Mar 19, 2024
Finding Dory

Mitzi Ilagan | Gogagah

The 13-year wait is finally over–after finding Nemo, its Dory we are to look for now. Who’s not excited to meet the underwater gang again?

In the prequel, Nemo suddenly disappeared in the ocean and was eventually found by his father Marlin through the help of Dory. In this film, Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), the wide-eyed, Pacific regal blue tang fish, suffers from memory loss and the one thing she can remember was the time when she became separated from her parents a child.

As Dory remembers her parents, Jenny (Diane Keaton) and Charlie (Eugene Levy); during their field trip, after hearing the lecture of Mr Ray about the stingray migration, she begins having fragmented dreams and flashbacks at random times. Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (Hayden Rolence) decided to help Dory to look for the pieces of her shattered memories.

It was because she was sucked by a pipe when she was still a kid, which led her to another side of the underwater world, separating her from her parents. As Dory reaches the Marine Life Institute, a facility where injured aquatic creatures are rehabilitated and returned to the wild (rescue, rehabilitation, release). As they wander around the facility, Dory meets some more friends to help her along the way.

First, Hank, the octopus, becomes Dory’s sidekick in the movie. After their conversation at the quarantine area, Dory calls him septopus because from what he said, he lost an arm before so that means, he’s got one less from his eight arms (Trivia: Octopuses could regrow their lost arms just like starfishes). Ill-mannered Hank is just supposed to get Dory’s tag (which she got when the rescuers caught her tangled in a six-pack plastic ring) so that he could live in an aquarium forever but as the story grows, a connection is made between them so they go through obstacles together like old friends. He has the ability to go camouflage, which became a very helpful means for them to escape.

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Hank the Octopus

Dory also meets Destiny (Kaitlin Olson), a near-sighted whale shark at one of the water attractions in the facility. She’s one clumsy creature who was Dory’s pipe friend when they were young. She and Dory could speak in whale, as she and Bailey lead Dory to find her parents. Could you just imagine a fish speaking whale?

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Destiny, the near-sighted whale shark

Bailey (Ty Burrell), a dramatic beluga whale, is another marine animal at the other side of the water attraction. Bailey has echolocation skills, but he thinks that they’re not doing well already. With Dory and Destiny’s help, they cheer him up so that they could go into one big adventure to find Dory’s parents.

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Bailey, the dramatic Beluga whale

Then she meets Fluke (Idris Elba) and Rudder (Dominic West), a pair of rehabilitated sea lions living right outside the Marine Life Institute. They like naps and the rock where they are on.

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Luke Rudder, the rehabilitated sea lions

There is also Becky (Torbin Xan Bullock), an odd-looking red-eyed loon who is just as helpful as the other marine animals in the story.

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Becky, the odd-looking red-eyed loon

Some cute otters are also present. They join together for a cuddle party which would help Dory and her friends save Nemo and Marlin from being shipped to Cleveland. What else could be more adorable than cuddling otters in the middle of the street?

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Otters

The movie shows a lot of Dory’s heartbreaking flashbacks and ridiculous conversations with her marine friends, it’s like riding an emotional roller coaster as you watch the movie. Some parts could make you cry, like when Dory gets lost in the open ocean and just whispers “just keep swimming” to herself with her cracking voice. Some parts could make you feel guilty because you’ve done that before: it’s the scene at the facility’s “Touch Zone”, when hands suddenly thrust and reach for the terrified starfishes and other marine creatures so that you could make fun and adore them.

Dory is still the same Dory from Finding Nemo, a talkative and cheerful fish who likes to talk about her family and herself, but she just couldn’t because she tends to forget what she was talking about seconds ago. Dory looking so naive seems so cute, but it is the saddest thing because her family isn’t just lost, she forgets all about them. That is the metaphor of the title, because Dory isn’t really lost, right? But she had to find herself, the brave and bright Dory despite her short-term memory loss. Dory tells us that you should always follow your heart, even if everything else hinders you from doing so.

Here’s an extra treat: the traditional short film before a Disney Pixar film. This time, it’s Piper opening the Finding Nemo sequel. Piper, a baby sandpiper is learning how to catch seashells in the shore with her mom. She opens her beak, waiting for mom to drop food, but mom wouldn’t let that come easy, so she nudges her chick to find her own. On her first try, mom told her to find where the bubbles are so she could get food but the waves are too fast for her little legs. She got caught in the waves and felt afraid to try again, but after meeting the snails, she learned the technique which the other sandpipers haven’t tried. Piper director Alan Barillaro said that Piper relates to humans, because all you have to do is let go of your fear and intimidation to be able to learn.

For you out there who thinks they couldn’t, just like Dory, just keep swimming!