Movie Review: "Finding Dory"

Finding Dory (2016)

PG

4 Stars out of 5

Director                                Andrew Stanton, Angus Maclane
Writer                                   Andrew Stanton, Victoria Strouse, Bob Peterson

Ellen DeGeneres                 Dory
Albert Brooks                      Marlin
Ed O’Neill                             Hank
Kaitlin Olson                        Destiny
Hayden Rolence                 Nemo
Ty Hardin                             Bailey
Dianne Keaton                    Jenny, mom
Eugene Levy                        Charlie, dad
Idris Elba                              Fluke
Dominc West                      Rudder
Bob Peterson                      Mr. Ray
Sigourney Weaver             herself

 

“I look at you, and I’m home.”                   Dory

 

I’m sitting in a dark room, filled with children and their parents. Surrounded by an audience filled with anticipation; my wife, adult daughter and her three kids, my grandchildren are here, too, also filled to the brim with excitement. We’re all here for the new Disney/Pixar movie, “Finding Dory”. The happiness in the room is blessed balm from this week’s stories from the outside world. For the next two hours or so, we can all escape to a place filled with love and joy. And within moments of the movie’s beginning, with my daughter and her eldest daughter’s laughter echoing through the room, it begins…

In the summer of 2016, the summer of sequels, Disney/Pixar has released a long awaited sequel to 2003’s “Finding Nemo”. This new movie has with justification recently been promoted by Ellen DeGeneres; she as Dory in “Finding Nemo” was the comic highlight in that film. Now in 2016 after Disney gave the movie the green-light roughly in the summer of 2012 when they announced they had signed “Finding Nemo” director Andrew Stanton to come back for the sequel, the world, or a good chunk of the English-speaking part of it and certainly Ellen was filled with anticipation. She and Albert Brooks were announced a year after the Stanton announcement in 2013 to have agreed to reprise their roles of Dory and the worry-wart of a father to Nemo, Marlin. Initially, back in 2005 Disney in the midst of their protracted snit with Steve Jobs had decided to farm out the sequel to a subsidiary; but in 2013 it was to be time for Pixar magic once again. The release date was pushed back from the fall of 2015 to the summer of 2016. Now, the only question is, could Pixar duplicate the magic they accomplished with another sequel, “Toy Story 2” (1999), i.e. a sequel superior to its progenitor? Well, in the words of my granddaughters and adult daughter: “yes”!

Yes, to be absolutely certain, “Finding Dory” works to repeat the charm, poignancy and sentimentality of “Finding Nemo” and it does so in fine fashion. Your children will laugh as my granddaughter did when the sweet but nearsighted whale shark, Destiny (Kaitlin Olson) runs into the wall of her tank, or when the bug-eyed Loon, Becky (unvoiced) goggles her eyes at Marlin and pecks him on the noggin for no apparent reason. The sight gags work great for the kids and they will have fun. There isn’t the clever two layered topical joking of "Aladdin" where kids and adults can laugh at the same joke, though for different reasons. But chances are you will find yourself laughing alongside your kids, if only for the joy of their joy.

One minor problem for me as an adult, is that “Finding Dory” repeats with considerable rigor the various plot points in “Finding Nemo”: there is a lost waif, a vicious carnivore that does not get his way, various dark places to swim through, amusing helpers that bark out amusing monosyllabic threats (remember “mine”, now look for “off” from Idris Elba of all people; this is one of the adult level jokes in the movie – see “Beast of No Nation” for a prolonged explanation of why), and of course an ingenious escape from a trap that seems quite reasonably impossible to adult human eyes to escape from. So, yes, the plot worked the first time for its cleverness and sentimentality, and it works here, too for the same reasons, but it is a little derivative. I might have yearned for the pathos of “Up” or the wit of “Aladdin”, but the non-stop laughter coming from my daughter and grandkids, makes such yens quite irrelevant. “Finding Dory” may not reach the sky-high levels of these two predecessors, but it does quite nicely equal “Finding Nemo”, and for the kids, that is quite enough.

