While Pixar animators, says Fairfax reviewer Jake Wilson, were keen to match the standard set by Finding Nemo, the sequel missed “a wildness, a sense of danger” of its predecessor. Finding Dory also features the voices of Albert Brooks as Marlin and William Dafoe as Gill, the escapee from the dentist’s tank.
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Talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres is the voice of Dory. Dory’s parents are voiced by Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy. With their help, Dory searched for her family and her home. In this instalment, it’s Marlin’s turn to lend a fin, as Dory’s childhood memories kick in and she resolves to find her long-lost parents.
Maybe you’re still on the fence (yeah right) or maybe you just want to watch about six clips from Finding Dory.
Pixar has been known for making sequels that more than live up to the original, save for a few (MONSTERS UNIVERSITY and CARS 2) that didn’t quite make the cut. Instead, Dory makes a smart choice by going a little smaller, with the majority of the film taking place in the “jewel of Morro Bay”, an aquarium closely modeled after the Monterey Bay Aquarium. A near-sighted whale shark Destiny and her Beluga whale pal Bailey (Ty Burrell) regularly step up to help Dory navigate her way out of danger. But in a nice change of pace from the majority of animated films, there really is no enemy to conquer; there are just odds to beat, and situations to keep swimming through.
Some of the plot gets a little a repetitive, with characters getting separated a lot, then trying to get back together, all while trying to go unnoticed by all those humans wandering around.
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In fact, over the years Ellen brought up Disney’s decision not to make a sequel so many times on her USA chat show that today, on the sequel’s U.S. release, she made a supercut of all the times she hinted that she wanted it to happen. While you can rewatch the trailers and teaser clips over and over again – or worse, read the many film reviews now available online – nothing is more exciting than being in the dark along with the characters as the story unfolds. Meanwhile, Marlon and Nemo rely on the kindness of two cockney-voiced sea lions (Idris Elba and Dominic West) and a madly eccentric bird named Becky.
