Finding Dory

(Movie Review)

Why I Saw This Movie
I didn't really want to see this movie, but the girlfriend did.  And after making her sit through X-Men and Civil War, I owed her.

My History With the Franchise
I saw the original Finding Nemo on video, sometime around 2005 I think (before I started this movie review project).  I wasn't a huge fan, but I do have to admit it got one or two chuckles out of me.

Negatives
* I have limited patience for sap and sentimentality, and boy is there ever a lot of sap and sentimentality in this movie.

* Suffers from the fate common to most sequels--its plot is largely just a retread of the previous movie's plot.

* The father fish re-learns the same lesson he already learned in the first movie.

Positives
* As in the first movie, the ocean is gorgeously animated.  (Much of this movie took place in the aquarium, but the aquarium is also gorgeously animated).

* As with the first movie, the animators do a good job of conveying a sense of wonder about the ocean--something weird or wonderful or dangerous could be behind any rock.  And this sense of constant wonder and surprise went a long way towards alleviating my boredom at what was an otherwise uninspiring story.

* As in the first movie, I enjoyed the humor of anthropomorphizing animal traits.  Those sea lions protecting their rock by yelling "off off off" made me chuckle.

The Review
This movie wasn't quite as terrible as I thought it would be.  It was watchable.  It had it's moments.  But I certainly wouldn't have sat through the whole thing if it had been up to me.

Rating :
2 out of 10 stars.  (Mostly just because I'm 38.  If I had been 5, I would have loved it.)

Link of the Day
Noam Chomsky Debate 2016 - What Is Happening In Turkey and Middle East