Finding Dory
Starring Ellen DeGeneres, Ed O’Neill
Directed by Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane
Pixar heads under the sea once again to tug at the heartstrings in the fun and familiar Finding Dory. Ellen DeGeneres returns to voice the forgetful fish, whose character’s lack of short-term memory was played mainly for laughs in 2003’s Finding Nemo. This time around, Dory is front and centre with a significantly expanded role that examines the challenges associated with her memory loss, from a special needs perspective, as she searches for her long lost parents.
Nemo himself (voiced by a different actor from the original) figures less prominently but his dad Marlin (Albert Brooks) grounds much of the story and new vocal additions include a gruff Ed O’Neill as a “septopus” and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Kaitlin Olson playing an adorable whale shark. Finding Dory contains its fair share of slapstick and poignancy that will have audiences howling with laughter one moment and reduced to tears in the next. Unfortunately, much of the original magic feels slightly engineered here as the repetitive messaging occasionally feels heavy-handed and the plot’s resemblance to the first movie gives off the distinct feeling we’ve been down this road before.
Thankfully, there is still plenty to appreciate about Dory on a technical level. The studio continues to raise the animation bar with stunning realism; a scene depicting migrating stingrays is simply breathtaking and one of the best sequences in a long time. Yet, despite the dazzling visuals, there still remains the lingering undercurrent that Pixar may be getting a little preachy.
