Film Review: Though Treading Familiar Waters, “Finding Dory” Will Break Your Heart

By: Anthony Hernandez

“No matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t forget you.”

Something must be said about Pixar’s uncanny ability to consistently evoke real emotions through their tried-and-true storytelling model. Finding Dory, while not quite as strong as its predecessor, stands among the best of Pixar’s lineup – falling somewhere between Ratatouille and Up. The Toy Story trilogy aside, Finding Dory may very well be Pixar’s best sequel – proving that the heavy-handed, merchandise-focused era of Cars (followed by some less-than-amazing series of original films) was just a slight misstep. If Inside Out put Pixar back on course, then Finding Dory firmly plants us there.

Finding Dory follows the continuing story of the clownfish family Marlin, Nemo, and their adoptive member – the blue tang fish with severe short-term-memory loss – Dory, voiced by the incomparable Ellen DeGeneres. While it’s been 13 years since Finding Nemo, our story begins just six months after the events in the first film. Without giving too much away, Dory teams up with Marlin (Albert Brooks) and his son Nemo (Hayden Rolence) on a mission to find her parents. Dory only has a vague idea that she once had a family, but cannot remember what exactly happened to them. Determined to find her kin, the rag-tag group of fish catch a ride on a mellow sea turtle to California’s Marine Life Institute – where Dory makes new friends, experiences some truly harrowing moments, and inevitably finds a sweet – albeit tearful – ending to her journey.

It’s an unforgettable adventure – funny, poignant, and absolutely gorgeous in every detail. The voice work from a widely diverse cast propels the movie forward and anchors the story in a realm of realism, despite the fact that this is an animated film about talking marine creatures. Kaitlin Olson voices a near-sighted whale shark, Idris Elba and Dominic West play a pair of sea lions – plus there’s Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell, Willem Dafoe, Sigourney Weaver… the list goes on.

In addition to an incredible cast, Finding Dory (as well as the animated short Piper, tacked onto the beginning of the film in true Pixar fashion) is the arguably the most striking of any Pixar film. Richly detailed and breathtaking in scope, the oceanic world comes to life in vibrant color – even though its sheer scale cannot rival that of its predecessor because, instead of using the entire ocean between California and Australia as its canvas, we’re introduced to a more “intimate” ocean and story that takes place in a much “smaller” area. But that doesn’t mean the film is lacking – because it makes up for any shortcomings in scale with new characters that push the limits of animation.

Speaking of new characters: the octopus Hank – a creature that took many years of hard work and some new technology just to get right – uses his incredibly fine-tuned cephalopod brain to help jog Dory’s memory during her time at the marine institute. So much could be said about this incredible new character – but that would spoil all the fun. And this movie has a lot of it.

On a heavier side note – this film actually explores new depths of Dory’s condition by connecting it to an unfortunate human experience, presented not as a simple personality quirk, but as a very real disability. We learn that her loving parents (voiced by Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy) attempted to compensate for their daughter’s cognitive challenges by teaching baby Dory some tricks for not losing her way – “Just keep swimming…” Some of the more thought-provoking themes might be lost on the young ones; but as with almost every Pixar outing, this is a movie made for kids and adults equally, without the need to devolve into crude humor or pandering schlock.

While Finding Dory may rely too much on the familiarity of its predecessor, it’s full of heart and I found mine breaking as the movie neared its end. It reminds us that life’s experiences are precious and family is important – but most importantly, it reminds us that the ability to feel is what connects us all. And that’s an encouraging thought.

Finding Dory

Run Time: 97 minutes

Rated PG for mild thematic elements

Starring: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence, Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Kaitlin Olson, Idris Elba, Dominic West, Sigourney Weaver, Willem Defoe, Brad Garrett, Austin Pendleton, John Ratzenberger

Directors: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane

Writers: Andrew Stanton, Victoria Strouse, Bob Peterson