Main cast: Ellen DeGeneres (Dory), Albert Brooks (Marlin), Hayden Rolence (Nemo), Ed O’Neill (Hank), Kaitlin Olson (Destiny), Ty Burrell (Bailey), Diane Keaton (Jenny), Eugene Levy (Charlie), Idris Elba (Fluke), Dominic West (Rudder), Bob Peterson (Mr Ray), and Andrew Stanton (Crush)
Director: Andrew Stanton
Of all the things they can do for a sequel to Finding Nemo, they opt to focus on the most irritating character: Dory. Finding Dory and the titular character are Ellen DeGeneres: if you can tolerate or even enjoy Ms DeGeneres’s ability to babble inanities for interminable periods of time, often at a high pitch, then you will be in a better position to appreciate this one.
Dory is surrounded by happy fish folks when the whole thing begins, so she is more aware than ever that she has no idea what her past is. She suffers from very short term memory, so one day as a little fish she wanders off from her home and shortly after forgets how to go home. Since then, she drifted around until she fell in with Nemo and his father in the previous movie. When the movie opens, she has some flashbacks to her childhood days, and glimpses a look of her parents as well as her childhood home in California. She has some clues now, so she decides to set out to look for them. Of course, if she forgets about the whole thing twenty seconds later, we won’t have a movie and both Pixar and Disney won’t make lots and lots of money, so let’s not expect things to be consistent here.
Together with Marlin and Nemo, she goes to California where Dory, being Dory, hee-hee-hee‘s her way into almost getting them all killed. Marlin isn’t happy, so Dory sulks off only to get captured and sent to an aquarium, forcing Marlin and Nemo to go to her rescue.
Yes, this movie has its moments, but frankly, I detest Dory too much for me to care that she is getting a happy ending, especially when a lot of the trouble she is in is caused by her hee-hee-hee‘ing and hoo-hoo-hoo‘ing. She’s that supremely obnoxious motormouth that does stupid things without thinking, giving everything problems, and yet everyone else is expected to treat her with cotton gloves and feel bad if he or she hurts Dory’s feelings. Frankly, the only feeling I get from watching Dory is an urge to dine on deep fried fish.
The whole movie breaks little new grounds, as it tries very hard to follow the structure and format of Finding Nemo. Maybe it is a good thing that this sequel is a long time in coming, or else irs creative bankruptcy will be even more evident.
And before you ask, the only reason I watched this one was because I was in the hospital and there was nothing else to watch on cable. So. yes, Finding Dory is an acquired taste that works best on people who actually find Ellen DeGeneres entertaining. That’s not me, so this movie isn’t for me.
