Sunday, July 24, 2016

My Name is Dory, and I Suffer From Short-Term Memory Loss

Hi, I saw Finding Dory.

Boy, I've seen more theatrical movies in the past three months than in the past three years.

Hi, I saw Finding Dory!

Minor Spoilers Ahead...I think?





So, over a decade ago, I saw Finding Nemo and it was good. It was funny, clever, well-written, well-animated, and heartfelt.

A sequel centered around Ellen Degeneres' forgetful blue tang was often spoken about, but didn't materialize until now. Is it worthy, or does it suffer from sequelitis?

You know better than to ask me that. Art is subjective. But if you want my personal opinion...

It's still got a lot of good humor in it, but it didn't strike me as funny as the original, and there are far more heartfelt moments. The story is surprisingly well-constructed for such a long-awaited sequel and the returning characters are all recognizable as themselves. The new characters are fun, though for me only the octopus (who it took me way too long to figure out was Ed O'Neil) left a true impression from one viewing (I suspect the others will leave their mark on repeat).

Pleasantly surprising is to see the great talent they picked up for relatively small roles, from Bill Hader as a fish with one line in the beginning to Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory's parents appearing in infrequent flashbacks. Then the after-credits appearance of some familiar faces...

Overall, I didn't personally connect with it as much as the first, but it felt like a much better-constructed movie than the original in almost all aspects. Definitely worth seeing.

My name is Dory, and I suffer from Short-Term Memory Loss.

EDIT: I'm fixing the title that I just noticed was autocorrected into a pun.

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