Finding Dory
Director: Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane
Year Released: 2016
Rating: 2.5
Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres), a bright blue surgeonfish with a short-term memory problem, goes in search of the parents she lost as a child - there to lend assistance are old friends Nemo (Hayden Rolence), Marlin (Albert Brooks) and a scene-stealing octopus named Hank (Ed O'Neill) who, for whatever reason, wants to go to Cleveland. While elevated by a child-like sense of wonder, it does play out like a run-on sentence, becoming exceedingly repetitive as it moves forward ("I have to find my family!" "We have to find Dory!" and so on) - I originally thought it would be some kind of extended metaphor for the problems associated with dementia, but this isn't one of Pixar's "big idea" projects (it's closer in spirit to Cars than Stanton's masterpiece WALL-E). This mainly exists to show off some water effects and make the kids giggle ... and maybe sell some merchandise in the process.
