Back in the swim

It's been 13 years since Nemo got lost, the Oscar-winning film of his adventures going on to be one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time and the biggest-selling DVD.

 

FIND DORY

Directors: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane
Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy, Diane Keaton
Rating: (G)
Four stars (out of five)

 

Thirteen years ago I was 3 years old, possibly younger than the target demographic.

But I've seen it plenty of times.

Now, after a long wait, the sequel has finally arrived.

Not that I've been holding my breath.

So, the question was, this time around, at 16, was I going to be hooked.

Could Dory be as imaginative and immersive as Nemo?

The film begins with an explanation of why Nemo's old chum Dory, an Indo-Pacific surgeonfish, is so forgetful.

Answer: she was born that way.

And it turns out she was separated from her parents as a child.

This too she had forgotten.

But now she remembers and is determined to find them.

So that's the finding bit of the film.

Pixar has again created an underwater world with masterly verisimilitude.

It is perhaps even more liquid this time.

The coral reefs are alive; shafts of light cut down through the watery environment.

Being Disney too, there are songs, but there are not many of them and they are short.

Dory, Nemo and his dad, as well as several other familiar characters are back, but this time we also have a shortsighted whale shark, a miserable beluga whale, and an impatient octopus on the run.

So can you go back?

Yes, you can.

It turns out that Dory's film, like Nemo's, is for everyone.

- Hamish McKinlay 

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