Official Synopsis (via IMDB.com)
The friendly but forgetful blue tang fish begins a search for her long-lost parents, and everyone learns a few things about the real meaning of family along the way.
The concept of creating a sequel to one of the most beloved Pixar films in Pixar history, Finding Nemo, seemed a bit stretchy when first proposed. Finding Nero’s main story of a separated son from father, was an easy story to put on film for nearly two hours. It made sense and there were plenty of adventures to be had in three acts. It was also endearing, touching and made me, as a father, want to hug my children before losing them to growing up (or getting kidnapped by scuba peeps — kidding, but wow that’s still a fear now). Having seen that and witnessed how it played out, it was difficult to visual conceieve how Pixar and director/writer Andrew Stanton were going to pull off a backstory to Ellen DeGeneres’ forgetful blue tang, Dory, for two hours. Sure, Dory had some incredible moments in Finding Nemo, but she was more comedy relief than she was interesting lead character.
Having said that, you won’t believe this, but I was wrong.
They pulled it off and did it with a different set of new characters, similar structure and welcomed fast-pace push that was much better than I thought it would be. Okay, let’s get right into this sucker.
{media load=media,id=4415,width=720,align=center,display=inline}
The film starts off by reminding us how forgetful, yet caring Dory is with other fish. The first act starts with Dory living with Nemo and Marlin, helping marlin with Nemo, but having vivid flashbacks of her parents that are slowly driving her from leaving the safe confines of her adoptive family and finding a way back to her parents. We get a healthy amount of humor that is mixed evenly with flashbacks of adorable (and I mean ADORABLE) Dory. Overwhelmed with the feeling of needing to find her parents, or at least find out what happened to them, she slowly progresses towards what she believes is the location of her parents, via some cool turtles (and other ways). Before getting to where she needs, Dory, Nemo and Marlin are attacked and nearly killed by a very hungry squid, which causes the group to break up (Marlin is a bit stressed over losing Nemo). The first act ends with Dory captured by the Marine life Institute and put into a tank so that she can heal. She isn’t hurt from the squid, she has a soda can holder stuck on her.
The first act happens quick and it’s less about discovery, as the first film was driven by, and more about pure motivation to find out where the heck Dory’s parents might be. Figuratively, the movie never stops to sniff the roses, rather it depends on humor to keep pushing it along quick. It’s quite the change of pace in comparison to the first movie and a pace that won’t let up for the rest of the film. There’s always a worry in pushing story elements quickly through the mix, even ones that are humor driven, that the humor might outperform the story’s purpose. I have seen this happen with a lot of comedies, especially some of the lowbrow ones, but Finding Dory is so well-written that it uses that quickness to only add to the simple story of Dory getting back to her home and gives you anticipation for the next plot point and the next bit of humor.
As act two begins, we’re introduced to one of the main supporting characters, Hank (Ed O’Neill), who is an octopus trying to get back to Cleveland (or to the aquarium up there) and has offered his services to Dory, helping to find her family, in exchange for the tag on her fin that is sending her to the Cleveland aquarium. He introduces her to the aquarium piece by piece, while trying to avoid the touch tank (just like it sounds) that is infested by kids. His short amount of patience is put to the test by Dory, as her short-term memory keeps leading the pair back/forth to different areas in the MLI. While Dory works with Hank to find a specific location for her family, Marlin and Nemo have decided to follow Dory to the MLI to make sure she is okay and end up having their own adventure on the way to her. Specifically, working with a weird-eyed bird and some lazy loud seals, which create some great moments. The second act ends with Dory, Hank, Marlin and Nemo finding their way to each other through random happenstance and plenty of humorous moments, as well as Dory finally finding some solid clues that may lead her to her mom and dad.
The second act is packed with moments! Mostly humor drives it all, even with two separate storylines occurring between Dory and Marlin/Nemo. I found the second act hilarious, but also impressively written when it comes to sharing and then tying screen time between the pairs. This is talented writing, folks, that shouldn’t be overlooked and respected. The inclusion of new characters, especially Ty Burrell’s whiny beluga whale, Bailey, and a blind whale shark named Destiny voiced by Kaitlin Olson, help to highlight and push the story along. Idris Elba’s Fluke and Dominic West’s Rudder, two lazy seals that keep another crazy seal named Gerald off their rock, also help to give the humor a proper place. Again, all the humor has a reason and plays into the story, which is why the writing is impressive. Anyway, act two is amazingly strong and definitely sets up the third act for a beautiful crescendo.
As in true Digitalchumps tradition, I will not tell you about the third and final act in detail. I will say that it ends great (maybe a bit bad, but mostly great). It takes what the first two acts give it and respectfully follows the same structure that act one and two built for it. It’s properly finished and it does not miss a beat.
Overall, Finding Dory is a superb film that puts real detail and dimension into a secondary character that was comedy relief in the first film. It provides Dory with a sense of self, as well as entertainment for the audience. It’s a strong sequel that deserves your undivided, memorable attention.
Pixar ups the visual value with this movie. Not only is the computer animation far superior than previous Pixar efforts, and you can tell this in the water animation (wowsers!), but the upgrade to Blu-ray HD helps to push it further. Everything about this transfer is perfectly done. The water, the characters, the colors — everything! It’s a treat for the eyes, as well as for the ears. The presentation value is perfect on Blu-ray, so at least go that route to really take it all in. No imperfections whatsoever.
Going along with that perfection is the special features and they are as follows:
– Short – “Piper”
– Marine Life Interviews
– The Octopus That Nearly Broke Pixar
– What Were We Talking About?
– Casual Carpool
– Animation & Acting
– Creature Features
– Deep in the Kelp
– Skating & Sketching with Jason Deamer
– Dory’s Theme
– Rough Day on the Reef
– Commentary
– Deleted Scenes
This is a boatload of features for a movie that is already darn entertaining.
{media load=media,id=4414,width=720,align=center,display=inline}
Overall, you’re getting just a bunch of good features that match perfectly with the main feature.
Piper is darn good as well.
Anyway, onto the summary.
