Lost & found

Film review: Finding Dory

MANILA, Philippines - Thirteen years ago, Pixar introduced the animated film, Finding Nemo, to the movie-going public, loaded with lovable and memorable characters that are strongly recognized up to this day. Undoubtedly, best remembered in that film was the forgetful blue tang, Dory.

No wonder, Pixar developed and hatched another feature, this time with Dory in the title role. Albeit released more than a decade after, Finding Dory, shall we say, turned out to be much awaited nonetheless.

The film has brought in a whopping $136M weekend gross for Pixar to date, subsequently making it the highest-grossing animated debut of all time in the US box-office. Finding Dory has eclipsed the earnings of previous animated releases like Toy Story 3 and Shrek the Third.

This time, it is Dory who has to search for her parents, with whom she was separated when she was still a baby. It was a delight to instantly see a young Dory at the start of the film, aided by her parents in her disability of having short-term memory loss. But Dory inevitably got separated from her parents, so that’s where the story started.

Dory was brought back to her days as a young fish (hence, the need for a young voice talent, Sloane Murray), but as she grew up alone in the big sea, she missed her mom and dad, that was why she bravely started looking out for them. Along the way, Dory ended up in an infirmary for sick fish that get nursed back to life. The large aquarium filled with bright, blue tang fish is a visual feast.

Tangerine-colored clown fish Nemo (voiced by Hayden Rolence) and his constantly doting and anxious dad Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) still figured prominently as Dory’s friends in this sequel. No longer in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, father and son helped Dory in finding her parents, this time in the California coast.

As expected, there are new characters created for this sequel. Hank (voiced by Ed O’Neill) is perhaps the most lovable octopus ever to grace the big screen. He is unique in such a way that he only has seven — instead of eight — tentacles.

Dominantly helping in Dory’s rescue from the Cleveland-bound sick animals were a beluga whale Bailey (voiced by Ty Burrell) and the sexy whale shark, Destiny (voiced by Kaitlin Olson). Plus, there was a whole team of cute otters who blocked the truck on the road. An otter was a mere mention in the Colors of the Wind song from Pocahontas.

Ellen DeGeneres as the voice of Dory is simply brilliant. She shifts from her exaggerated expressions to her short-term memory loss with effortless ease; from her hyper gags and forgetful quirk to her imperfectly, friendly demeanor with genuine delight. She carried the entire film to stratospheric box-office status, hands down.

Sigourney Weaver acts as the celebrity spokesperson of the rehabilitative habitat of the marine life in California, so her voice was used in the film and her name was mentioned repeatedly by the characters.

Then, Dory’s blue tang parents, Charlie and Jenny (voiced respectively by Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton), also made their debut in the sequel.

There are emotional and touching moments in the film, like the part where Dory was reunited with her parents after so many years. The scenes will not easily make your tear ducts work, but will definitely tug your heart. And there’s loads of humor throughout the story. Nat King Cole’s poignant ballad, Unforgettable, was also used as the featured song.

The underwater setting for Finding Dory is scenic, bright and multi-hued. It reminded viewers of another memorable underwater fare by Disney, Little Mermaid, with Ariel and her crab “sidekick,” Sebastian.

Andrew Stanton returned to the director’s chair in Finding Dory. He also wrote the original story and screenplay. Interestingly, he made a cameo as voice talent for the short and comebacking role of Crush, the 150-year-old sea turtle.

The team of nosy but lovable sea creatures — playful sea turtle Squirt, erstwhile tank fish leader Gill, porcupine putterfish Bloat, pink-red starfish Peach, royal gamma fish Gurgle and yellow tang fish Bubbles — likewise returned for the sequel.