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!"
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