For the adults and their enjoyment, it is truly amazing what can be done with computer-generated animation these days. To help prepare the adults, “Finding Nemo” was preceded in our theater by an animated short called “Piper”. Anyone would be excused for believing (as I did for several moments) that based on the visuals, this short was a live action short. I could not find one single aspect of the animation to find fault with. “Finding Dory” continues with this exceptional level of animation. “Finding Dory” won’t be confused with live action movie the way “Piper” was due to the cartoonish depiction of the characters being portrayed, but the underwater lighting and color of the kelp beds is, I can assure you as a scuba diver, as close to reality as an actual live action film might have been. It was breathtaking. Other scenes such as those within the “Open Ocean” exhibit at the Moro Bay Marine Life Institute (where the bulk of the movie takes place) create their own versions of breath taking animation. These parts of the movie are simply remarkable. Every adult will enjoy the movie for the visual treat it is designed to be, and is.

 

There are a few comedic aspects that I had wished might have been improved on. Ed O’Neill’s performance as the reluctant helper Octopus/”Septopus” (he’s down one tentacle due to a rambunctious child visitor to the center) to Dory has several scenes where his role as curmudgeon provides occasional comic relief. Two sea lions outside the Center (Idris Elba as Fluke and Dominic West as Rudder) also provide some comedy, though less I think than was intended. These three actors perform adequately as comedians, they just do not stand out as such. Instead, the most amusing character in the movie is the Loon, Becky, who apparently spent too long in the 60’s of California. She provides "help" of a visually comedic and quite unreliable sort to Marlin and Nemo. And lastly, for the adults, the inclusion of Sigourney Weaver as the recorded voice for the Moro Bay Marine Center (that Dory hears from afar as a source of help) also provides a sly kind of humor.
In terms of writing, it is clever in the way writers Andrew Stanton, Victoria Strouse and Bob Peterson intentionally write Dory, Marlin and Nemo into corners that it does not seem possible for them to extricate themselves from. But in the manner of the dentist’s aquarium in “Finding Nemo”, the writers do find clever ways that may push an adult’s credulity to its limits but it most likely merely entertains the child (and those that are children at heart). It’s time for me and the like-minded to stop being a scientist, worrying about logic (these are after all talking fish), and just go with the crazy childlike logic of an octopus fixated on getting to Cleveland. I’m there and enjoyed it, right up to the final denouement. I loved the use of the sea otters to get there, they are cute and lovable, and using them as a plot device was funny and effective in this crazy Pixar world. My only small complaint about the writing was maybe they pushed movie-land silliness a little too far with a truck-driving octopus*.

Lastly, for the adults, the closing song of Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” sung here by Sia will be another gift for viewers of a certain age; it is both a nostalgic and an empathic ending to the beautiful imagery and emotions they just witnessed in the movie.

Anyway, it’s a fine sequel to “Finding Nemo”. It’s a little less witty, and perhaps does a less effective job of turning a “disability” into a strength than it did in “Finding Nemo”, but without question your grandkids, your adult kids, and in all probability you will love it, if only to see old friends that are like family once again! Go see it, its summer time, after all.


*I read that following the release of the documentary “Black Fish” and its criticism of life within a Marine Exhibit, that the ending was changed away from such a final destination for our piscine heroes to one of the open ocean. Who knows, if maybe the final ending was a last minute change; to me it feels a little forced.

Movie Review: Chappie

Chappie (2015)

R

2 Stars out of 5

Writer/Director                 Neill Blomkamp
Writer                                 Terri Tatchell
Cinematography               Trent Opaloch
Music                                   Hans Zimmer

Sharlto Copley                   Chappie
Dev Patel                             Deon Wilson
Ninja                                     Ninja
Yo-Landi Visser                  Yo-Landi Visser
Jose Pablo Cantillo            Amerika
Hugh Jackman                   Vincent Moore
Sigourney Weaver            Michelle Bradley
Brandon Auret                   Hippo
 

