So I saw Finding Dory. And yeah, we have another generic Pixar sequel on our hands. It's certainly not terrible, but it's definitely a cash-grab skewed toward a younger audience.
The basic story is that our heroes from the first movie set out on another quest: not to find a lost kid, but to find Dory's parents. I do like how the plot builds naturally out of the first movie. It doesn't feel like it just rehashes the first one, or that it completely changes the first one. Instead I just feel like there was some mystery and backstory left in this world to explore.
In the beginning, I really felt sorry for Marlin because it seems like he's parenting two kids: his actual kid, and a severely handicapped adult. And of course he eventually agrees to help Dory on a journey. Which, when later on the journey he gets mad at her...it seems strangely forced. Did he not realize that Dory is Dory when he agreed to go with her? He knows that she's not all there, so why is he suddenly getting mad at her for being clueless and forgetting things?
So this is the main character conflict in the movie: Marlin moping (I almost wrote Marvin there) and having to be reminded by Nemo how awesome Dory is. Which is lucky for Nemo, because that kid does shit in this movie. Marlin figures everything out by himself, talks to all the side characters by himself, and the story would be exactly the same if Nemo weren't there at all. The kid brings absolutely nothing when he's not being a plot device.
But the character conflict shows up in brief, unexpected flashes of bizarre tonal shift. The driving question of the movie is this: How are the characters going to get from point A to point B? 90 percent of the movie felt like characters getting into tanks, characters getting out of tanks, and characters being carried around in vessels probably not containing salt water and probably not able to sustain a living being for more than about two minutes. Dory crosses the entire aquarium only to find out that what she's looking for is in the exact same room she started from. Sure, there was character development and shit along the way, but I still feel like I just wasted an hour of my time.
Pixar does this weird thing where a huge amount of the conflict derives from characters being blocked in some physical way from reaching their destination, but also gives the characters and the world free access to bizarro physics that lets them miraculously arrive at their destination unharmed with a minimum of effort. The pacific ocean? You can cross it in minutes. Impassible slab of sidewalk? Fountains will magically propel you exactly where you need to go.
At one point the characters pretty much break the fourth wall by essentially stating they know they are in a Pixar movie. The moral is, "Don't analyze your situation. Just choose something random and go with it! You'll surely end up where you need to be."
Hahahahahahahaha. How about, NO.
Some good points of the movie: The octopus is a pretty likeable character. Although kind of more for the animation, because we never get to hear his backstory or anything. Also the ending is a hug slap in the face to this character. Dory gives a whole big speech to the gist of, "That thing you think you want? You don't really want it! You must come on my path and embrace freedom by wanting the same things as meeee!" I guess there was too much characters getting trapped in tanks and trucks to work on character development?
What is it about Pixar and small characters having to avoid being moved around by a large vehicle? I'm having serious Toy Story flashbacks.
The scenes of young Dory with her parents are pretty cute. I also feel a huge amount of compassion for this couple, since they're obviously making the best of parenting a severely handicapped kid who may never be able to take care of herself. They never get mad at her (unlike most handicapped kids, Dory is constantly cheerful and never throws mega-tantrums out of frustration) and try their best to create traditions that will have some sort of meaning, even though 90% of it goes over their kid's head.
But on the other hand, Dory constantly feels guilty for losing them. But when you see how it actually happened, Dory did absolutely nothing wrong. So the guilt feels really hollow.
Closing thought. This movie exists for two purposes:
Cute Fishies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Aquarium at Moro Bay is awesome. It has great exhibits AND helps wildlife. Also, there's Sigourney Weaver's voice for some reason. Go!
Closing Closing Thought:
All the way through I was wishing it would end with Marlin telling Dory, "But we already found your parents, Dory. We found them years ago. You were so happy, I thought for sure you would remember. But...you didn't. There are lots of parents out there looking for a lost kid. Hell, I was looking for a lost kid. So we just keep going around and around and around. Don't worry about hating me. In a few minutes, you'll forget this conversation ever happened. Just like you did all the other times."
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