Finding Dory (2016)
Director: Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane
Genre: Animation, Comedy
Running Time: 97 minutes
Starring: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O'Neill
Looking at the last six years of Pixar films, I have to say that they haven't impressed as much as they have in the 2000's. Back then, there were basically only great films with Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Wall-E (2008) and Up (2009). The only brilliant films of the last couple op years were Inside Out (2015) and Toy Story 3 (2010). There have been a few good films, but these aren't really that special, like Brave (2012) and The Good Dinosaur (2015). Finding Dory is also a good, but not a great film. It lacks, for me, the imagination of the standouts of Pixar. Because of the increasing quality of other animation films (Dreamworks), I think that Pixar really has to step of her game. Pixar has won 'just' two of the last five Oscars for Best Animated Feature. This is by no means bad, but it is disappointing, compared to winning every Oscar from 2007 to 2010.
But back to Finding Dory (2016). Although I'm being quite negative here, Pixar is still by far my favorite animated studio. I did enjoy Finding Dory a lot! Dory was the best character from Finding Nemo (2003) and Ellen DeGeneres' fish is still as funny as in the first one. It is, as we can expect from Pixar by now, beautifully animated and the supporting voice-cast is great! With standouts from Dominic West and Idris Elba as sea lions Rudder and Fluke and Kaitlin Olson as whale shark Destiny. The story is very similar to other Pixar films, with an emotional (on the verge of depressing) beginning and a road to a happy end with some bumps along the way.
So, what didn't I like? First of all, for some reason I thought Finding Dory was more aimed at children than a lot of other Pixar films. I get that the main audience of animation films is (usually) children, but the humor, storyline and characters all felt much more childlike than, let's say, Inside Out (2015) or Wall-E (2008). As a result, this film lacks some emotional depth. Normally, I weep during every Pixar film, but I wasn't remotely near to crying during Finding Dory. I'm not saying that I feel like I need to cry, but I do think it's a result from a relatively superficial story. Because it is of course a sequel there isn't as much originality as in original story (obviously), but where the Toy Story sequels managed to be creative, Finding Dory has some troubles with that. For example the chase by a giant squid is almost exactly the same as the chase by the deep sea monster in Finding Nemo. I think that renovations are crucial for a sequel and, because it's an animation film, there are very few limitations to the visuals of new ideas. I'm afraid Pixar won't be extremely inventive with the third sequel to the widely hated (except for six-year-old boys) Cars (2006), but I would love to see an incredible Incredibles 2 (2019) and a smashing Toy Story 4 (2018). Most of all, however, I would love to see new original story, because that what Pixar does best!
★★★☆☆
Looking at the last six years of Pixar films, I have to say that they haven't impressed as much as they have in the 2000's. Back then, there were basically only great films with Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Wall-E (2008) and Up (2009). The only brilliant films of the last couple op years were Inside Out (2015) and Toy Story 3 (2010). There have been a few good films, but these aren't really that special, like Brave (2012) and The Good Dinosaur (2015). Finding Dory is also a good, but not a great film. It lacks, for me, the imagination of the standouts of Pixar. Because of the increasing quality of other animation films (Dreamworks), I think that Pixar really has to step of her game. Pixar has won 'just' two of the last five Oscars for Best Animated Feature. This is by no means bad, but it is disappointing, compared to winning every Oscar from 2007 to 2010.
But back to Finding Dory (2016). Although I'm being quite negative here, Pixar is still by far my favorite animated studio. I did enjoy Finding Dory a lot! Dory was the best character from Finding Nemo (2003) and Ellen DeGeneres' fish is still as funny as in the first one. It is, as we can expect from Pixar by now, beautifully animated and the supporting voice-cast is great! With standouts from Dominic West and Idris Elba as sea lions Rudder and Fluke and Kaitlin Olson as whale shark Destiny. The story is very similar to other Pixar films, with an emotional (on the verge of depressing) beginning and a road to a happy end with some bumps along the way.
So, what didn't I like? First of all, for some reason I thought Finding Dory was more aimed at children than a lot of other Pixar films. I get that the main audience of animation films is (usually) children, but the humor, storyline and characters all felt much more childlike than, let's say, Inside Out (2015) or Wall-E (2008). As a result, this film lacks some emotional depth. Normally, I weep during every Pixar film, but I wasn't remotely near to crying during Finding Dory. I'm not saying that I feel like I need to cry, but I do think it's a result from a relatively superficial story. Because it is of course a sequel there isn't as much originality as in original story (obviously), but where the Toy Story sequels managed to be creative, Finding Dory has some troubles with that. For example the chase by a giant squid is almost exactly the same as the chase by the deep sea monster in Finding Nemo. I think that renovations are crucial for a sequel and, because it's an animation film, there are very few limitations to the visuals of new ideas. I'm afraid Pixar won't be extremely inventive with the third sequel to the widely hated (except for six-year-old boys) Cars (2006), but I would love to see an incredible Incredibles 2 (2019) and a smashing Toy Story 4 (2018). Most of all, however, I would love to see new original story, because that what Pixar does best!
★★★☆☆
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