There’s no question that Pixar Animation radically changed the way big-screen cartoons were created, as well as what audiences should expect from them. These brightly told morality tales weren’t just for kids, as they spoke to concerns that touched upon not only childhood issues and trauma but also the difficulties of reconciling them as an adult. While other animated films before contained mature themes as well, the genius behind the Pixar product is that they’re produced with such a degree of intelligence that adults and children can share in them equally, creating a viewing experience that breaks down generational walls and opens up discussion about important life lessons that most other films fail to achieve. As an adult, there’s no embarrassment when it comes to taking in the latest Pixar has to offer or discussing it with your peers. And to think it all started with a toy ball dealing with a bout of existentialism.
Much discussion will be had where Finding Dory is concerned, the 17 th feature from the studio and a sequel to their 2003 hit, Finding Nemo. Brilliantly rendered and wonderfully performed by its veteran voice cast, the film contains all we’ve come to expect from the studio – sympathetic main characters, a collection of supporting oddballs, a simple tale elegantly told and a layered message from which everyone in the audience can benefit.
Whereas in Nemo, the forgetful blue tang, Dory (voice by Ellen DeGeneres), was helping the desperate clown fish, Marlin (Albert Brooks), find his son, this time the shoe is on the other fin. A latent memory has been triggered in the forgetful fish’s mind and she suddenly remembers she has parents who she’s wandered away from. Despite the fact that this occurred years ago, Dory is intent on finding them no matter what, a task that will include a trip across the ocean to a location she can barely recall. Out of a sense of duty, Marlin and Nemo (Hayden Rolence) tag along, intent on helping their friend and watching out for her as well.
The story takes them to the Marine Life Institute on the California coast where Dory insists she was born. Along the way, the traveling trio meet Hank (Ed O’Neill), a skittish octopus who’s afraid of the ocean and wants to go to, of all places, Cleveland; Fluke and Rudder (Idris Elba and Dominic West), two very territorial sea lions; Destiny (Kaitlin Olson), a near-sighted whale shark; and Bailey (Ty Burrell), an insecure beluga whale who lacks confidence in his echolocation skills. Each is quirky in their own way and all come to realize something about themselves as they help Dory do the same.
We’ve come to expect a high degree of visual inventiveness from Pixar but Dory’s animation team outdo themselves here delivering one arresting image after another, the highlight being a sequence showing hundreds of manta rays migrating that’s not only gorgeous but thrilling as well. On the flip side, they provide imaginative and humorous sights as Hank, whose camouflaging abilities are rendered to great comic effect, transports Dory in a number of conveyances (a coffee pot, a plastic cup, etc.) across the institute grounds in order to find her parents. There seems no end to these storytellers’ resourcefulness, all of which adds to the intelligent nature of the movie.
The lesson here is twofold as Dory’s tenacious nature and can-do attitude reminds us that often solutions to our problems are at hand and that we must look past our own, as well as society’s, limitations to find them. But more importantly, we’re reminded that in order to do that, we must come to know ourselves and have confidence that we can and are worthy of achieving our hopes and dreams. Dory is not simply in search of her parents but is on a quest to discover what she’s made of as well. She finds that the journey to do so is everything and that she succeeds on various levels, effectively reminding viewers – young and old – that they can as well, just as long as they keep swimming.
For reviews of The Conjuring 2, The Lobster and Love and Friendship, go to the Cinemascoping blog at http:// illinoistimes.com.
