Thirteen years after the original, Andrew Stanton, with new co-directing partner Angus MacFarlane, has brought us the next chapter in our favourite marine animals’ lives. There are plenty of saccharine moments, but the filmmakers pull it back from the edge of schmaltz with a smattering of darker jokes (try to hold back a gasp, for instance, when Dory jumps into a bucket of dead fish). Now that sequel is finally out for everyone to see with Finding Dory hitting theaters, impressing critics, and preparing to torch the box office in the best possible way! General release from Friday 29 Jul.
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Some of this fish tale is told in flashbacks where we meet Dory’s parents (Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy), who patiently teach their daughter to cope with her short-term memory loss.
Ed O’Neill has the juiciest new character role as Hank, a crusty, scheming octopus – he’s lost a tentacle, so he’s referred to as a septopus – who befriends Dory with ulterior motives but finds he might have a heart after all.
Marriska: I would have liked to see more of Nemo and Marlin too. There’s a host of memorable characters including a farsighted whale shark named Destiny (Kaitlin Olson), a beluga named Bailey (Ty Burrell), and the unexpected reunion of two stars of The Wire as a pair of bullying seals. And Hank outshines Marlin as being both exasperated and eventually inspired by Dory’s unique optimism and determination. It’s still an enchanting follow-up to Finding Nemo but given how long we’ve had to wait, you might expect a little something more, something a little different. I don’t think the full 3D experience will be critical for your enjoyment of the film, but there’s little doubt that “Finding Dory” is a visual triumph for Pixar’s animation team.
But if you expected this movie to replicate the insane hit rate of the Toy Story sequels, you’ll be disappointed. Finding Dory is, at its core, Dory’s origin story-and it manages to be that while also being a story of going home. But somehow, not only is Finding Dory good, it’s great. But since fish don’t usually travel in and out of aquariums, Finding Dory keeps setting up near impossible problems for its characters, then giving them ingenious solutions, making each scene rewarding on its own as well as cohesive to the whole.
Pixar’s latest film, Finding Dory, just keeps swimming to warm and likeable waters.
In the present day, Dory makes her way to a marine life facility, where she makes the acquaintance of Hank, an octopus (Ed O’Neill). That may sound like faint praise … but what “Dory’ lacks in dazzling originality it more than makes up for in warmth, charm and good humor”.
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In the intermediate 13 years, Pixar didn’t let our tears dry with its string of excellent movies (Up, Inside Out, Toy Story 3, courageous and so on). When you make your dessert your main course, things tend to get monotonous, which Minions became a victim of.
