Many wondered if “Finding Dory” would sink or swim, but in typical Pixar-fashion, the animated comedy gets along swimmingly.
Ellen Degeneres’ Dory, one of Disney’s most beloved characters, returns to the screen for her own feature film, providing lots of laughs and delighted squeals — from children, college-aged students who grew up with “Nemo” and adults alike — along the way and teaching some valuable lessons about family and focusing on one’s strengths.
Among many good qualities, one of the film’s greatest strengths lies in its voice actors, brilliantly voiced by Degeneres (Dory), Albert Brooks (Marlin), Ed O’Neill (Hank), Ty Burrell (Bailey), Diane Keaton (Jenny), Eugene Levy (Charlie) and newcomer Hayden Rolence (Nemo).
For moviegoers who are familiar with Pixar’s 2003 hit, “Finding Nemo,” Dory’s “short-term memory loss” ‘disability’ has often landed her in trouble. For example, she, on occasion, wanders off, then forgets where she has wandered off to — causing much despair for the fish who try to keep an eye on her.
She forgets that Marlin has told her she’s not supposed to go on the class trip (making it a very awkward situation for Marlin to tell her in front of the class). She can’t even remember when she’s already told Marlin something in the night, so she repeatedly keeps waking Marlin up to tell him. For a moment, she even forgets why she and Marlin trekked across the ocean a few months ago (it was to find Nemo).
It would seem Dory can’t remember much of anything important.
One day, though, Dory does remember something important — something very important. She has a family. Somewhere out in the world, flashbacks reveal that an adorable baby Dory has parents who dearly love her.
In typical Dory-style, Dory doesn’t think twice; she knows she has to find them, and she knows she will find them, so she takes off on a fantastical journey full of speaking in whale language, forgetting things and losing someone, then finding someone, then losing them again, but, of course, always finding them in the end. Most of all, though, it’s about hope.
She doesn’t let her “disability” define her, and, by the end of the film, Dory’s friends and moviegoers alike realize that her memory loss isn’t a disability, but rather, it’s an ability. It’s what makes Dory, Dory, and that’s a strength. Even cautious and critical Marlin realizes this, and he finds his way back to Dory not by careful planning, but by thinking “What would Dory do?” and then proceeding to get across a road by jumping onto multiple fountains and being shot up in the air to the other side of the road. Far-fetched, yes. But that’s what Dory would do.
Dory does what it takes, even if it’s out of her comfort zone. She knows she has to find her family, and she realizes, as more and more flashbacks of her childhood come to her, that she has to get her family out of captivity at the Marine Life Institute. Not only is it a crazy caper made for laughs, but it’s also a film to teach us that weaknesses don’t have to limit you if you learn to use it as a strength.
Although Dory gets lost in some ridiculous way maybe just one-too-many times for my preference, it’s nonetheless an amusing and delightful romp through the ocean with much adored characters.
It would seem Pixar can’t make a bad film, as it consistently produces movie after movie with always stellar results. Director Andrew Stanton’s “Finding Dory” is no exception to this, and I even dare to say it’s a better catch than its predecessor.
Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures