[rating=8.00]
The importance of Finding Nemo within the Pixar canon cannot be overstated. While certainly no one can argue that the films that came before it were in anyway unimportant, it was here, with its fifth film, that the studio/Disney offshoot showed us that we had something truly remarkable on our hands. Earlier films, which no doubt told a great narrative, were largely so impressive due to the at the time impressiveness of CGI technology. With Finding Nemo, Pixar proved that their success was no fluke, that they were capable of crafting a narrative that appealed to all members of the family with a story that resonated on multiple layers while, at the same time, pushing the absolute limits of CGI animation technology.
Which isn’t to say that their output since the 2003 film has been bad. A few misfires aside, Pixar has continued to push the boundaries of both technology and family film narrative to the point where they’re the gold standard. Even their parent company Disney has been forced to play catchup to some degree. And while Pixar will probably always be remembered as the house that Woody and Buzz built, it was Nemo that finished the coup, solidifying the studio’s place within the worlds of both animation and storytelling in the minds of the culture at large.
It’s almost impossible not to keep this in mind when going into Finding Nemo’s long awaited sequel, Finding Dory. Like all sequels, Finding Dory finds itself burdened by the success of its forebear, adding a weight of expectation to it that almost seems unfair. To Pixar’s credit, they’ve learned to carry their burdens well and Finding Dory still manages not to drown despite the overbearing weight of its thirteen year anticipation.
As suggested by its title, Finding Dory centers its narrative around the forgetful Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) from the original film. A year after the events of Finding Nemo, Dory has found a home in the Great Barrier Reef with Nemo (Hayden Rolence) and Marlin (Albert Brooks). Despite her chronic short term memory loss, the denizens of the reef have come to love and accept Dory as one of their own, leading Dory to finally feeling as though she has a place in her world. Her fragile balance is disrupted, however, when she unexpectedly begins to remember things about her childhood and her parents for the first time in her adult life. She thus embarks on a journey of her own, leading her to the Marine Life Institute in California in the hopes of meeting her parents once more.
After a somewhat muddled act one, which feels a bit rushed and abrupt and is riddled with the trappings of sequels—needless callbacks and unnecessary character appearances—that threaten to weigh the movie down, Finding Dory eventually swims of its own accord. It takes a bit of finessing to get to that point, but by the time Dory is finally in a position to be found, the Pixar magic begins in earnest and the film effortlessly transforms into a worthy successor to its forebear.
Worthy, of course, does not mean equal. Finding Dory is never as memorable as its progenitor. Blessedly, the film seems to be aware of this fact and never tries to be anything beyond what it is. What it is is a simple film that tells a solid story in a delightful way. There are a few moments, scattered throughout, where Finding Dory threatens to overreach but it never quite does, maintaining its delicate balance of being original in the shadow of its predecessor.
That’s really the benefit of Finding Dory as a film. There are no grand themes explored and there are no grand statements made, unlike some of Pixar’s recent output. Finding Dory is meat-and-potatoes Pixar that focuses on the delight of the storytelling process, and little more. There are still genuine moments that alternate between the hysterical and the emotionally profound—it wouldn’t be Pixar if there weren’t—but at the end of the day, the focus here is on quality entertainment.
Certainly, some may be somewhat let down by this fact, but it’s the only way it could’ve been done. And that’s not to say that Finding Dory skirts the deep waters. What’s interesting is that while Marlin and Nemo do attempt to find Dory in much the same way that Marlin and Dory once found Nemo, the one doing the finding of Dory here is Dory herself.
Dory, overcome as she is with her disability and perceived limitations, learns to embrace who she is and use what she does have to overcome her obstacles. Her memory loss might be obnoxious to those who’ve never met her, but her good natured joie de vivre endears her to those who have. And while she eventually does have a veritable army of assistants to help her on her journey—including a cantankerous octopus named Hank (Ed O’Neill) and a woefully nearsighted whale shark named Destiny (Katie Olson)—it’s Dory who does the bulk of the heavy lifting.
It’s a solid message for both kids and adults. We’ve all got our tics, our little foibles that hold us back threaten to keep us in our place. But rarely are those insurmountable. That’s always been the appeal of Dory as a character. No matter the obstacle, no matter the cause, no matter how dark her waters, what does she do? She just keeps swimming.
So what if that’s not terribly profound? That doesn’t make it any less an important lesson or reminder. From time to time, we’re all going to find ourselves in dark waters, forced to overcome obstacles that seem too much for us to handle. When that happens we’re faced with a choice: we can choose to sink, or we can choose to keep swimming.
And so while Finding Dory is never quite as memorable an achievement as Finding Nemo, it still manages to capture the heart of what made Finding Nemo such a success while telling a new story that’s worthy of the Finding brand. New ground may not be broken, but that’s okay. Sometimes all you need is a solid, entertaining yarn that goes from point A to point B in competent, entertaining ways. Finding Dory does just that, and it does it well.
Finding Dory is now playing in theaters everywhere.
