REVIEW: Finding Dory

It's been said that the problem with film as an art is that it's a business, while the problem with film as a business is that it's an art. If something is financially successful, you can be sure to see more of it; see Michael Bay's Transformer movies. Finding Nemo was a charming entry from Pixar's golden age (odd how we live in a time where "Pixar's golden age" doesn't range from the release of Toy Story to present day, but I digress); a successful classic in every sense of the word. It in no way required a sequel, seeing as how everything was wrapped up in a neat little package by the time the credits rolled. However, thirteen years and a couple billion dollars later, here we are with Finding Dory, a follow-up that essentially no one asked for. It's a film placed in a curious position; without a doubt, Finding Dory would not exist today if Nemo somehow turned out to be a box office dud. The original film was clearly not made with the intention of starting a franchise. When a film like Finding Dory comes along, a sequel that doesn't necessarily need to exist, it must fulfill at least one of two criteria in order to justify its existence; the first and most obvious is to introduce something new and original that expands upon the world of the first movie. The second is to prove itself as an enjoyable film in its own right. While Dory struggles with the former, it definitely succeeds at the latter.

The plot should be familiar to anyone who's seen Finding Nemo. After the amnesiac Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) recalls vague snippets of her early childhood, she realizes that she became lost from her family years ago and decides to set out and find them. With the help of Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (now voiced by Hayden Rolence), she journeys to California's Marine Life Institute in search of her long-lost parents and home. While it's a fun adventure with plenty of great new characters (the clear highlight being Ed O'Neil as Hank, a curmudgeonly octopus), I couldn't help but draw parallels between the plot of this film and the plot of Finding Nemo. There's a spooky action sequence where our protagonists are chased by a glowing monstrosity, there's a running gag involving comedic relief characters who hang around a harbor and repeatedly shout their catchphrase, there's a general anti-captivity vibe to the whole thing, characters are transported about via bird; I could go more in-depth with this, but this is definitely a sequel that takes the "same, but different" approach to story structure. Whereas a movie like Monsters University gave us a whole new movie with a whole new message that just happened to feature the same characters we've come to know and love, Finding Dory definitely plays it a lot safer. It's not a total retread, but the value here isn't exactly to be found in the plot.

Right from the get-go, the film places immediate emphasis on Dory. What was once the clear comedic relief in the first film is immediately given a much more tragic spin. Make no mistake, Dory's short-term memory loss is no longer a hilarious quirk; here, it is treated like a genuine mental illness, and it's honestly quite heartbreaking to watch within that context. Unfortunately, Marlin loses all character growth he'd gained over the course of the first film, remaining the brash, cowardly foil to Dory's more aloof savant, but the degree of characterization we're given for her here more or less balances things out. If Dory wasn't your favorite part in the first movie, she's definitely more endearing here (which is to be expected I suppose, seeing as how she's the main focus this time around).

As strong as DeGeneres' performance is here, I'd be lying if I said the new characters we meet weren't my favorite aspects of the entire movie. There's Fluke and Rudder (voiced by The Wire alums, Idris Elba and Dominick West), a pair of cockney sea lions who essentially serve as less one-note surrogates for the seagulls from the first movie. We also meet Destiny (Sweet Dee herself, Kaitlin Olson) and Bailey (Ty Burrell), a nearsighted whale shark and a neurotic beluga who live in the Institute; the two have great comedic chemistry and the worst thing about their inclusion here is that we hardly see enough of them. As I mentioned before though, the clear breakout here is Hank, the seven-limbed octopus (or more accurately, "septopus"), voiced by Ed O'Neill. This character was just great, world-weary and ill-tempered, an excellent match for Dory's blind optimism. O'Neill and DeGeneres work together sublimely, resulting in some of the best moments and funniest lines out of the entire movie. Not to mention, the animation employed on his fluid movements and on-the-spot camouflage abilities exemplify the absolute best visuals in an already gorgeous movie. The film sticks a bit too close to its predecessor, but its strongest moments definitely come from when it branches out and revels in trying something new.

Finding Dory is a movie that doesn't really need to exist. There were no real burning questions or loose threads at the end of the first movie, and it's clear that the only reason this film came to be is because we all love these charming, memorable, supremely profitable characters. Motivations for its inception aside, however, Finding Dory justifies its existence by being a fun, charming, sweet movie in its own right. While it does play things a little too safe and at times toes the line of being a retread of Finding Nemo, I still found it to be an enjoyable time. I didn't leave the theater unhappy in the slightest, and that's really all I can ask of a film. It's nothing groundbreaking, especially for Pixar, but it certainly wasn't disappointing or aimless. If you're looking for something gorgeous and funny with a surprising amount of heart, Finding Dory certainly fits the bill.