“Finding Dory” is special in that special way that special people are
special. It isn’t great but it has a lot of heart and its not mean or bad in
anyway so what’s the harm in liking it.
It is a spinoff from one of Pixar’s best movies, “Finding Nemo.” In that
movie a very worried father fish, Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, is searching
for his lost son Nemo. On his journey he meets his polar opposite, a fish named
Dory, voiced by Ellen Degeneres. Dory had a personality quirk that was all the
rage in the early aughts: she suffered from the inability to create new
memories. Yes, like that guy in “Memento” and Drew Barrymore in “Fifty First
Dates.” She provided a delightful foil to the always anxious Marlin what with
her blissfully optimistic mantra “Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming” and
her complete inability to remember what her problems were or even what was
Marlin’s mission.
She was a great sidekick. She is not so great a main character. For one
thing, her character needs a reworking that doesn’t exactly fit with what we
have been previously told about her. That is for the plot to kick in she has to
first remember a rather big that she forgot: she had lost her way from her
parents when she was young. Why she remembers this now and some other things at
various times when she can’t remember anything else strains the suspension of
disbelief. People pointed out that the main character in “Memento” implausibly
remembered that he couldn’t create new memories. Dory has that one memory quirk
as well and then a bunch of other memory quirks that surface up continually
when…well whenever the story needs her to remember something for it to progress
forwards.
This doesn’t happen too much but that in and of itself is also a
problem. For Dory needs to find her parents somehow, and the only way she can
do that plausibly is to simplistically bumble into them. So the story structure
reflects that and in doing so is especially linear and almost entirely
predictable. The problem solving required is at minimum capacity otherwise Dory
would be completely helpless or not Dory at all.
It does not take many twists and turns to get Dory very close to where
she needs to go and that is an Ocean Aquarium that rehabilitates injured fish
before releasing them back in the wild. The nature of this aquarium seems to
reflect the politically correct view towards aquariums nowadays in that they
are more like prisons for the large animals in them than homes. Thus this
aquarium has at its stated goal to rehabilitate injured fish and then at some
point release them back into the wild. Good, now we can look at fish behind
glass and not feel guilty about it.
At this aquarium she finds several “special” animals willing to help
her. The best by far is a wily Octopus named Hank (played by Ed O’Neill of all
people). Hank by and large solves the problem of how a fish can get around a
big above ground place. He slithers along and camoflauges himself to fake out
the humans. It is most definitely based on the true life notorious octopus that
escaped from an aquarium via a drainage pipe a couple of years ago.
Other animals are more forgettable. Sometimes the most interesting thing
about the character is who is ultimately voicing them. For instance, there are
two sea lions voiced by Dominic West and Idris Elba, both of whom played main
characters in “The Wire.” I got a kick out of that because I am a fan of “The
Wire” That is to say my pleasure in watching them here is
derivative as opposed to original. That is especially true of the disembodied
cameo of Sigourney Weaver who introduces herself over the Aquarium loudspeaker
as Sigourney Weaver and continues to provide information about the park as Sigourney Weaver. I
wonder if small children several decades born after the apex of the Aliens
franchise will know who Sigourney Weaver is? I liked it sure but that has very
little to do with the substance of this movie. I just happen to like Sigourney
Weaver.
I expect the message of the movie is the most commendable thing about
it. It’s very kind and nice and comfort food. I hate to be a total downer and
say that the idea that every one is special in their own special way and that
certain specialness makes them useful in ways that other not special people
cannot be is not entirely correct. But really think about it. Dory’s special
ability (or disability more like it) to optimistically and impulsively act upon
no evidence (because she can’t remember any) is not an entirely special
quality. Her success, let’s be frank, is mostly luck. She could just as easily be someone's lunch many many times.
I really don’t think I’m missing the point. I get the point. I
understand why parents would like to tell their children that everything will be
okay no matter how badly their genes have failed them. I just don’t happen to
agree with it. I much prefer a movie like Pixar’s “Inside Out” that has the emotional
maturity to see life with clear eyes. “Finding Dory” is all fluff.