Neill Blomkamp wrote and directed his first film, “District 9” in 2009. This was Blomkamp’s first full length feature film. Co-written with this wife, Terri Tatchell and produced by Peter Jackson (“Hobbit” trilogy, and many others), "District 9" made use of Blomkamp’s background as an animator and his South African youth. He was able to create a visual treat that proved his technical competency with CGI but also allowed him to use Apartheid as a political subtext to what otherwise was an entertaining science fiction yarn. “District 9” was a seamless blend of the escapism style of movie-making with a story that had a level of social importance worth watching. Following “District 9”, Blomkamp and Tatchel created “Elysium” in 2013. “Elysium” was yet another science fiction film with a message: access to health care. “Elysium” was far less a commercial and critical success as the Oscar nominated (Best Picture) “District 9”. In 2014, Blomkamp/Tatchell have evidently decided to drop their previous efforts at sub-text and focus on escapism alone with their latest movie, “Chappie”. Unfortunately, they have also failed to deliver even this with the derivative, largely inane and illogical “Chappie”.

As with “District 9”, Blomkamp/Tatchell have created a full length film based on a short they did in the mid-2000’s. “Chappie” is based in a near future Johannesburg, South Africa that has recently switched from a human police force to a robot force. These robot police are referred to as scouts and were designed by Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) for a corporation run by Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver). Deon has a corporate rival, Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) whose larger robot appears to be a cross between the warbots of the Empire of Star Wars and Robocop. The scout robot police force have reduced crime by such an extent that the local crime boss, Hippo (Brandon Auret) is failing to steal as much money as his ego demands. He therefore decides to threaten a minor criminal, Ninja (Ninja) to give him $20M. Ninja and his team/family of Yo-Landi (Yo-Landi, like Ninja from the South African rock group Die Antword) and Amerika (Jose Pablo Cantillo) decide to kidnap Deon and force him to help them overcome the robo-police; this would allow them to steal again, evidently. Deon in the meanwhile has been working on creating an Artificial Intelligence. At first he’s frustrated, but after staying up all night and drinking a Red Bull, he does it! Not only has he invented an AI, it all fits on a PC's hard drive – cool. (This will be super-ceded later in the movie when one of the characters figures out how to transfer a complete human consciousness and place it on a thumb drive - you really have to admire the characters' software skills in this movie. I guess its because they can type so fast?) Ninja and company eventually kidnap Deon and his makings of a scout with an AI. By daylight they have coerced him to finishing such a robot. Yo-Landi, soon to be known as Mommy, names the robot Chappie (Sharlto Copley). Let the excitement ensue.

Needless to say an hour long series of illogical decisions and actions by all involved take place. And who could have predicted it, there are lots of guns, explosions and people getting shot by both flying robots and robot's with Ninja skills at the movie’s climax. I won’t reveal the exact ending; oh, that’s right, it’s irrelevant. To Blomkamp’s credit, the CGI that depicts Chappie is remarkable. I grant him full credit on the technological achievement of bringing him to the screen. But the writing and acting by all surrounding this character is astonishingly bad: from Dev Patel who was charming in “Slum Dog Millionaire” (2008) but whose character Deon is utterly unbelievable in terms of acting and writing in this movie to Sigourney Weaver who must surely be the most stupid CEO character in the history of cinema. Perhaps Sigourney was just warming up for Blomkamp’s pending revival of the “Alien” series. And then there is Hugh Jackman (“Les Miserables”, 2012, one of my favorite musicals of all time) playing an ex-black ops kind of character (Vincent), one that wears a pistol on his belt to evidently remind us of his tough guy persona. There is little that is logical about Vincent as he ultimately decides to place the city and its inhabitants in peril of their lives in order that he might demo his competing robot. Really; is there some hidden universe out there in science fiction land where decisions like these (and plenty of others I am sparing you from) make sense to somebody? Is it really necessary to abandon all logic in order just to reach another pointless climax where a flying robot can shoot cluster bombs, etc., etc.?

Sadly, Blomkamp is failing to live up to his start with “District 9”. I fear he is falling into the category of one hit wonder from the music world. “Chappie” might well be renamed “Crappie” as my daughter mistyped when she first told me of this movie. It is really not worth watching for anything beyond the CGI of the robots, and that will only take 2-3 minutes of your time, not two hours. Two hours of my life, I want back.