FINDING DORY
US, 2016, 103 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Ellen de Generes, Albert Brooks, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Ed O’Neill?, Idris Elba, Dominic West, Andrew Stanton, Austin Pendleton, Stephen Root, Alison Janney, Vicki Lewis, John Ratzenburger, Angus Mc Lane.
Directed by Andrew Stanton and Angus Mc Clane.
Actually, it is not really Dory who is lost in this film but since Finding Nemo was such a fine title, this story of Dory uses ‘Finding’ in the title although the plot really concerns Dory trying to find her parents.
Old audiences might find it hard to believe that it is already 13 years since Finding Nemo made such an impact with audiences all over the world – and won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It means that children were seven at the time and enjoyed Nemo are now 20. It might mean that they can slip into see this film with the younger brothers and sisters.
It is important to say that Nemo and his father, Marlin, are back and are significant characters in this story. Marlin still has the voice of Albert Brooks. But, as we remember, Dory made a great impression as she helped in the quest for finding Nemo. She was a bright, chatty, quipping blue tang fish, sounding just like Ellen de Generes. But, she had no immediate memory. And this is to the point in Dory’s story now.
To help us all appreciate Dory more, there are some scenes when she is a little blue tang, still chatty and quipping, still with no memory, a devoted mother and father caring for her, trying to help her remember, but very sad when she unexpectedly disappears.
The older Dory helps out with Ray and his classes to eager young fish. But, there is a compulsion in her to try to find her mother and father. She teams up again with Marlin and Nemo and they make their way to the Marine Centre in California. Here she teams up with a lively octopus, Hank (voiced by Ed O’Neill) who is desperate to get to a centre in Cleveland, trying all kinds of ruses to get to the departing truck, able to disguise himself with all kinds of shapes colours.
Dory also encounters a friend from childhood, the whale, Destiny (who has blurred eyesight and has a propensity for banging into walls) and her friend, a Beluga whale, who has heightened sonar talents which become very important for the final climax. We hear Sigourney Weaver at the Marine Centre giving information about looking after fish, especially rescue.
There are quite a lot of new characters the most amusing of which are two sea lions who lazily sunbake on a rock, offer a sympathetic ear to Dory, but turn aggressively against another sea lion who wants to get their spot (and a warning not to rush out of the credits because there are several jokes after the credits, including some with the sea lions).
The scene where Dory asks herself what she would do in Dory’s place and she is under water, pining for her parents, but sees a path of shells, offers quite some pathos and feeling for Dory and her parents.
But, pathos is not the goal of the end of the film with a frantic truck episode on a freeway, plenty of cars, plenty of smashes and a vehicle careening over the guard rail into the sea. This does mean that, despite all the adventures and dangers, Dory is truly found.
1. Finding Nemo as a classic? Awards? Popularity? The story of a father seeking his son, the search? Emotions? The background for this sequel?
2. The return of characters, their voices? Dory’s story, her parents, getting lost? Marlin and Nemo and their friendship with Dory and their gratitude towards her? The return of other characters like Ray?
3. The visuals, the style of animation, the look, the characters, the sea, surface and underwater? Sequences on land, in the Marine Centre, on the highway? The human characters and their behaviour? And the parallels between the fish and the humans? The musical score and song?
4. The new characters, especially the sea lions, the tangs, the variety of fish? Destiny, the Beluga whale?
5. Dory in the first film, nice, no memory, her patter, helping Marlin and retrieving Nemo?
6. Dory’s story, going back to her when young, her short-term memory loss, her parents and their, talking with her, the forgetting, wanting to go and play? Her leaving, getting lost, growing up? The search for her parents? The help of others? The pathos at the end, Dory alone, seeing the path of the shells, and her finding her parents? Dory, her manner, Ellen de Generes and her style, even the facial look, the smart quips?
7. Dory and her quest, helping Ray at his school, finding Marlin and Nemo? The meeting, their help, California, the Marine Centre?
8. The character of Hank, the octopus, his aim is to get to Cleveland, losing an arm and becoming a septopus? Meeting Dory, the interactions, helping, Dory dependent on him?
9. Meeting Destiny again, the Beluga whale friend, the pool, the exhibitions, the public, Sigourney Weaver and her explanation of life, especially rescue? Destiny, her poor sight, banging into the walls? The Beluga whale and his sonar talents? Their helping Dory?
10. The range of fish, in the cases, to be transported, the loading of the trucks, the human characters? The trucks on the road? Dory and the others trying to stop the truck?
11. Dory when alone, asking what Dory would do? The thinking, some skills, the focus on the shells and being reunited? The truck, Hank and the truck, Dory and Marlin and Nemo and their hopping from glass case to case? Trapped in the truck? Ousting the humans, Hank driving, Dory guiding, chaotic scenes on the road, the crash, going into the sea?
12. The happy reuniting? Dory in the class, with her parents, with Marlin, going to contemplate the view and remembering what had happened? And the singing of Unforgettable?
13. The amusing credits – and audiences needing to stay until the end to see the jokes, especially with the sea lions?
