Finding Dory, the sequel to Pixar’s now-13-year-old masterwork Finding Nemo, is coming this June. It’ll have to be a whale of a movie to beat the original, still one of the most revered animated films of its generation. Pixar’s sequel streak has been solid so far (well, except Cars 2 – seriously, fuck that movie), so my hopes are high. But it’ll only be great if the Pixar crew remembers what made the first movie so magical. Here are a few of the things we’d like to see from Finding Dory.
More answers. How does Dory know how to speak whale, let alone read English? There’s clearly a lot more to this fish’s past than the first movie let on. Of course, maybe even Dory doesn’t remember the answers to these things. Also, some of the tank fish from Nemo will appear, so maybe we’ll find out just how they got out of their plastic bags at the end.
More Bruce. I could give a ratfish’s anal fin if Marlin showed up. I want to see Bruce. As the biggest fish on nearly every Nemo poster, the sorta-vegetarian shark is practically the face of the franchise. It’d also be interesting to see how his relationship with Dory develops; by the end of Nemo, they seem to be on friendly terms, even after Bruce nearly ate her in a feeding frenzy.
More brutal circle-of-life drama. Nemo focused almost exclusively on small, vulnerable prey fish, and a lot of them get absolutely fucked, from Marlin’s wife to those poor krill that scream “swim away” before being devoured by a whale. In such a cruel world, the stakes are high, and the Finding Nemo franchise needs predator-prey drama as much as Planet Earth does.
More evil humans. For all the barracudas and other beasts swimming around in Nemo’s sea, the film’s most ominous presence was always above the surface. To fish, humans are a threatening mystery, and their dominion is established subtly: the distant outline of a boat, a field of unexploded mines, the tremendous net that nearly engulfs our heroes at the end.
More ocean shots. The ocean is big and blue, and the original Finding Nemo put a lot of emphasis on the first part of that equation, splicing in gorgeous yet terrifying ocean shots at every opportunity. As Nemo lacks the layers of adult humor Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles pile on, the visuals are a key reason why it’s so watchable across such a wide age spectrum.
More Thomas Newman. Composer Thomas Newman’s titanic string swells seemed to echo endlessly through Nemo’s waters; they’re as crucial to the movie’s mood as the ocean itself. He’s back on board for Finding Dory, and let’s hope he brings his A-game again.
Watching the Finding Dory teaser trailer below.
