At one point in the animation industry, Pixar Animation Studios was the star of the show. Aside from the prolific Studio Ghibli, Pixar banged out back-to-back masterpieces of animated film from Toy Story 2 to Monsters Inc., or you can look a little further at the one two punch of Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up. And they followed that with Toy Story 3! Pixar has had a fall from grace since those glory days. Inside Out may have been a return to form for the studio, but it doesn’t erase the existence of Cars 2 (or Cars 1 for that matter), Brave, or The Good Dinosaur. Where does Finding Dory fit into the Pixar canon? The short answer is somewhere in the middle.
We pick up a year after the finale of Finding Nemo. Dory, Nemo, and Marlin have a makeshift family together and are living a life of everyday difficulty. Through a Deus Ex Machina of epic proportions, Dory remembers images of her parents and a life before being lost. As per any Pixar film, they must go on a journey to find them and find out a little about themselves along the way. What the problem really comes down to is: what is happening here that hasn’t already been said?
Finding Dory is a prime example of an unnecessary sequel. It’s not that the characters aren’t interesting or fun anymore. These characters just aren’t fresh and nothing is done to make them feel fresh. Pixar is probably thinking “Place some fan service here and introduce a new character or two, and you got yourself a successful sequel.” They wouldn’t be entirely wrong with that mindset. It’s worked for them before (Monsters University), but when your movie is introducing characters to make up for the fact that your old characters aren’t interesting anymore, you need to rethink your movie.
On the plus side, those new characters are incredibly fun. Featuring sitcom actors Kaitlin Olson, Ed O’Neill, and Ty Burrell, they’re able to flesh out their characters in such a short period of time, and you know they’re not supposed to be brought to the center. It feels a little weird when the movie seems to care about its side characters. We’ve also got The Wire alum, Dominic West and Idris Elba (does Disney own him now?), really bringing the funny as a couple of sea lions. There’s a self-awareness to the side characters that really brings them to life, which seems to be missing occasionally within Finding Dory.
With full disclosure, I don’t particularly find Ellen Degeneres very funny. I’m generally willing to admit when someone is humorous, but I genuinely don’t find her shtick amusing. That being said, she does have some good lines here. I think Albert Brooks fares better, as he did in the last film. But Degeneres is the lead and I believe her when she says something here. More than just a joke this time around, she’s given some depth to work with and she uses it to her advantage. Her character (and the past two films) becomes problematic when the film puts her mental disability to the forefront.
While most children won’t notice and most adults won’t care, as someone who received adhd treatment online, I believe laughing at her disability is incredibly problematic. Yes, I know I’m writing about a movie that features anthropomorphic fish. As we all know at this point, Dory has short term memory loss. She wasn’t the main protagonist of the first film, so it wasn’t entirely looked at. But here, the problem is center stage. Dory will be scared and alone for a long time, but she’ll forget something for comedic effect later. If that situation wasn’t presented in such a way, we’d look at that a little frightened. There’s a slippery slope when it comes to mental illness and the humor of it all. Finding Dory does not present that we’re laughing with her — we’re laughing at her.
The movie also jumps into “unreality” to a point where the first one didn’t go. We all bought the idea of fish that could talk to each other. That was asked of us and we accepted it. By the climax of this film, we’re asked to accept a ridiculous amount that makes you wonder what movie you’re watching. We’ve seen other Pixar films with crazier shit that’s happened, but this doesn’t fit into the universe we’ve been introduced to. Industrial trucks driven by marine life? Phantom strollers controlled by various animals that no human thinks twice about? There’s a suspension of disbelief here that hasn’t been asked of us before.
What really works here is the theme of family. Exemplified by the main plot and touched throughout with supporting characters, it all works here. While un-subtle, there’s nothing wrong with it in this case. Finding Dory doesn’t feature subtext or far-out messages. There’s a simple family message and it works. Each main character has their moment to prove that to the audience and it works wonders.
I can’t say Finding Dory is a mess of a film. It has enough set-pieces to feel exciting and funny enough to remember some of the characters by the time it’s over. But the movie doesn’t exceed anything past fine. It’s not The Incredibles, but it’s also not The Good Dinosaur. I wouldn’t be lying to you if I was to tell you that you could do worse, but if you really enjoy Finding Nemo, you’ll probably really like this too. Just don’t expect anything great.