Thirteen years? No. It cannot be thirteen years since Finding Nemo graced our screens and made us fall in love with a bunch of cherished undersea characters.
But, yes, it is been that bakers dozen of years and finally there is a sequel or continuation story called FINDING DORY.
Dory, you will recall, is the blue fish with short term memory, befriended and adopted by Nemo’s dad, Marlin.
Now the star of her own adventure, Dory sets off with Nemo and Marlin in a quest to find her own family.
Happy to report FINDING DORY is every bit as good and fine as Finding Nemo.
FINDING DORY is a story that has been nourished and developed, not rushed in to to make a quick killing quid on the tail fin of a hit.
Dory’s character has been fully fleshed out, she’s not just a cameo clown, and her quirks are charming and enchanting rather than targets of derision and cheap laughs.
Ellen Degeneres voices the indefatigable Dory with breezy zest, a delightful blend of the daffy and the endearing.
In contrast, is the gruff vocalistion by Ed O’Neill in the role of Hank, the octopus, a curmudgeonly mollusc who Dory enlists in her fathomless fight for a family reunification.
Hank has the temperament of a hermit crab and the loss of a tentacle just makes him testier. His life is on the squids (sorry, couldn’t kelp it!), and he sees helping Dory in her plight as a ticket to a cosy Cleveland aquarium where he can live out his septopus years in solitude and seclusion.
Hank isn’t Dory’s only helper; there’s Destiny, a short sighted whale shark who Dory knew as a kid and is why she speaks whale so badly.
Destiny’s buddy is Bailey, a Beluga who is convinced his echolocation is on the fritz.
Idris Elba and Dominic West voice Fluke and Rudder, are a pair of lazy sea lions who seem to have made a vocation out of vacation at the Marine Life Institute. Marlin and Nemo find them snoozing on a warm and highly coveted rock. These rock fellas really enjoy their down time and would rather not be bothered mid-nap—but their bark is far worse than their bite. Besides, they are besties with Becky, a crazy loon who gives strategic air support to Dory and her companions in glory.
Dory’s mum and dad are played by Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy and Albert Brooks reprises his role as Marlin. And Sigourney Weaver lends her dulcet tones as the public address of the Marine Life Institute.
Thomas Newman’s beautiful score is a knock-out and the visuals are Pixar perfect.
Andrew Stanton is back in the director’s chair with wingman, Angus Maclane, working on a script by Stanton and Victoria Strouse which is sunny, funny, breezy, bright, uplifting and inspirational without being saccharine or suffering from the ugly, angry, negative sniveling drivel that contaminated recent animated fare like The Angry Birds.
FINDING DORY is the kind of peak animation that Pixar is exemplar.
Attend. Applaud. Reward. Happy feat!