Does Pixar have a sequel problem? I doubt it. We can debate the quality of “Cars 2” and “Monsters University,” but “Finding Dory” succeeds because it takes one of the more iconic and unique characters within the Pixar canon and gives her meaningful depth and a story of her own. To me, that’s not Pixar trying to cash in on a few more toys.
“I’m Dory, and I have short term memory loss.” When Dory says this to open “Finding Dory,” she’s just a toddler, a tiny blue bubble of joy with bulging purple eyes that make up almost her entire body. But to hear her say it now, we realize that every quirky and bizarre thing Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) said in 2003’s “Finding Nemo” was actually something far more serious. Dory has a mental illness, and she’s lost. She’s always been lost. As a child, she got separated from her parents and spent her teenage years swimming and searching, asking for help to anyone who would listen, until increasingly, she forgot who or what she was looking for, only that they were missing. Then she bumps into Marlin (Albert Brooks), and the events of “Finding Nemo” take place, interrupting her search for her family until a new memory triggers her old quest.
This opening is the classic Pixar downer, in the vein of Nemo’s mother getting killed or the wife in “Up” passing away. Dory’s perky demeanor only goes so far, and Directors Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane manage to wrestle with colors in the same complex and emotionally wrenching ways they did in “Finding Nemo.” The glistening, wide open blue soon gives way to a dreamy flock of floating manta rays, then to a sunken graveyard of shipping containers that make up a dangerous underwater playground.
Eventually the bulk of “Finding Dory” gets supplanted to the Marine Life Institute in California, where the calming voice of Sigourney Weaver (yes, really) welcomes aquarium guests and injured fish and sea lions splashing up on the shore. Dory recalls that her parents are in there, and she was originally born into captivity. She’s scooped up by a trainer and brought inside, but not before getting separated from Marlin and Nemo.
Unfortunately, the idea to take Dory and company out of the ocean altogether was not a great one. Fish shouldn’t be whisked around on land in coffee pots and buckets anymore than smiling cars should live in traffic cone houses. The concept is just a bit too farfetched, and the learning curve of simply exploring the ocean’s depths gets lost.
What’s new is a stealthy, curmudgeon of an octopus (Ed O’Neill) and some clever and subtle hints that maybe aquariums and theme parks like SeaWorld are not so terrific of places for marine life. Dory’s friend Destiny (Kaitlin Olson) is a short-sighted nurse whale who constantly bumps into walls. Her tank mate Bailey is a beluga (Ty Burrell) who believes he’s lost his innate ability to use sonar (Pixar at it again, using the phrase, “The best pair of glasses in the world” as an easy teaching tool for kids). And in one scene staged like a horror movie, Dory has to escape a flurry of hands and splashing within a kids’ touch tide pool.
Dory is in danger of losing her parents forever, of being stuck in the aquarium and even getting shipped off to Cleveland with all the other blue tangs, and yet somehow the stakes seem smaller here. Even at barely over an hour and a half, “Finding Dory” gets padded with a subplot about Marlin learning to trust Nemo and others, not to mention some extended madcap chases of which have never been Pixar’s strong suit.
But Dory is a strong character deserving of her own movie. DeGeneres even gives a surprisingly rich voice performance, revealing Dory’s more fragile side as well as her zany one. Families can come away from the film with an underrepresented story about disabilities, and how kids who live with them can find a reason to feel inspired and confident. Pixar may be going through some ups and downs, but they just keep swimming.
3 stars