"Finding Dory" (2016), after the huge mind-blowing surprise of "Finding Nemo" (2003), it left me perfectly satisfied and gave me perfect closure to that world and characters. Since it ended on such a perfect and happy note, I didn't need anything else. A sequel hadn't even crossed my mind! So, I moved on to other things, including other movies. But then, when the first announcement for "Finding Dory" came out, I was shocked about that. It was the last thing I expected to happen. Keep in mind, there's a 13 year gap between "Finding Nemo" and "Finding Dory". 13 years! That is absolutely insane! To be fair, sometimes a lengthy period of time between films in a franchise is necessary. What do I mean by that? Well, sometimes movies need extra time to be put together and develop in order to bring out a good result. To put it simply, "Finding Dory" did not use those 13 years wisely and all we got was a lackluster disappointment at the end of the day. It has a convoluted story, average to horrible voice acting and boring locations. The plot is, Dory misses her parents and goes on a quest to find them, while learning the true meaning of family. Yeah, it's pretty much every bit as boring as it sounds. I will give it some credit though, the writers were on the right track with trying to keep the story simple, just like the first movie. Yet somehow, they still managed to screw it up! The plot did have potential, because Dory is such a great character. She could very easily handle her own film! The biggest problem, is that Dory doesn't get enough focus. Most of the new characters introduced add nothing to the "movie" and just slow everything down. Even Marlin and Nemo add nothing to the story. Whenever they were on the screen, the whole "film" just came to a screeching halt. To be honest, if they were written out of the plot, it probably would've been better! Now, to be fair, you can reference them. Or, if they have to be in the "movie", just have them appear as brief cameos. Both of them literally serve no purpose whatsoever! The only aspect of the story I like, was Dory's quest to find her parents. Had that been more heavily focused, then maybe the plot would've been more on the right track. However, at the same time, this is one of those stories that was just unnecessary. No one asked to see Dory's backstory, and no one asked to see her parents. On top of that, as soon as the credits roll, you immediately forget everything about the "film". You just sit there, and think: "wait a minute, what did I watch again?" How ironic, because one of the biggest aspects is short-term memory loss! Seriously, before I wrote this review, I had to look into more details about the plot synopsis. That how forgettable this "movie" is! As for the acting, it ranges from average to just plain horrible from the whole cast. The only ones who seem to be trying, are: Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, Albert Brooks as Marlin, Andrew Stanton as Crush, Eugene Levy as Charlie, Diane Keaton as Jenny and Kaitlin Olson as Destiny. Everyone else is standard to just plain obnoxious! Probably the most annoying one is, Hayden Rolence as Nemo; replacing Alexander Gould who did the voice previously. To be fair, he does sound like he's trying his best. That being said, Alexander Gould would've easily aged out of doing the character and needed someone new to do Nemo's voice, I get that. But, Hayden's impression of Nemo is just jarring to listen to. Seriously, most of his lines he screams at the top of his lungs! The locations in the "film" are standard to just plain dull to look at, but that doesn't mean it isn't beautifully animated. We'll get into more details about the animation right now. What do you say that we get into the only two positive elements in this pile of filth? The animation in this "movie" is outstanding, which is a given for Pixar Animation Studios. All of their movies are beautifully animated, and this one is definitely no exception. Although, to tell you the truth I think the first film looks more appealing than this one! But overall, this "movie" is still stunning to look at on any screen. Finally, the soundtrack by Thomas Newman is excellent. Most of the film scores he writes and composes are great, and this one is no different. My personal favorite song from the soundtrack, is "...Shells", because I can very easily picture the scene that plays along with it and it brings out a lot of emotions. Not just for that scene, but for many other realistic scenarios. I won't go into any details about it, because it's one of the very few highlights of the "movie" itself! As a whole, the soundtrack was very well-done. Props to you, Thomas Newman! "Finding Dory" is a huge letdown in the world of Pixar films. Is it the worst Pixar movie I've ever seen? No, not by a long shot. Is it the worst CGI film I've seen? Not even close! But, at the end of the day, it's still a lousy movie by my very high standards. I'm giving this "film" 2 out of 5 stars on my scale, which equates to 4 out of 10 IMDB stars. Do I really have to tell you to stay away from "Finding Dory"? No, I think my review makes that very clear. The tagline "An unforgettable journey she probably won't remember" is almost accurate. But, it really should say: "A journey that you probably won't remember", that would make more sense! If you do see it, then you'll wind up forgetting about it. You'll forget it just like me, and Dory as well!
Review of Finding Dory
