Finding Dory

Its been over ten years since Pixar dived into the deep blue to tell a story, but given the rise of sequels to popular films we get one with Finding Dory (2016). When it comes to sequels from Pixar Studios the results are mixed, so far Pixar has two beloved sequels with Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 3 (2010), one critical bomb with Cars 2 (2011), and one critically divided film with Monsters University (2013). Its easy to see how Finding Dory can leave people skeptical once it was announced, but with that said will this film continue the Pixar legacy? Or will this film be another example of how most sequels can never live up to the original?

One year after the events of Finding Nemo (2005), the amnesiac Dory, played by Ellen DeGeneres, is living with Marlin and Nemo in the reef but is beginning to have flashbacks and fragmented dreams about her past before meeting up with Marlin in the last film. Realizing why she was out there to begin with, to find her parents. The only clue Dory has to go on with is that she vaguely remembers they lived at: "The Jewel of Morro Bay, California.". But after getting them lost in the process of her search and wrapped in plastic, Dory is "rescued" by some volunteers who happen to work at a Marine Life Institute. In Quarantine she meets a seven-legged octopus named Hank, played by Ed O'Neill, who desperately wants to escape the facility and go on the truck to Cleveland where he would live safely in closure due to his fear of the wild open ocean. The two help each other where when Hank helps Dory find her parents, Dory would give Hank the tag that she was tagged with so he could go to be transported away. Coming across characters like her childhood friend named Destiny, who is a near-sighted whale shark, and a beluga whale named Bailey who claims he lost his ability to use animal echolocation. While that is going on Marlin and Nemo attempt to rescue Dory with transportation being their greatest obstacle, as they seek help from two sea lions and a loon to help them find their blue tang friend. So time is of the essence as Marlin and Nemo scramble to rescue their friend while Dory struggles to remember her past as she is determined to find her lost family.

It was interesting to figure out how Finding Dory was going to turn out since most animated sequels either get a lot of attention and care from the creators, or deal with executive meddling that ruins the film due to creative differences. Thankfully this film averts the latter and tells a great story. The best way to talk about the film is to focus on the flaws first since honestly there are very little. After the opening title the film relives several moments that people would remember from the first film, mostly with the quirk that Dory presented in terms of her short term memory loss. They're humourous but they could be left out and would not hurt the film. But in relation to that the humour that Ellen DeGeneres brings to her character can be mixed at times. It worked with the first film as Dory was used to help lighten the mood and bring optimism to a scary and almost hopeless situation of Marlin possibly loosing his son. In the sequel however, Dory still does have her shining moments of comedy but I felt I was getting more of DeGeneres's way of speaking and being funny as she reads her lines. DeGeneres still emotes and makes Dory come alive in her performance, but some moments at least to me felt like they could've either toned down the memory loss humour or redo some of her lines.

Finally the tension here isn't as high as in the last film, that is due more to the environment they're in. In the original the ocean is MASSIVE filled with big dangerous animals such as sharks, jellyfish, angler fish and whales that shows why the sea is not a friendly place. While in the sequel most of the action and rescue takes place in a facility that is run by humans. Unlike underwater predators the humans really pose no threat in the story as they're just regular people doing their job running the aquarium. If anything they're just seen more as obstacles as the lead characters try to avoid getting spotted and caught by them. The tension is there in the story but just not as high as it was previously. But like I said earlier, these flaws are very minor.

With that said, the strengths of the film definitely outweighs its flaws. The animation is terrific as always from Pixar, nicely detailed and colourful. The cast is great as the new characters are very likeable and entertaining, though I found that its Hank the octopus that steals most of the scenes in the film. Hank is a bitter loner due to his experience at the facility that actually cost him one of his tentacles, he serves as the perfect pessimistic counterpart to Dory's optimism. Hank's character works similarly to a convict trying to break out of prison who hates being burdened with a wide-eyed innocent who can help him escape but is frustrated by the innocent's flaws. Its a good combination for not only comedy but character growth as well for how Dory and Hank help each other out.

Without giving too much away there is one more thing that I want to address that I honestly think is the film's major strength and it revolves around Dory and her short term memory loss. In Finding Nemo, her memory problem didn't get much focus as they wanted to keep the focus on Marlin trying to save Nemo. Because of that her disability is presented mostly as a character quirk for laughs but can be also problematic as Dory struggles to remember certain information despite her best of efforts. Nothing offensive but this was seen as a missed opportunity. In Finding Dory however, Dory's mental disability is a driving force for not only her character but also the flow of the story. It not only serves for the tragedy of her backstory but also shows why we like Dory and want to see her succeed. She is aware of her flaw but does her very best to strive through. It also helps that the film doesn't try to hammer in the message to its audience of how people with disabilities are just as capable as everyone else, it just shows how Dory works with her strengths along with her weaknesses. Presenting a message through the character's action and not bluntly telling the audience the moral.

An interesting contrast to the film Me Before You (2016) where that film stereotypes people with disabilities, where the lead character plans to kill himself as he cannot stand living in his condition of being paralyzed from the neck down. Which to me sounds like a very contrived "woe is me" plotline to a badly written soap opera. In a time where we want more representation of people with disabilities in film, this is an interesting predicament. The film for adults stereotypes people with disabilities and was criticized by others with similar disabilities for perceiving a message that anyone with any disability is a burden onto families, as seen here in the Guardian's article: We long to watch disabled characters like us. Instead we get Me Before You. Where as the family oriented film like Finding Dory is actually destroying stereotypes about people living with disabilities by encouraging others to never give up and keep going, as best described by the CBS news story; "Finding Dory" shatters stereotypes about disabilities with empowering characters. Once again, an ANIMATED FILM targeted for children gives a sophisticated and encouraging presentation that treats us like thinking people, unlike the live action film that attempts to be adult but tries too hard to be tragic and instead insults people with actual disabilities. This is why proper representations in media matters.

