Opening weekend for any highly anticipated summer film is
always busy. When it’s a Disney-Pixar film, you can guarantee families will
come out in droves to catch a peek at the latest greatest animated film.
Funnily enough, however, audiences have had just as many adults as kids attend
the showings. Why? Well, aside from it being a Pixar film (they almost always
appeal to audiences of all ages) it’s Dory that loveable forgetful blue fish
voiced by Ellen Degeneres. When she first swam into our hearts back in 2003 no
one imagined her backstory… but oh a story it is.
The film begins with a flashback to Dory’s childhood, she
has suffered from Short Term Memory Loss her entire life it seems. In Finding
Nemo, Dory says that it runs in her family – however that doesn’t seem to be
true in Finding Dory. Her parents try very hard to teach their child little
helps to hold on to her memories, but it proves futile when Little Dory is
swept away from her family and is lost out in the open ocean.
She swims around looking for her family from childhood into
maturity and that’s when she runs into Marlin. The rest of her past is
documented in Finding Nemo. We find Dory happily settled into life in the Reef
with Marlin and Nemo, when the topic turns to family and legacy and belonging.
Dory doesn’t think she has memories of her family – her parents – but she
begins having pieces of memories flash through and it’s both confusing and
inspiring. Dory decides she must find out who she is and where she comes from.
I’ve seen a lot of reviews online warning that if you are a
parent of a foster or adopted child that you should stay away from this film. I
am not a parent, and I was not a child in need of a family, but I really didn’t
see it as bad for that type of family. It may be with the way that the parents
did not give Dory up, that she was just lost and they were waiting, and that
can bring up some very difficult emotions, but I don’t think it’s a horrible
adoption story. A lot of adoptions are open or otherwise positive to both the
biological and adoptive families. I think, like any film, one should go into it
knowing their child and what they can handle. If their adoption is a very
emotionally confusing part of their life, maybe skip it and wait for the DVD.
(But, then, I also did not agree that Tangled was a negative film for families
of adoption, but I was told I was wrong then, too.)
I think more disturbing is the somewhat bullying of those
that are “different” or “special needs” that was more blatant and kinda sat
funny. There are two Seal Lions (both male however with the way they were
animated, one should have been female, but I digress) hanging out on a rock.
They’re just chillin’ pretty helpful to Nemo and Marlin, and then another Sea
Lion swims up to get on the rock. They mention that Gerald has some special
needs, and he definitely has a look about him that suggests he’s not “all
there”, and the Sea Lions bark at him to get off the rock. They tease him, call
him names… now I know this was supposed to be this movie’s version of the Sea
Gulls in Finding Nemo (the Sea Lions shout “Get off! Get off! Get off!” and it
sounds like the “barking” Sea Lions do), and it’s funny. But why did the one
that they didn’t want on their rock have to be the one that was “different”?
These two Sea Lions were part of the heroic conclusion. It shouldn’t have been
praised.
And I’m not one of those that sees a bully around every
corner or thinks that we need to make everything about bullying. I probably
classify as a bully half the time. I’m just saying if it made ME come away with
a weird feeling, I can’t be the only one to notice it and wonder if Pixar
missed the mark a bit with that one.
The third issue that’s made its rounds around the internet
that I’d like to address is the Lesbian Couple. Honestly, if there hadn’t been
a big stink about it online and throughout certain circles, I’d have never
thought that they were a couple. It was not a family – not that I noticed – it
was a couple of girls/women at a Sea Life Center. If THAT is what makes them Gay,
then I’ve had several “gay days” at the local Sea Life Center in Seward with my
girls over the years. So if THAT is what is keeping you from this film – and
not the fact that the main character Dory is voiced by a loud and proud Lesbian
(who is extremely talented and one part of her life is not enough to suggest
otherwise) – then get over it. It was blown WAY out of proportion by all sides.
What was more offensive or wrong about the film was how
ridiculous a lot of it was. Some scenes were trying just a little too hard. I
think a lot of it was they didn’t want to use the same jokes and plotline as
last time, but that fell a little flat. Still, it was a solid Sequel and not
the worst film Pixar has put out. I went in expecting to be extremely
disappointed, but came away with those lovely Pixar emotions we’ve all come to
expect (if you don’t cry for Baby Dory then I don’t know that we can be
friends). I laughed so hard I cried in a couple of spots – just like when I
first saw Finding Nemo.
Characters that just didn’t work, for me, were the whales. I
honestly don’t know why either of them were really there. It was a little too
far-fetched how they worked into the climax and conclusion. But that’s just me.
I’m sure many more were in love with them. I was excited to see a Beluga,
though, I have to admit.
If you haven’t gone to see it, when you go watch through the
end of the credits. It’s probably one of the best scenes of the whole movie. I
won’t give it away other than to say I was so excited to see the characters
they used for that scene. Epic.
This movie deserves a view in the theaters – we saw it in
the regular format, not 3D and it was enough. I will admit in 2003 I saw
Finding Nemo four times in theaters, but that movie was THAT GOOD. It was a
feast for the eyes and the heart. This film takes place mainly in a Sea Life
Center and it just isn’t as colorful, bright, nor is it as much fun.
Have you seen the movie? Let me know your thoughts in the
comments!
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