Finding Dory

Finding Dory is a perfectly enjoyable film that doesn’t quite live up to the ridiculously high expectations Pixar fans have come to expect.

Finding Dory continues on from 2004’s Finding Nemo with the friendly amnesiac blue tang fish Dory (Ellen Degeneres), who begins to recall memories of her parents and sets off to search for them along with Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (Hayden Rolance).

It’s testament to Pixar remarkable standard that Finding Dory comes across as slightly disappointing, and the incredibly high bar that their films have set. The consistency in the quality of Pixar releases between 1995 and 2010 is purely staggering. Finding Dory is far from a subpar film, yet worryingly for another sequel by the animation giants, it isn’t up to their usual excellence, obviously not counting any of the Toy Story sequels yet released, but considering the future slate contains another feature installment of our favourite sentient toys, then perhaps there is cause for concern, seeing as Toy Story currently represents as close to a perfect trilogy as there is, Lord of the Rings aside.

Ellen Degeneres is as affable as expected, reviving her forgetful character Dory from 2004’s Finding Nemo. Albert Brooks returns as Marlin in a somewhat muted, supporting role that feels like a series of cameo appearances. That’s where Finding Dory falls a bit flat. The role reversal of Finding Nemo’s protagonists doesn’t really work. By the end of first film, Marlin’s transformation from a frantic, uptight worrier is complete as he learns from Dory’s carefreeness. In Finding Dory, he appears to have learnt nothing, and essentially goes through the same character arc as he is encouraged by Nemo to think “what would Dory do?” quite regularly. As for Dory herself, there is very little transformation in her character from the start of the film to the end – which isn’t awful, but if animation is to be considered as something more than “for kids”, which it should, and frankly we should be encouraging films to challenge kids anyway, then this lack of a compelling character arc becomes an issue.

The film leans on the charm of Ellen Degeneres, and Finding Dory is funny, and not just enjoyable funny – there are some belly rumbling laughs. Credit for this must be shared between Ellen’s delivery and the writing/directing of Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton, who had produced some of the finest of Pixar’s film including the wondrous Wall-E. The supporting cast, and voice work in general, is strong with a couple of stand outs from Ed O’Neill as the seven legged Octopus Hank, Kaitlin Olson as the near sighted Destiny, and Ty Burrell as Beluga whale, Bailey.

Most glaringly for Finding Dory, there is a sincerely missed opportunity and a greater justification for the film’s production regarding theme. The main one in Finding Dory is family, and the real meaning of – not exactly a new concept for an animated film. Considering the environmental devastation of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in the last decade, the de facto setting of the Finding Nemo, perhaps environmentalism would’ve made a greater message. We need to take better care of our oceans. Of course, Pixar have touched on it before in Wall-E, Finding Nemo (both directed by Andrew Stanton), and there are elements of it on show here as our characters venture through the murky debris of sunken ship, they end up in a marine life sanctuary as Sigourney Weaver, playing herself, informs them of humanity’s conservation efforts, but the filmmakers have missed the chance to really drive home the message.

As far as parenting goes, introducing your children to the films of Pixar, as well as Studio Ghibli, and Disney, remains highly recommended. Judging by the trailers on show before Finding Dory, you could do so much worse. The market for family friendly films is inundated with trash, only having to cast your mind back to last year’s Minions to realise that. Despite the criticism of it, which admittedly is slightly harsh, Finding Dory is actually pretty good and still remains better than the vast majority of animated films out there.

Written by Callum Mackenzie.