I can't quite believe it has been 13 years since Finding Nemo was released. Already a huge Pixar fan by that point, Nemo was another fun and interesting world to immerse myself in. It was never my favourite of the early films, but I still became obsessed with it for a certain period of time, like I had with the 4 that preceded it. I've always thought that Pixar succeeds or fails on the strength of its characters, and Finding Nemo had fantastic characters.
One of those loveable characters was Dory, a regal blue tang fish who suffers with short term memory loss. She featured heavily in Finding Nemo, but was always the comic relief character, designed to draw in the younger audience with light hearted jokes and her innocent naivety. Some may question whether a sequel centred around Dory was justified considering her relatively surface level role in the first film, but personally I see no issue with it as she was never given a proper backstory. Finding Dory then, is less of a literal title than Finding Nemo. Instead, this film wants the audience to find Dory in a different way entirely. We are invited to share in flashbacks of her rather troubling past and her initial separation from her parents that led to her eventually bumping into Marlin at the start of the first film. Although I had a level of scepticism for this film, overall I thought the guys at Pixar came through with another stellar experience. This is a movie that will thrill younger and older audiences with beautiful visuals, hilarious characters and a satisfying story, perhaps even providing a more rewarding experience than its giant of a predecessor.
Visually, Finding Dory is quite similar to the first film. The aesthetics and colour palette is almost identical, which can only be a good thing - Finding Nemo was one of Pixar's best looking early films. That being said, this film is certainly a bit more ambitious with its action set pieces and character movement. The septopus character, Hank, glides and rolls around the environments in such a fluid and almost poetic fashion. He is by far one of the best characters Pixar have ever attempted to bring to life and my god did they succeed. Robbie Collin at the BBC also mentioned how he saw a concerted effort to make the characters appear like puppets in some scenes, which I definitely see having reflected on the film. I guess the guys at Pixar have been making these animated films for over 20 years now, they must be looking for ways to move the genre forward within the limited scope that they have. I'm glad that they managed to pull a few off with this film whilst still maintaining that loveable and timeless formula of the early movies. I wasn't drawn in by the film's soundtrack however, that felt a little bit tagged on and not as memorable as previous Pixar soundtrack's. That being said, the use of Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World' in the final climactic scene was a hell of a choice.
The characters in Finding Dory are certainly the making of it. We have the same central trio in Dory, Nemo and Marlin, who we get to see go on a nostalgic adventure together once again. Dory is just as likeable, if a little bit grating at times. The surrounding characters though really hold everything together and above all, progress the story forwards. They are not simply there as comic relief or for side plots. Aside from Hank, who was by far my favourite character outside the central three, the whaleshark Destiny and beluga whale, Bailey were some of the funniest and most likeable characters Pixar have created. The scenes in which all three of these characters were on screen together were some of the best in the entire movie and rarely failed to get me laughing out loud. Dory's parents, for the brief time they appear in the film, were really endearing, and I really believed in the love that they had for their daughter. When we learn what they have been doing since they lost Dory it serves as a reminder of the importance of family, and how we should never give up on those we love and care for. The voiceovers were all immaculately done. Ellen Degeneres comes through again with a performance that has both greater range and depth than she did in the first film, which was required considering the fact that she had to transform Dory from a comic relief character to central protagonist. However, as with all of the great Pixar films, they manage to tell the stories of all the characters at the same time, with almost all of them learning something about themselves along the way.
The story is as engaging if not more engaging than Nemo's. It is set up with flashbacks to Dory's childhood with her parents, yet we don't learn how she was separated from them until much later on. These early flashbacks had a certain resonance for me, as I felt myself empathising with Dory and how profound it must have felt to be remembering sacred moments for the first time in years. The first act sees Dory, Marlin and Nemo head off into the unknown to try and find her parents after she miraculously remembers where they used to live. It is really fun as the three are faced with all of the dangerous deep sea perils that we loved in the first film. The feeling of insignificance in this vast ocean is as potent as ever, and as an audience we relate to this desperation of trying to find some kind of home in a cold, dark world. Even in the early scenes, the main message of the film starts to become clear, that sometimes it is best to be spontaneous like Dory. This is contrasted with Marlin's cautiousness, who eventually learns something from Dory's outlook and attitude to life.
The adventure continues in the second act as Dory finds Hank, who is willing to help her find her parents in the aquarium if she gives him her tag in return, which will allow him to live in isolation in Cleveland. More great action sequences happen involving both Dory and Hank, as well as Nemo and Marlin. Having these two storylines running parallel kept the everything feeling fresh and spontaneous, and once again it was gratifying to have them find each other in the end. The final act reveals how Dory was separated from her parents all that time ago, and the way it was handled gives it maximum emotional impact. After finding them it feels like the end of the journey, but instead we get one more mini adventure involving all of the main characters. This final scene is easily one of my favourites. It's hilarious, visually stunning and a perfect crescendo for Dory and the surrounding cast.
The movie takes us on a parallel yet ultimately very different journey than that in the first film, which was a kind of giant search and rescue effort to find Marlin's son Nemo. Finding Dory definitely shares several themes. For instance parenthood, and what parents will do for their children. Another one is disability. Obviously Dory struggles with short term memory loss, which she learns to use to her advantage. Similarly in the first film Nemo had to overcome his damaged fin. What I liked more about Finding Dory though was that Dory's condition, and consequentially how it shaped her character and decision making made for a fascinating character study of a certain type of person (or in this case fish). Mental handicaps and indeed, mental illness, is a growing problem for our generation, and many of them aren't given enough attention. The central message of Finding Dory is therefore a very important and relevant one. That our quirks and defects can be turned around and used as advantages. That they are not always going to opress us and one day might actually do the opposite and liberate us. I am not normally one to look too deeply into movies of this kind, but I think it needs to be mentioned. Hence, the tag line, 'What would Dory do?', feels like a fitting one.
Finding Dory should go along way to silence the critics who have accused Pixar of resorting to sequels instead of coming up with new ideas for films. In the same way as Toy Story 2, they have made movie that is at least as good, if not better than the first, at least in my opinion. It works as a fun and slapstick kids film and a reflective look at parenthood, disability and overcoming the odds in the name of love. I have very few criticisms of it, only that by the end I felt quite exhausted by it all, which isn't really a criticism at all. It is a very fast paced movie that will probably annoy some people out there. But overall I felt like it managed all of this franticness very well with great pacing and a fair share of slower, ponderous moments that break up the action. I think that families, Pixar fans and hardcore movie buffs will find a lot to love in this summer dive back into Pixar's deep blue sea.
Characters: 85
Narrative: 80
Visuals: 90
Music: 75
Overall: 83/100
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