Finding Dory

Finding Dory

Directors: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill,Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell.

A lovely sequel which is just like what a sequel should be: something that doesn’t betray the spirit of the original (nor the memory of it), which gives you a little bit of the same (same settings, same characters and enough connections to the original) so that it feels familiar and inviting, but at the same time it can set itself apart from it and live on its own. “Finding Dory” starts from the same place but it follow a side character, taking the story to new places and exploring different themes. The sequels to Toy Story were the perfect example of “perfect sequels” and to be honest hardly anything gets close to those (especially part 2 and 3), but still “Finding Dory” is a step up to on sequels like Monsters University, or the various cash-in “Cars” (And we’re only talking about the Pixar products, I won’t even go into the endless Madagascar or Ice Age sequels, just to mention some). One of its biggest achievement is that it manages to tackle very serious issues like “learning disabilities” in the most gentle and warmest way. It goes without saying that it look beautiful even better than the original if that’s even possible: the reflection of the light across the various seascapes is so detailed and realistic that it’s at times disarming and the animation of the character Hank, the octopus, is one of the most inventive and beautifully realised I’ve seen in a long time. It’s not quite up there with “Nemo”, but at the same time even if it followed exactly the same arc, I thought it was more homogeneous film which felt less episodic than it predecessor. Even if not an absolute classic this is still a delightful, charming, poignant film, well above the average.

Incidentally, this was also my son’s first ever trip to a movie theatre back in October 2016, so it will always have a special place in my heart.