Finding Dory

Dir: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane

2016

****

I was rather critical of 2003's Finding Nemo when it first came out. I felt at the time that Pixar were getting a little too schmaltzy with their films and that they were relying too heavily on the amazing animation, rather than the story. I prefer my animations/cartoons to be on the silly side but I'm not against story, meaning or fable, I just don't like it when Hollywood or whoever bombard the young folk with emotional blackmail. Pixar have done quite a few sequels now, many for films that I think deserved it least but I never thought Finding Nemo would be one of them. If Nemo had got lost again it would have been a sure signal that the studio had definitely run out of ideas. The truth is that Pixar had wanted to make a sequel for some time but Disney own Pixar and had other ideas. Disney announced their Circle 7 Animation studio in 2005, built with the intention of making Pixar property sequels - much like the horrible straight to DVD sequels they make of their own properties one would imagine. The studio actually got shut down without making a single movie and things got back on track, the campaign started by Ellen DeGeneres (the voice behind Dory) fans adding helpful extra pressure. When the film was first announced, DeGeneres jokingly quipped "I have waited for this day for a long, long, long, Long, Long, Long time. I'm not mad it took this long. I know the people at Pixar were busy making Toy Story 16". Finding Dory, arguably the favorite character from the first film, did sound like a rehashed idea but the final story is actually rather lovely. Finding Dory came out in 2016 without much fanfare I thought, which is a shame, as it was a delight from start to finish and it did brilliantly at the box office. The animation is still as stunning as it was in 2003 but the detail is so much clearer and there were times when I wondered if they had animated on top of real photographs. It was nice to see most of the voice actors return from the first film and the way their characters were reintroduced worked very well. The new voice actors/characters were brilliant and I thought the script was tender and hilarious. It's the first Pixar film that I really belly-laughed at, the scenes where Dory and her friend Destiny talk to each other in whale speak in particular. It captures that fine balance of being suitable and entertaining for kids as well as enjoyable for adults without either getting bored at any time. It is Pixar back on form, following the rather awful The Good Dinosaur.