FINDING DORY

An ocean of opportunity awaits in the sequel to Finding Nemo.

Just when you thought i t was safe to go back i n the water, along comes another t roupe of i ncredibly cute anthropomorphised sea creatures to make you f eel bad about enjoying a spot of sashimi every now and again. Finish that Filet O’ Fish before you read any f urther: Finding

Dory, the sequel to 2003’ s Disney/ Pixar smash hit Finding Nemo, has f i nally swum on to the big screen after years of anticipation.

I t has people i n their 20s clambering over toddlers to get f ront- row seats, overcome by the heady power of childhood nostalgia. Honestly, not since Toy Story 3 have I seen so many adults take t o Facebook and admonish anyone younger t han them f or enjoying a sequel without having “been there” f or the f i rst. But regardless of whether you are a stunted adult or an i gnorant baby, Finding Dory delivers an ocean of opportunity f or all. The story picks up after the events of

Finding Nemo, when Dory f i nds herself experiencing something that has never happened to her before: a memory of her parents. In f l ashbacks we are reminded f requently that she suffers f rom “short term remembery l oss”.

Despite her f rustrating i mpairment making i t difficult t o do almost anything f or more t han a minute, Dory heads out i nto the great unknown to f i nd her Mum and Dad at a marine research f acility. Nemo and Marlin j oin her, running i nto old f avourites and f resh f i shy f aces along the way. Ellen DeGeneres returns t o voice our chirpy hero, with vocal cameos f rom I dris Elba, Sigourney Weaver and an outstanding Ed O’Neill as a very grouchy octopus. So, how does i t compare to i ts predecessor?

Finding Dory, perhaps in a similar vein to this year’s f orward- t hinking Zootopia, ventures i nto some i nteresting social territories where

Finding Nemo did not. Where Nemo’s weakness to overcome was physical, Dory’s i s much more i mperceptible. She i s an outsider, harder to understand in a society of confident surfer t urtles and boisterous brown seals. At not much of a stretch, i t could be considered a parable f or how a community chooses to support — or cast out — those l i ving with a mental il l ness.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the ending of t he fi l m was also altered by the studio after the release of the 2013 Seaworld expose documentary Blackfish. Wanting t o distance themselves f rom glamorising the captivity of marine li f e, i t was made explicitly clear t hat the marine research f acility worked with a goal of releasing all i ts sea li f e. The ecological message i s enforced with the presence of gross human

detritus littering the otherwise typically stunning rendering of the undersea world. I don’t remember Ne mo getting stuck in a plastic six pack beer ring. The internet is a light with speculation that

Finding Dory features the first gay couple in Disney/ Pix a rh is tory. Ifit is true, blink and you’ll miss it. Instead of this majestic gay reveal being between Dory and her whale shark friend Destiny—something I was holding out for until the bitter end—it’s a simple flash of two women peering into apr am. One of them has a short haircut and holds the other one’s arm, two factors making fans froth with excitement. Despite rampant rumours t here remains no confirmation from the studio, and DeGeneres found the notion that a lesbian couple must have at least one“short, bad haircut” offensive. The answer remains at sea whether or not

Finding Dory has made history — but t here’s no denying that it has certainly made a splash in the meantime.