FINDING DORY
Directed by Andrew Stanton and Angus Maclane
Screenplay by Andrew Stanton
Voices by Ellen DeGeneres; Albert Brooks; Ed O'Neil; and Hayden Rolance
In a sequal to Finding Nemo, Dory decides to go find her family.
First, I have to be honest, if I list my favorite PIXAR films Finding Nemo is my number one. I gave Finding Nemo a perfect 5 of 5 stars. Perfect voice work. Perfect script. Perfect look. So I came in to this sequel with low hopes. Can you blame me with PIXAR's track record with sequels? Cars 2? Monster's University? Even Toy Story 2 (It did recover with Toy Story 3)??
Finding Dory comes out of the gate wonderfully with a flashback of a baby Dory. It really does a good job of connecting the two movies, it rolls from Nemo to Dory seamlessly.
So what works:
Voice work. We get the return of voices we are familiar with. Then we get some new wonderful characters...Hank (Ed O'Neil)....Dianne Keaton and Eugene Levy as Nemo's parents. I can go on and on. PIXAR always does a wonderful job casting voice work.
The overall theme of this film is......The concern of a parent when a child has any kind of disability, or is just a little different. How will their child make it in the world (or sea) on his or her own? The answer is the theme: Just keep swimming!! With the heavy theme they do a surprisingly good job of adding humor. In fact I think this film is funnier than the Nemo film. Including a running joke using the voice of Sigourney Weaver. Though I think I was the only one in the theater who was laughing at this.
The look. I did not see this in 3D. I do not like to see PIXAR films in 3D. I feel it washes out the bright colors. One of the main highlights of Nemo was the fantastic sharp colors and details. Here in Dory we get to see just some of the sharp colors that was prevalent in Nemo. The reason is the majority of this film does not take place in the ocean it takes place at a Marine Life Institute, and the colors there are kind of bleak. However the details at this Institute are as spot on as Nemo. Just wonderful to watch. Sometimes you sit there and are amazed by the detail and you wonder how much time it took just to get a a particular scene done.
Negatives?
The film is rolling along nicely for the first hour. Then shockingly it almost turns into a silly Cartoon Network show. It was...an UGH moment. No spoilers here, but it starts with a truck. I was stunned. I wanted to stand up and go...NOOOO IT WAS WORKING!!!!! To give the film credit it did recover in the last touching 5 minutes. It almost seemed like they wrote themselves into a corner and went way over the top to correct it.
4 stars out of 5 for a touching beautiful and funny Finding Dory. Try to see it on the big screen.
Oh...........stay to the end of the credits!! There is a funny scene taking you back and connecting you with Finding Nemo.
Piper the PIXAR short is amazingly beautiful. It is a story of a sandpiper with a fear of water. The sandpiper is sooooo cute. Do not miss the short before Finding Dory.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time.,
No comments:
Post a Comment