close button

Finding Dory - review

Jun 20, 2016 Film & TV

First impression: too much sugar. Forgetful fish Dory remembers: wait! Parents! Didn’t I have parents? Nervous fish Marlin and plucky fish Nemo agree: these long-lost parents must be found. Questing ensues.

In the years since Pixar’s John Lasseter became Disney’s head of animation, Disney’s animated films have got better, Pixar’s have become uneven, and the distinction between the companies has blurred. This is due partly to the stylistic moves Disney has adopted from its younger ex-rival, and partly to the family-values sanctimony fuelling both. Not relevant to Finding Dory’s capacity to please young audiences, but for its first 20 or 30 minutes, I was bored and annoyed: does the sacredness of family bonds have to be the heavily emphasised theme of quite so many kids’ movies?

I am crying like a two-year-old. Somewhere in the audience, a two-year-old is also crying like a two-year-old.

Fast-forward an hour: I am crying like a two-year-old. Somewhere in the audience, a two-year-old is also crying like a two-year-old. As the story accumulates and its characters deepen, this evolves into something much more than just-another-kids-movie. Into Pixar’s only first-rate sequel outside the Toy Story series, in fact: witty, moving, full of treats for old and young. I hesitate in urging parents to round up their kids and book tickets, only because that two-year-old really was wailing.

Watch the trailer:

Pixar, to its credit, risks moments of startling emotional starkness here: having established Dory as a sweet, vulnerable character, it takes everything away from her, bit by bit, until she finds herself floating in an empty ocean, lonely and hopeless. Adults know this for the brief nadir before the richly earned happy ending. But for the film’s youngest viewers, it will be their first vision of existential desolation, and it will last a long, long time.

Latest

Metro N°447 is Out Now shadow

Metro N°447 is Out Now

In the Winter 2025 issue of Metro: Our Annual Schools Report Card for Tāmaki Makaurau, plus sage advice on choosing a school, how to meet the unspoken dress code, and a peek behind the curtains of Kelston Boys Samoa Group’s efforts at Polyfest 2025. PLUS: Metro’s Top 50 Baked goods in Auckland, choice tips on how to lose all your money quickly and easily with your smartphone, a deep dive with a soft landing on puffer jackets, the restoration efforts of the SS Toroa, the sweet taste of history and more!

Buy the latest issue