There’s no doubt that Inside Out will be on my top ten films of the year. With the exception of Cars, Pixar’s initial outings always provide something worth chewing over, and those initial outings have never produced a completely bad movie. On the other hand, Pixar sequels have given us Cars 2 and Monsters University, both utterly needless endeavors. While Pixar has managed to stay consistent with their Toy Story series (we’ll see once Toy Story 4 gets thrown into the mix), they don’t have the best track record with sequels.
Maybe that’s one of the reasons I’m not excited about Finding Dory. Though I haven’t revisited the original film in nearly a decade, I remember it being a pleasant enough experience. Obviously, the underwater landscapes are a big part of the film’s eye candy, and I’m certain Finding Dory will be providing that in spades. But, as I’ve noticed with the trailers for The Good Dinosaur, there’s a disconnect that begins to happen when you have overly cartoonish CG characters plastered against a striving-to-be-real landscape. Will that happen with Finding Dory? It’s a little too early to tell.
And while I will admit that the idea of exploring Dory’s past isn’t a bad one, it just doesn’t feel as compelling as an only father trying to find his lost son. I’m sure it also has to do with me not being as enraptured by Ellen DeGeneres’ character as the rest of the world seems to be.
But, I love the ocean and its wildlife, and this is a Pixar movie so I’m sure I’ll be there. This first teaser doesn’t do much beyond setup the premise, but that’s what a teaser is there for. I do hope that this will be an easy win for director Andrew Stanton since he still has to wash off the monumental disappointment that was John Carter. Seeing as I thought that movie wasn’t awful (but it wasn’t good either), I’m looking forward to Stanton getting back into the director’s chair.
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