With all that said, Finding Dory is another hit in Pixar's lineup and a great film to start off the summer. Funny, thought-provoking and heartwarming, this is a film that encourages anyone no matter what obstacle, difficulty or disability one may have, as Dory says herself; "Just keep on swimming!"

X-Men Apocalypse

The X-Men movies have an interesting history under the production of 20th Century Fox. At the time when superhero movies couldn't be taken seriously, studios were determined to make them as realistic and dark as possible for the cynical audiences and for the most part people enjoyed them. With their rise of popularity with X2: X-Men United (2003), followed by critical bombs with X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), to eventually becoming beloved again with X-Men: First Class (2011) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). Now because of how comic book movies has been on a rise with praise with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Fox is hoping to cash off of that trend to make more references to their source material with X-Men Apocalypse (2016). Would the mutants be able to rise up as their own successful franchise again or would this film be the sign that they either need to stop or be sold back to Marvel?

Years ago in ancient Egypt, a being named En Sabah Nur, also known as Apocalypse played by Oscar Issac, was believed to be the first mutant ever born so he ruled over the land as their God. Until one day he was betrayed by a rebellion and put into sleep by his safeguards until years later. He rises up in 1983 to see how much humanity has changed, believing them to be weak without his presence, Apocalypse intends to destroy the modern world and remake it in his own image.

Set during the time of the X-Men's younger days since the events of Days of Future Past, Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy, recruits the newest members to his group which consists of Scott Summers, played by Tye Sheridan, and Jean Grey, played by Sophie Turner. Meanwhile Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence, rescues two mutants from being prisoners in a fight match with one of them unfortunately recruited by En Sabah Nur himself to become one of his four horsemen of Apocalypse. 

With the two sides being formed, Erik Lehnsherr, played by Micheal Fassbender, lives a secluded life in alias with his wife and daughter in Poland in peace, until he used his magnetic powers to save a co-worker that he was discovered as Magneto and loses his family as a result. Erik's grief earned the attention of Apocalypse himself who recruits him after helping advance Magneto's power.

Apocalypse eventually discovers Xavier's psychic powers and attempts to use that said power to prevent interference from nuclear weapons, have his horsemen to spread destruction across the globe and plans to transfer his consciousness into Xavier's body and use his new power to enslave the minds of the survivors. So it is a race against time for the X-Men to rescue their friends, the other mutants and stop Apocalypse from his mad desire for world domination.

X-Men Apocalypse left me with mixed results when seeing the film. On the one hand you see the characters looking much closer to their comic book counterparts than before, also the action is great and easy to follow. But the story goes ALL over the place and some of the actors felt like they were just phoning it in, especially Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. Since First Class, her character was much more interesting as she was sympathetic but also tragic, but in Apocalypse, Lawrence's performance felt like she was just there for her paycheck. As a result her character didn't feel like it had much importance compared to Days of Future Past. But her sub par acting is actually an example of the biggest problem with the film.

While the actors did their best with what they had to work with, the film's story just wasn't that engaging. The problem to me was its tone; it felt too dull and repetitive for a story that was building up to what was supposed to be the end of the world. It repeats a lot of the common complains about the past X-Men films when they started back in 1999, you get that you're supposed to feel for the mutants since they are a target for prejudice from everyone else. But the problem is that we've seen that so many times that it felt like the franchise hasn't moved on. It is like the people at Fox believe we've never seen any of the past X-Men films before this one.

Two other problems held X-Men Apocalypse back as well, one is that there is lack of tension. Apocalypse is supposed to be an all powerful being who is like a God and the personification of Doomsday, but the slow pace and average performances doesn't pull the audience in to the looming threat. Days of Future Past worked since we saw what became of the world in the future and how the X-Men are trying to avert it, every move counts as you feel time is against them. With Apocalypse it feels like the film is on auto pilot. The other problem is a minor one but completely pointless to the film where we see a fight sequence of Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine. His character served no purpose to the film but to advertise the next Wolverine movie. It ruins the pace of the film when they're trying to advertise another film right in the middle of the action.

Despite my problems with the film, X-Men Apocalypse certainly did have great moments that I enjoyed. While most of the acting is average, two of the biggest scene stealers belong to Magneto and Quicksilver. Fassbender once again delivers a powerful performance as the Master of Magnetism as you feel his sorrow and anger within the story. While not as significant as in Days of Future Past, Fassbender gives all that he has to show why Magneto is a tragic figure but also a powerful threat. With the film going back and forth from being either dull or dreary, Quicksilver's character is the saving grace to bring some smiles to the audience. There is an entire sequence where he saves the inhabitants of the Mutant Academy that is hilariously delightful. Set to the tone of Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics, the entire sequence with how Quicksilver saves everyone but also provides goofy moments on one hand feels so out of place that you're not sure if its appropriate, but it serves to see how an effective superhero he is that it was just fun to watch.

In the end I can't say that I regretted seeing X-Men Apocalypse, as there are moments I enjoyed, but the flaws of the film keep it from being an excellent movie. Thankfully its no where near as bad as The Last Stand or as boring as Origins: Wolverine, if anything, this film is just average in the end. Its good but it could've been much better too. I can recommend this for die hard X-Men fans, but for the causal movie goers, give it a watch at least once and come to your own conclusion.