After a two-year hiatus, Pixar came back this year with the outstanding Inside Out, and they’ve also got the upcoming The Good Dinosaur, which also looks very good. Then, next year, it’s a return to Sequel Town with Finding Dory, the Finding Nemo follow-up fans were clamoring for. (But were they? Was anyone asking for this movie?) The first trailer for Finding Dory was released yesterday, and it looks…exactly like Finding Nemo. With a side order of “betraying established characterization because plot”.
It’ll be fine for kids, and Ellen DeGeneres is so charming as the voice of Dory, but c’mon. This is the exact same plot as Finding Nemo. Dory is going to swim across the ocean to find her family, just like Marlin swam across the ocean to find Nemo. It’s literally the same. And worse, the only way it works with Dory is if the fish who can’t remember anything is suddenly capable of remembering things. An alternate title for this movie could be Finding Convenient Plot Device. I know I’m being a curmudgeon, but it’s disappointing to see Pixar reverting to the worst elements of sequel filmmaking after producing such an inventive and clever movie as Inside Out. Finding Dory comes out thirteen years after Finding Nemo, though, so hopefully that’s long enough for audiences to forget that they’ve already seen this movie.
Attached: Ellen DeGeneres shopping in West Hollywood last week.
