Freelance writer and photographer with an interest in science communication. Always looking for new experiences and discoveries!
Published June 15th 2016
Plenty of laughs in the long-awaited sequel
It's hard to believe Finding Nemo was released 13 years ago! In these times of over-done sequels, this makes the release of Finding Dory highly anticipated.
The film reconnects back to a few scenes from Finding Nemo, then travels in a different direction as Dory, the loveable fish with short term memory loss, has a flashback to her childhood and remembers she has a family.
Marlin, Nemo, Dory, and an assortment of helpers, take off across the ocean in search of Dory's parents, guided Dory's increasing childhood flashbacks. Much of the action centres around The Marine Life Institute, with its motto of 'rescue, rehabilitate, release'. Several fantastic new characters are introduced here, all of which add value to the story.
While Marlin and Nemo also feature through most of the film, Dory is well and truly the star of this show and baby Dory is down-right adorable. At the beginning it's hard to fathom how a whole film could be made from a fish that is on constant repeat, but it has been perfectly executed. Just as it starts to get a little tedious, even dark and scary at times, the film is pulled right back with laugh-out-loud humour. It certainly held the attention of a five and eight-year-old for the duration (ahem.. and their parents).
In true Disney style, there are take-home messages galore in Finding Dory. There's the importance of family in all its forms, accepting others personalities, learning to let go and not over-plan, and not judging on first appearances. There are some very gentle environmental messages in the film too, but almost too gentle.
This film really shines in its visual effects and photo-realism. Actually, it's nothing short of spectacular and you could easily feel like you are right there in the water. For this alone you should catch this film on the big cinema screen.
Finding Dory has treaded the 'sequel but also stand-alone film' tightrope well, which is good given many of its new viewers were not born when Finding Nemo was released. It was well worth the wait and will be a hit over the school holiday period, if you can wait that long.
