramatic (I say this in the best way possible). It goes with her character and gives us the emotional moments we look for in Disney movies.
Finding Dory is just as good as its predicessor and is a great film for all members of the family.
Rating: 4 stars
