Finding Dory may not have the emotional resonance of its predecessor, yet it’s still a highlight entertaining entry in the Pixar line, even if it’s on the lower half of their films, which have generally been high quality work with one exception (Cars 2). The voice talents are all top notch and the animation is absolutely beautiful.
Finding Dory
(2016)
Genre(s): Animation, Family, Adventure
Disney | PG – 97 min. – $39.99 | November 15, 2016
Date Published: 11/07/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 3.75/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: When Dory (ELLEN DEGENERES), the forgetful blue tang, suddenly remembers she has a family (EUGENE LEVY, DIANE KEATON) who may be looking for her, she, Marlin (ALBERT BROOKS) and Nemo (HAYDEN ROLENCE) take off on a life-changing quest to find them… with the help from Hank (ED O’NEILL), a cantankerous octopus; Bailey (TY BURRELL), a beluga whale who’s convinced his biological sonar skills are on the fritz; and Destiny (KAITLIN OLSON), a nearsighted whale shark.
Quick Hit Review: Finding Dory is hardly Pixar’s strongest movie, and very well may be toward the bottom (Cars 2 still holds the title for worst Pixar film, easily), yet it’s a harmless and ultimately enjoyable family comedy with plenty of laughs and as usual for Disney/Pixar, features a plethora of talented voice actors with Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks returning as Dory and Marlin respectively with Ty Burrell, Ed O’Neill and Idris Elba arriving as the newcomers, O’Neill especially stands out as the cranky Octopus who was easily my favorite character. Andrew Stanton returns to the director’s chair following Finding Nemo (in between he helmed Wall-E and the box office flop, John Carter) serving also as a co-writer and although it is a fun movie, and one the entire family can enjoy, it didn’t quite have the emotional residence compared to Nemo, although there were a few heart-tugging scenes, primarily flashbacks with a young Dory as her parents attempt to deal with her short term memory loss. On the whole, however, I found this to be a fun animation adventure that, so long as you don’t hold it to the high standards set by Nemo, is very entertaining, if not also a tad forgettable… so to speak. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.75/5 |
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This release comes with an embossed slip cover. Inside is a code for the Digital Copy. DISC 1: Marine Life Interviews (2:04; HD) – These are mock interviews with some of the loveable marine creatures from the film. The Octopus That Nearly Broke Pixar (9:05; HD) looks at the complicated design behind Hank, the cranky Octopus that stretched Pixar’s capabilities. What Were We Talking About? (4:31; HD) focuses on the story and challenges behind Finding Dory since the main character has short term memory loss. Casual Carpool (3:47; HD) – This short featurette is footage of the cast and director, including Andrew Stanton, Albert Brooks, Eugene Levy, Ty Burrell and Ed O’Neil, sitting in a car, stuck in traffic, just talking. Animation and Acting (6:57; HD) includes recording booth footage of the actors doing their lines and the process of voice acting followed by animation. Deep in the Kelp (3:20; HD) – Jenna Ortega, from Disney’s Stuck in the Middle, guides us through footage of Pixar animators doing research for Finding Dory. Creature Features (3:02; HD) has the voice actors providing some factoids into their respective characters. Audio Commentary – Co-Writer/Director Andrew Stanton, Co-Director Angus MacLane and Produce Lindsey Collins sit down for a informative track on the origins of the sequel, process of coming up with the story, working with the voice actors, etc. DISC 2:
Living Aquariums are, basically, screen savers for your TV with real-life footage from underwater:
Deleted Scenes (50:15; HD) – We get 8 scenes, unfinished, removed or trimmed and includes intros by Andrew Stanton. Trailers
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VIDEO – 5.0/5 |
| Finding Dory swims onto Blu-ray presented with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec). Colors, as you would imagine and expect, look brilliant and vibrant, especially on the blue spectrum, throughout. It’s also clean, free of artifacts, aliasing and even banding, with smooth transition shots. As with most animated features, this is reference quality work. |
AUDIO – 4.75/5 |
| The disc was given a 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track which offers crisp and clean dialogue levels and there’s nice depth with some of the more action-oriented sequences which showcases each and every channel quite well with ambient noises and Tom Newman’s score making use of the rear channels and dialogue coming mainly from the center speaker. As with the video, this lossless track is well done. |
OVERALL – 3.75/5 |
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Overall, Finding Dory may not have the emotional resonance of its predecessor, yet it’s still a highlight entertaining entry in the Pixar line, even if it’s on the lower half of their films, which have generally been high quality work with one exception (Cars 2). The voice talents are all top notch and the animation is absolutely beautiful. This Blu-ray released through Disney offers excellent video/audio transfers and there’s a fair amount of features, but nothing overly in-depth. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.