Ladies and Gentlemen, whether you like it or not, the Pixar Playlist
When it comes to sequels, Pixar
have a mixed history, it tends to be that longer the wait for a sequel, the
better it ends up being. The Toy Story Sequels came out better than the Cars sequel
and it’s quite impressive that of Pixar’s 16 movie line-up so far, only 3 of
them have been sequels. For #17, we’ll add a 4th to that family, a
sequel to Finding Nemo, Finding Dory.
It’ll be no surprise to you that
a sequel to the highly successful finding Nemo had been in the works for some
time, originally a project given to Circle 7, but shelved after Disney bought
Pixar outright. It seems in their creative culture, they wanted a timetable for
sequels so they could have time to come up with creative ideas, which is
something I appreciate but then we still ended up with Cars 2 and the short gap
between the Toy Story sequels didn’t exactly diminish their quality so…
None-the-less, the announcement
of this movie in 2012, a full 9 years after the original came out. Obviously,
some recasting was required for Nemo, if he was to play a role. But that’s
small fish (get it?) compared to the most interesting feature, this one was
going to put more of a spotlight on Dory.
Now, Pixar putting a spotlight
on their comic relief has had bad results in the past but I think Dory is a
better choice than Mater was as her comic relief had a more tragic undercurrent
(ha) that is easy enough to mine to tell a story. So, without further ado,
let’s take a look
We get a flashback to Dory growing up and even as a child, her short-term memory issues were causing problems, she ends up isolated and adrift from just about everyone after being separated from her parents until that fateful moment where she joins up with Marlin to find Nemo.
We cut to a year later, Nemo and
Marlin have stuck by her but a chance word in her sleep has lead to Dory
realising her parents are in a Marine Park in California. She asks for Nemo and
Marlin’s help as she can’t do it alone and after some call-backs to the first
film (which thankfully stop after the first act, take notes Frozen 2) that’s
where they end up.
Nemo gets knocked out in a fight
with a Humboldt Squid, and Marlin’s protective instinct gets him to say a few
hurtful words to Dory and she heads off on her own, quickly caught by the
Marine lab. Here she must partner with a new friend, Hank, an Octopus with a
missing tentacle. He wants to be shipped off to Cleveland and Dory has the tag
to do it, so they work together to try and find her parents. Marlin and Nemo
work to rescue Dory from the facility.
What Dory suffers from is a
mental illness, there’s no allegory here, it’s literally how this is presented.
And I honestly think this is a great case study of it. Dory’s forgetfulness might
be played for laughs but we see first hand how it complicates her life and
makes things like fitting in or making friends or even seeking help that much
harder, in contrast to Nemo’s fin which we were constantly told is an issue but
never actually shown. The big drawback is her inability to remember
instructions, something they make use of in this film repeatedly.
But the key words are short-term
memory and key locations from her past do allow her to briefly remember some of
her past. We’re introduced to Destiny, a near-sighted Whale-Shark Dory used to
talk to through the pipes, hence her ability in the first film to speak to
whales (though the two speak normal for most of the runtime)
Nemo’s purpose in this film is I
guess to serve as his dad’s conscience. Yeah, Nemo is given the shaft in this
one, but his name isn’t in the title. Marlin’s stubborn over-protectiveness
hasn’t gone away from the first film, but it’s toned down a little after their
previous experience. That being said, in this film that still lands both him
and Nemo in trouble.
Marlin’s arc in this film is
about learning to empathise with Dory and seeing the benefits of having her
around. It’s true that with her can-do attitude and willingness to do anything,
they accomplished more than he dared hope possible. Much like in the first
film, he’s not portrayed as entirely in the wrong, in fact even the humans
aren’t antagonists in this, Dory was stuck in plastic when she was caught.
And that’s where many years of
refining their animation plus the larger budget comes into play. Back in
Finding Nemo, the human characters, although few were horrifying to look at in
an uncanny kinda way. There’s a lot more human activity in this and though we
rarely see faces, it’s not difficult to see the improvements made there.
And the underwater worlds look
gorgeous as ever as does most of the major aquarium set-pieces. My negatives
are relatively minor ones, it took a little longer than the first film to get
going, it’s also relatively predictable and the climax really stretches
suspension of disbelief. I find Dory’s struggles with her memories much more
interesting than her quest to find her parents.
Finding Dory is in many ways an
improvement over its predecessor, by default the animation quality is higher
and it handles a delicate subject with tact and grace. The story has some
issues that place my enjoyment of it marginally below the original, though know
that I would come back to this film over any of the other sequels.
#1 Inside Out
#2 The Incredibles
#3 Up
#4 Finding Nemo
#5 Finding Dory
#6 Toy Story 3
#7 WALL-E
#8 Toy Story 2
#9 The Good Dinosaur
#10 Brave
#11 Toy Story
#12 Monsters Inc
#13 Ratatouille
#14 Cars
#15 Monsters University
#16 Cars 2
#17 A Bug’s Life
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