The Finding Dory Story

My friends and I went to see Finding Dory, having enjoyed Finding Nemo all those many years ago. We settled in amongst the parents with children and laughed our way through age-appropriate coming attractions. Then, it was time; finally, Finding Dory swims onto our screen.

The first half wasn’t bad, but it was draggy. The same point was made countless times and we could have moved on to the next stage of the story much sooner. We stayed with Dory for far too many instances of “I can’t remember” and “I suffer from short-term memory loss” issues. Make the point, reinforce it – and move on. Finally, Dory arrives at an aquarium where her parents have been taken after being found in the open ocean. Dory now knows where they are, but not how to find them – and that’s where the story grinds to a halt.

Young children don’t get all the nuances of the octopus constantly changing its form and camoflauging with its surroundings, but the octopus changes for a full 20 minutes of story time. Young children don’t get all the nuances of the search, including numerous mentions of the pipes and getting lost and taking wrong turns: they just get bored and start acting out. The youngsters near us wondered when Dory was going to find her parents, and so did we not-so-youngsters. Adding in a car chase scene involving the moving van from the aquarium being stopped on a freeway, including going the wrong way in traffic and then being crashed into the bay was simply too much. The children wanted the movie to end, and end happily, but once the truck crashed, they pretty much lost the great moment that finally came far too late for them.

If you’re going to write children’s films, you have to be in the mindset of a child. If this film had simply ended 25 minutes sooner, it would have been wonderfully concluded with a happily-ever-after ending that all children want and need to come to closure. As it is, I can’t recommend the Dory story and find it amazing that word of mouth hasn’t turned the financial faucets off.