Finding Dory (2016) Movie Review

Finding Dory (2016) Movie Review

I’m getting there. Don’t rush me. I know you’re here to read my review of Disney Pixar’s animated film Finding Dory. But first, I have a few things to say about the mini movie that was shown beforehand, Piper. It was quite cute, funny, and heartwarming. In the story, a cheery little beach bird named Piper is afraid of the water. Her mother takes her out to sea, and she gets scared of the waves. Then she sees how the crabs escape the waves: burrowing themselves into the sand and staying planted solidly while everything else is washed away. The tiny bird was almost strangely cute, but not as cute as young Dory. If you haven’t seen the little kid version of Dory, you need to. Her eyeballs are bigger than her head! Anyway, the Piper short was great.  

Now on to Finding Dory. It was so hilarious! It was a relief to see such a funny film after the seriousness of the other movies we saw recently. Want a break from the suspense and grimness ofIndependence Day: Resurgence or X-Men: Apocalypse? Watch this! It is action-packed, but in a way that small kids can love. It was dramatic, in a casual kind of way. It all felt very comfortable.

The characters were marvelous. Hank, the cantankerous and impatient septipus (octopus with seven tentacles) was a hit among fans, like myself. Becky, the crazed loon that was the main transportation for the movie, was also a favorite. Then there were the sea lions, natural predators of the fish-turned-hysterical-background characters. Gerald was my favorite. I thought it was silly how the other sea lions barked at him.

I particularly enjoyed Dory, as she was the main protagonist of the movie. It made her seem like she was wandering around her entire life until she met Marlin and Nemo. Was that really the case? Did she search, day after day, fruitless, for her parents? If so, that idea seems kind of sad. I can picture a confused Dory swimming hopelessly while nobody else knows where her parents are. That’s sad.

One thing I couldn’t figure out was why Hank wanted so desperately to get out of the center. Was he just born to be lonely? Or did he want people to feel sorry for him? I personally think he doesn’t like people. He was my favorite character. Hank wasn’t necessarily funny, but he had his moments. I liked him: a. Because I just like octopuses in general, and b. Because I like his chameleon-like ability. Although, I noticed a plot hole with Hank: there were times when Hank could have easily gone into his blending-in mode, like in the touch tank so the kids wouldn’t poke him, or when they were trying to get onto the truck, but he didn’t.

Speaking of the truck scene: that was like something out of Mad Max or The Fast and the Furious. I was not expecting something like that in a Nemo movie. At the end, everything seemed kind of hopeless. The only thing going for us audience members was that we knew the good guys would win in the end, like they always do.

I thought Bailey and Destiny were funny. Pixar could’ve added romance in there with them, but that quite honestly would’ve been weird. It was confusing that Destiny couldn’t see that she was about to swim into a wall. Because Destiny saw Dory as a little blue blob, it seemed like she could see her fairly well, considering the fact that the water was mildly blue also. And since she could see Bailey and his little hump head fairly clearly, she should’ve been able to see a big gray barrier right in front of her face. She was near-sighted, so she should’ve seen that wall.

Bailey was funny with his Jell-O head (yes, it is Jell-O, not Jello). I would’ve liked to see more of him. Marlin was fine, but he wanted to take control of everything. He wasn’t thinking outside the box. Nemo was fine, also. I feel like he had his time in Finding Nemo, so he didn’t need to be in that much of the movie -- which he wasn’t, so that was good with me. Dory herself was great. I think she was about the same as last movie, so nothing really changed. This time around her memory seemed even worse than usual. I didn’t know what to make of that. But she was good.

Dory’s parents were confusing. They were nice overall, but I totally expected them to die (no offense to them, Dory, or the rest of the world). I was actually shocked to see that they were alive, just putting shells all over the place. Although, would that kind of death really be in a Disney movie?

I have little but praise for this fantastic children’s movie. I hope Pixar keeps up the good work. What will it be next? Besides Moana. I don’t think that will be good. But what will the next “Finding” movie be? I think I will post a blog about it. Anyways, this was great; worthy of my seeing.