Finding Dory

* ⅘ Bones *

So here's a very good animated film about living with disability/ having a child with a disability. Whoa. There is no one other than Pixar that has proven themselves capable of approaching this subject matter.

For me, the characters were much more likable than in Finding Nemo, although there are fewer of them. I instantly took a liking to Destiny, Bailey, Dory's folks and especially baby Dory. Hank was a new favourite character of all time for me, even if his orneriness is too easily dispelled. Seriously, watching him move is like a symphony of legs and slime. Though I wonder if they made him a septopus for the same reasons they made a stop-motion hexopus for It Came from Beneath the Sea in 1955. Technology improves but animators still don't want to deal with 8 of those friggin' legs.

This is certainly worth seeing, and the best sequel/prequel Pixar has yet put out. (Minus the Toy Story trilogy, of course.) I don't think it rises to the height of the afore-mentioned Toy Story in terms of storytelling - Marlin and Nemo are a side story without relevance, rather than integral cast members whose character arcs continue in and inform the plot. Finding Nemo is  necessary to understand and inform the text, but it also feels like it's holding 'Dory" back, and unfortunately Nemo and Marlin are just filler.

Nevertheless, once again, Pixar gets by on feels, empathy, and poignant subject matter. This is why sequels are worth making and exploring, and I eagerly anticipate Finding Marlin or Finding Crush or Finding Hank whenever it hits theaters...probably when I'm 35 and have a fish-baby of my very own to take. Fish-baby here meaning a goldfish tank on wheels. It’s way too hard to be a crazy cat lady in this pet-unfriendly rent city. Crazy fish lady...I can make that work.

Now applaud me for not once making a fish pun. It was so very, very hard. The review could've gone like this:

What a great car-tuna! While some may think making a sequel to one of the highest grossing movies of all time smells a bit fishy, there really is some depth to this one! I fell for cute baby Dory hook, line, and sinker. It's another Pixar classic in the can. Dory's panic attack had me green around the gills and the climax made me cry out to the Holy Mackerel. I dolphinly recommend it.

I could have done that to you.  

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Note of Bias

• The Hank plush was irresistible at the Disney Store. My dog apparently agrees.

• As you can also see I have a liking for the sea as a setting.

Mini Review of Short

“Piper”

Piper is a very sweet film, but I couldn’t help but feel that they overstepped their desires and over-anthropomorphized the animals. Animals have so much natural appeal and communication unique to them that is often lost in animation. I think it’s a brilliant idea to try and capture that innate charm in high realism like this, and in many ways they succeed. For me, however, it was just over that line where they were too human in expression, motivation, and action to read as natural animals. That said, the technology is brilliant to behold and the cuteness staggering. Especially effective is the shallow depth of field, simultaneously making you feel the tininess of its lead bird and making a patch of beachfront an incredibly stunning setting. The comedic timing and pathos were so strong that my theatre laughed and awwed more here than I’ve seen them do for entire films. Perhaps the biggest ‘Awww…’ was when it ended far too soon without an option to rewind.  I too wanted to see it again as soon as it ended.