Ranking Pixar: Number 13

Okay, now that we’re finally into the good movies, I have to qualify a few of these, because 13th out of 20 definitely sounds bad, but given the quality of everything above it, these next few films have nothing to be ashamed of to just be called the “Good” Pixar movies. Starting with Finding Dory.

Now, some time ago I remember arguing to many people that Pixar sequels were wholly unnecessary. Almost all of them are so tightly wrapped up by the end that it seems like a disservice to the original to return to it. The exceptions to this were Toy Story (which, at the time, already had a massively successful and good sequel), and The Incredibles, which at the time didn’t have a sequel, but many people were practically begging for one. And in these discussions, I’d make a comment like, “It’d be like if they made a Finding Nemo sequel. Like, what would they even called it? Found Nemo, Lost Remote? Then much laughing was had and we all toasted to living in a world where a Finding Nemo sequel didn’t exist.

And then Finding Dory was announced. Needless to say, I wasn’t interested. I laughed when I heard the news and expected it to be a fairly shallow (no pun intended) movie. I decided I may as well go see it, so when it came out I eventually made my way out to theaters to see how they could possible screw it up.

Finding Dory is a direct sequel to Finding Nemo, taking place about a year after the events of the original. Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (Hayden Rolence) have been reunited and continue to live their lives, now living along with their companion from their last adventure, Dory (Ellen DeGeneres). One day, Dory has a flashback, recalling some memories from her childhood and of her parents. Off of this revelation, she sets off on to find her home and her parents, joined by Marlin and Nemo. Once they finally reach their destination, Dory is separated from the others when she’s “rescued” by some marine researchers and taken to an aquarium/aquatic research center. Once there, Dory begins to remember more, quickly discovering that she used to live there. As she continues through the facility to learn more about her past and find her parents, she teams up with several animals there, including an octopus named Hank (Ed O’Neill), a whale shark named Destiny (Kaitlin Olsen), and a beluga whale named Bailey (Ty Burrell).

I was honestly rather surprised as I watched this film in how well the sequel justified its existence. It wasn’t just “Nemo gets lost again!” or “let’s create some problem that justifies a sequel!” Dory’s past was always a bit of a question mark, and creating a sequel to fill in that gap actually isn’t a bad idea, and the execution here was actually pretty good. At the end of the day, the sequel feels far more natural than I’d have thought possible.

The visuals are nearly as breathtaking as the original film, which is saying something. The character designs are unique and interesting, and the animations are on-point here. The aquarium serves as a great setting for comedy and interesting “how do we get from point A to point B” action puzzles for the characters. All-in-all, the movie does a great job in the visual department.

Soundtrack-wise, it’s okay. Thomas Newman returns to do the music here, but it’s hard not to be disappointed after the stellar performance he put on for the first movie.

The voice cast does a good job reprising their roles. The former Nemo, Alexander Gould, was probably too old for the role at this point, but his replacement (Hayden Rolence), does a convincing impersonation. You’d probably be able to tell the difference if you ran them side-by-side, but I certainly couldn’t tell the difference the first time I saw this. And, as a bonus, Alexander Gould got to make a cameo appearance as a minor part, and it’s great to see him involved in some way. The new actors do a fine job with their characters as well, particularly Ed O’Neill’s performance as Hank.

The story is relatively well told. I’m glad that, like the first Finding film, they didn’t feel the need to add a villain to this film. The first film kinda sorta had a villain in the Dentist and his niece (why are Dentists always given a bad rap? First Little Shop and now this?), but they were more presented as an environmental threat rather than actually bad people. Likewise, in Dory, it’s more about the journey and the environment than an actual villain, and it works well here. The story is cohesive, paints an interesting series of challenges for the protagonists to overcome, and it even features a very feel-good moment towards the end of the film. Hard to really call it the ending of the movie, but it was definitely the emotional climax, and it hit home well. My only real problem with the story as a whole was… well, Marlin and Nemo’s involvement. They really didn’t need to be there for any of the story. Every time the movie cuts away to them, I’m entertained by what’s going on with them, they have some good comedic moments and it’s cool to see some post-Nemo interactions between these two characters, but story-wise they’re kind of irrelevant. It’s just them trying to reunite with Dory for the whole movie, and their involvement feels altogether unnecessary; just an anchor holding the film down.

My other major complaint with this film is that while it does justify its existence, it still does feel a bit like a forced sequel. This definitely didn’t need to be made, and I think the original probably would have stood up better on its own. Not that this film cheapens the experience of the original on its own, but I feel that these two films together are a bit weaker than the original on its own, and I’d have rather seen Pixar try something new than return to an already perfectly good, nice, wrapped up package like Finding Nemo.

But getting back to the good stuff before I close up, the comedy is definitely good here, mostly because of the new cast like Hank, the Sea Lions, Destiny, and a few other standouts. There’s great writing, character interactions, and the environment really comes alive to provide some great laugh-out-loud moments throughout.

So all of this makes for a good package, but it doesn’t come together as well as Pixar’s best. I still like this movie (a hell of a lot more than I thought I would!), and there’s still no shame in it taking this spot with so many other stellar movies ahead of it, but I can’t in good conscious put Dory any higher than this. So with all that being said, Dory’s a good, solid movie for the Pixar collection, and earns a respectable Number 13 slot on the list.