Prompted by her adventures with Nemo and Marlin, she begins to remember parts of her roots and heads off on a journey across the ocean to put together the pieces.
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Without question, Finding Dory upholds the high standards of the studio’s animated features. The constant barrage of jokes based around Dory forgetting things all the time runs thin quite quickly, and the film has two or three climaxes too many, but so much of it works regardless. Characters often feel frustrated when dealing with Dory, and Dory of course has to deal with the brunt of her memory loss.
Nature World News noted that while films like “Finding Dory” increases awareness of the diversity of marine life, more and more people are triggered to buy them as pets – something that the film is not exactly rooting to happen. Every time she came on the screen I just wanted to hug her. Her parents are so understood and loving.
That’s what it’s like watching Finding Dory, which moves fast enough to give us the illusion that we’re getting somewhere, but finally drops us right back where we started.
Now it’s a year later and Dory is a member is Marlin’s family.
That’s the hallmark of a great sequel – it expands rather than repeats itself, it goes deeper rather than merely treading water. Still, while it might not be a 10-hankie weepie the way some Pixar films are, it’s still a crackerjack sequel that doesn’t rely simply on nostalgia for its meaning. You just have to look at the $9.2 million it made on Thursday night (on its way to a record $136 million weekend) to know that the film is a commercial success, and you just have to watch Dory in the first few minutes to know that it’s a creative one. A new Pixar movie, especially a well-reviewed one – “Dory” has received mostly good notices from critics – seems to fit that bill.
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Matthew Lucas, a former Davidson County resident, studied theater and film studies at Appalachian State University.
