Review: Does Pixar's Finding Dory sink or swim? Is it fin-tastic or a massive flop?

Director: Andrew Stanton. 102mins. Disney/Pixar. (U).
2stars - Fair/passes the time
Synopsis

The friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish Dory (DeGeneres) begins a search for her long-lost parents, and everyone learns a few things about the real meaning of family along the way.

Review by Jason Day

If 20th Century Fox's Ice Age: Collision Course (released two weeks ago but still in cinemas now) valiantly attempted to keep up with the series by throwing as many (admittedly, tired or non-starting) ideas into the mix, you would think an animated studio steeped in success as Pixar is would be more than capable of stepping up to the plate and besting themselves with a sequel.

Wouldn't you? Wouldn't they be able to do that?

I'd say not after seeing Finding Dory, which is essentially the script of Finding Nemo (2003) re-hashed for a generation of kids and adults who've either never seen the original film or have forgotten it, now that the passage of 13 years has dimmed the old grey cells.

Perhaps I'm being unduly harsh when I say this, but I suspect dollar symbols flashed too wildly in the filmmakers' eyes for them to notice the facsimile they have made (indeed, it has earned nearly $800m already and looks set to rake in more cash).

Some smart new characters make their debut here (there will be a third film, it seems) but the few-and-far-between ingenuity that is usually the hallmark of Pixar is overdone in a film as barren as the Dead Sea.

For more, see the full review: http://bit.ly/DoryFilm

Cast & credits

Producer: Lindsey Collins.
Writer: Andrew Stanton, Victoria Strouse.
Music: Thomas Newman.
Sets: Steven Pilcher.
Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Idris Elba, Dominic West, Ty Burrell, Sigourney Weav