FINDING DORY: SUPERB SEQUEL

I’ve always said that I’m a sucker for a good animated Disney film. Not so much the social commentary films but the out and out kid friendly movies. When FINDING NEMO came out I didn’t see it in the theater thinking it wasn’t my kind of movie. I’ve grown more accepting of the computer animated films from Disney and Pixar. When I finally did see it I was stunned at the clarity of picture, the vast array of colors and how involved I became in the story. I’m happy to say that the sequel, FINDING DORY, lives up to that first films high standards.

If you forgot who Dory was she was a blue fish with a problem of short term memory loss. She bumped into Marlin (Albert Brooks), Nemo’s father, and ended up helping him rescue his son Nemo. The movie opens with us learning Dory’s story, how she was a little girl and had a mother and father who loved her but who got lost from them. After searching for some time her path intersects with Marlin as we saw in the first film. It’s now a year later and Dory lives with Marlin and Nemo and yes, still suffers from that short term memory loss. But something is happening.

Dory begins to have flashes of her life before Marlin and Nemo, memories of her parents. She wants to find them and longs to see them but they’re miles away. With a little help from Nemo she finally convinces Marlin, the ever worrisome homebody, to help her get to California where she thinks they live.

Of course the usual happens with Marlin and Nemo getting separated from Dory once they arrive. Their stories run different paths with them nearly finding one another several times. The location that Dory recalls is a marine life park with various area to explore. Dory is caught up in the plastic loops of a six pack tossed in the sea and then rescued by workers from the park. She gets tagged to be shipped to Cleveland to their aquarium there and it seems all is lost.

But then she gets help from a grouchy octopus named Hank (Ed O’Neill). He wants to leave the park and go on the truck to Cleveland and tells her to give him the tag she now has on her fin. She agrees if he will help her find her parents. Off the duo goes trying to find the right spot and Dory’s folks. And it is the antics of not just Dory but of Hank who uses his ability to camouflage himself in some hilarious moments.

While Dory is off with Hank, Marlin and Nemo get help from a pair of sunbathing sea lions on a rock outside of the park. Their adventure sets off with a whacked out bird picking them up in a bucket of water and trying to get them to the quarantine area where Dory would have been taken, of course unaware that she is in the midst of leaving there. Will they ever find one another? And more importantly will they find Dory’s parents?

Once again the movie offers us some amazing rich visuals to look at. All of the underwater scenes in the ocean are breathtaking, even if computer generated. The flow of images is so flawless that you’ll forget it’s animated at times. It is a glowing sea of color and movement that makes you wonder where to look next. Computer animation has grown leaps and bounds over the past few decades.

But none of that would matter if there wasn’t a story that was worth being interested in as well. The answer is yes, it does offer just such a story. The sense of loss, the fear of the unknown, the hope that Dory will find her parents still waiting for her has you cheering her on and rooting for her to overcome her short term memory loss enough to reach her home. Along the way you also begin to realize that while Dory may have her problems and a slight attention issue, she actually remembers more than she gives herself credit for.

If you were ever lost as a child in a department store or grocery store then you can relate to the emotions of Dory as she tries to find her parents. It is a story that all children can relate to and the child within each of us can relate to as well. This movie entertains, captures your imagination and delights the eye from start to finish. You can’t ask much more of a movie with the name Disney attached to it.

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