Movie Review: "Finding Dory"

It was thirteen years ago when "Finding Nemo" broke box office records, earned critical acclaim and captured the hearts of kids and adults alike. I was in High School when the film came out and I remember how amazed I was at the incredible and beautiful graphics and animation in the film. Of course, the powerful story itself had everyone crying buckets. 

The film has established cult lines such as "Just Keep Swimming" and even the hilarious mantra "Fish are friends, not food." 

Part of what made "Finding Nemo" a success was the cheerful and optimistic, blue tang, who suffers from memory loss, Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) audiences loved her and soon after the commercial success of the film, DeGeneres has been campaigning for a sequel (at least through jokes on her talk show). 

Nevertheless, the long awaited sequel has finally been released and here are my thoughts on the film. 

It's been a year since the events of the first film. Dory now lives with Nemo and Marlin, everything seems to be calm and nice (much to Marlin's content) but Dory has been having dreams of her old life (before she met Nemo and Marlin) and for someone who suffers from short term memory loss, it would be hard to remember who your family is, let alone where to find them. 

Dory convinces Nemo and Marlin to help her find her family (Marlin needed more persuading) so the three set off on a journey which all largely depends on Dory's memory recall. 

Paul and I felt that Marlin (Albert Brooks) is a more believable anchor to a story. An overprotective father who will cross the ocean for his lost son seems to have more tugs on the heartstrings, rather than a fish with short term memory loss in search for her parents.

Of course there will still be that magic-Pixar-punch-in-the-gut, tears-in-your-eyes moment which you cannot miss.

Mind you, the film was still enjoyable, mostly because of the new characters Hank (Ed O'Neil) a cranky but sweet octopus-err--septopus and Bailey (Ty Burrel), a beluga whale. I honestly wasn't a fan of Destiny, a near sighted whale shark, I found her voice (Kaitlin Olson) to be a little annoying, which is sad since our waters are home to whale sharks. You probably know someone who knows someone who has swam with or at least have seen these gentle giants.

Pull out a P 100.00 bill, there's a whale shark right at the back of it.

I would love to watch film again because of Hank, which in case you didn't know, the technology to create Hank was not yet available ten years ago. Hank is an accomplished escape artist and/or 'octopus-ninja' who slithers everywhere and there was one scene which took the animators two years to make and you should see that in the glory of the cinema.

Aside from just the ground breaking animation and technology to create Hank, you shouldn't miss this sweetheart on screen. He tries to be a toughie but you know that he's all cotton candy inside.

Dory and Hank. 

I loved Ty Burrell's Bailey, who uses his sonar abilities to help Dory on her adventure, he's so hilarious he was like a fish with powers. 

There's this hilarious "They're consuming her!" scene which we just super LOL'd at. 

Another thing that sets "Finding Dory" apart is this action packed sequence, which I would never thought I'd see in a film about fish. 

Bailey. Destiny and Dory. 

The film teaches us to celebrate our flaws, which even leads to Marlin and Nemo asking "What Would Dory Do?" and that despite Dory's short term memory loss and in retrospect inability to go on her own adventure, the cheerful blue tang has actually been a much bigger help than the father and son realized. The movie is a great way to teach these to kids, as Destiny is near-sighted and Bailey thinks that his sonar is off, Hank is lacking one tentacle. Yet despite these setbacks, these colorful sea creatures save the day. 

8 out of 10 stars. Finding Dory may not surpass it's predecessor but it is still a colorful, ambitious and hilarious addition to Pixar classics. 

"Finding Dory" swims into Philippine theaters on Thursday, June 16th, 

“Finding Dory" is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International through Columbia Pictures. Follow the official social media accounts of Disney in the Philippines, namely, (FB) WaltDisneyStudiosPH, (Twitter) @disneystudiosph and (Instagram) @waltdisneystudiosph and use the hashtag #FindingDoryPH.