Finding Dory Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Finding Dory Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 8, 2016

It's fair to say that no other studio in film history can boast the track record of excellence that Pixar has put together. Sure the output is minuscule compared to the giants that have been around since, or near, the medium's beginnings, but for sheer quality of product on a consistent basis -- particularly in this day and age of depressing junk cinema, sequels, remakes, and a dearth of creativity in general -- there's nobody better. Add a studio that's always on the cutting edge of digital technology and capable of weaving together meaningful life insight, tangible drama, effortless humor, and charm into practically every film, and Pixar stands as the champion of modern cinema done right, and regularly. Finding Dory, which has released 13 years after Finding Nemo (but takes place only one year later in movie time), is another quality product from the studio, but it's also, arguably, the most derivative picture in the Pixar canon. Borrowing heavily from the first film and only slowly finding its own identity through a series of fun yet slightly stale adventures and character expansions, the film works well enough as simple entertainment with a heart and purpose, but it's not the beacon of creativity that has made the studio into Hollywood's rightly heralded breath of fresh air.

"I found Dory!"

It's been a year since Nemo's adventure to the Sydney dentist's office and Dory's and Marlin's frantic quest to find him. Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) is still struggling with her short-term memory loss. Nemo (voiced by Hayden Rolence) is happily growing up beside his father Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks), attending school, and finding the best life has to offer. But there's something wrong with Dory. Despite her memory issues, she misses her family. One day, she recalls being separated from her mother and father and where she was born: California. She insists on setting out on an adventure to find her family, and she's accompanied by both Nemo and Marlin. But when they arrive off the California coast, they become separated. As Marlin and Nemo desperately track her down, Dory finds herself a new companion in Hank (voiced by Ed O'Neill), a red octopus who joins her in her quest to track down her long-lost family and share in the trials she faces within a packed and perilous Marine Life Institute.

Familiar sights and refrains dot Finding Dory, particularly through its first half, and it's not until later when it starts to mold its own identity, expose its heart, and elicit a deeper emotional response beyond the fun of reuniting with old favorite characters and partaking in the first steps of new adventure. Indeed, much of the film's beginning feels more like a collection of fun scenes rather than an original story, but as it circles around cues from the first film, it slowly expands its base to the point that the outer reaches feel sufficiently unique to carry the movie to its predictable, but satisfying, conclusion. Beyond that, the movie looks expectedly gorgeous, never feeling bolstered or reworked from the tone and texture of the first film, comfortably recreating the world and characters and adding its new layers with a seamless sense of transition that keeps it in-line with the last film, at least on a pure textural level.

What really makes this film, and the one before it, stand apart is the spirt with which it builds it charters. Part of that is the quality voice component and the digital construction, but the screenwriters have done something special with the world and characters, beyond even many other "talking animal" features, by exploring to a much greater extent, finding a tangible sense of self, purpose, place, and soul in the characters that's often lacking or, at worst, nonexistent in other like films. With Finding Dory, the film builds on the gimmick from the first movie -- Dory's inability to remember anything for more than few moments -- while using it to explore the character more fully and intimately. That's not just the nuts and bolts of her past but rather the heart at the center of the character and how that heart shapes the world around her. Indeed, these films aren't simply about the physical "finding" part of the title. The adventure might be what sells tickets, but what wins hearts is how they focus, albeit more subtly, on finding the character beyond the physical realm. They're as much about finding hope as they are finding home, as much about finding purpose as they are parents or places. Even as the raw content within Finding Dory isn't particularly unique, the film's ability to reach well beyond the surface is what gives it balance and success as a cinematic venture.

Finding Dory Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Finding Dory features much the same visual style and 1080p video quality as its predecessor. The image is abundantly colorful, with all variety of blues, yellows, greens, teals, oranges, and a multitude of other colors springing off the screen in shots depicting any number and variety of fish. They're well saturated, punchy, and nicely nuanced in shading and shadow. Surrounding environments of the ocean floor and manmade structures are likewise refined in color and balanced in presentation. Detail is excellent. The material suits the Blu-ray format very well, with naturally sharp lines and the finest digital animation on fish scales and underwater vegetation strikingly complex. Rocky formations in the harbor and various surfaces in and around the Marine Life Institute -- interior cinderblock walls, pavement, and basic signs of wear and weathering -- all shine with a commendable complexity that keeps viewers soaking in the finest little details the digital artists have created. Black levels are excellent in some of the darker and more shadowy corners of the institute and the ocean. The image is inherently clean and shows only trace levels of banding in one or two shots. This is an expectedly excellent presentation from Disney.

Finding Dory Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Finding Dory swims onto Blu-ray with a well engineered and entertaining DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation boasts excellent balance for all elements. Music plays with the expected level of clarity, width across the front, envelopment into the rears, and depth at the bottom end in support. The backs never dominate the proceedings but add a seamless wraparound effect that accentuates the score's finer points and popular tunes' depth. Action effects are commendably detailed and weighty when necessary. Bass is never shy, but never prolific, finding a nice, natural aggression that compliments the movie without pushing so hard as to scare younger viewers. One of the best moments comes relatively early on when coral, er, choral music offers a heavy but detailed push through the stage. Light ambient effects are nicely integrated, including, sometimes, that sense of surrounding underwater depth, but the highlight moments come with voices emanating from different parts of the stage, two key examples being early on when a young Dory is asking for help in the search for her parents and throughout the second half when Sigourney Weaver's voice pours through loudspeakers. General dialogue enjoys pinpoint clarity and detail throughout the film with natural front-center placement and faultless prioritization.

Finding Dory Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Finding Dory contains supplements on the primary disc and a second bonus disc. A DVD copy of the film and a Disney digital copy voucher are also included with purchase.

Disc One:

• Piper (1080p, 6:05): A short film about a baby bird leaving its nest for the first time.
• Marine Life Interviews (1080p, 2:04): Vintage-looking interview snippets with characters from the film talking about Dory.
• The Octopus That Nearly Broke Pixar (1080p, 9:05): A closer and detailed look at the challenges and process of creating "the most complicated character" Pixar has ever made.
• What Were We Talking About? (1080p, 4:31): Building a story around a character who cannot remember much of anything, the challenges inherent to working with a main character with that challenge, how she played in the first film, and rediscovering her for this film.
• Casual Carpool (1080p, 3:47): Ride around town with Director Andrew Stanton and several voice cast.
• Animation & Acting (1080p, 6:57): A look inside the complexities and processes of the voice acting for an animated film.
• Deep in the Kelp (1080p, 3:20): Jenna Ortega, from Disney's Stuck in the Middle, hosts a quick look at how Pixar filmmakers research real creatures for the film.
• Creature Features (1080p, 3:02): Key voice cast briefly discuss their characters.
• Audio Commentary: Director Andrew Stanton, Co-Director Angus MacLane, and Producer Lindsey Collins discuss the process of making a sequel, changes from concept to final product, story construction, establishing and working with new characters, challenges of the core story, cut scenes and rearranged ideas, structure, themes, voice work, and much more. This is a well-versed and very interesting track that serves as a quality insight into the movie and the moviemaking process.

Disc Two:

• Behind the Scenes (1080p): A five-part feature.
• Skating & Sketching with Jason Deamer (4:14): The longtime Pixar employee and Character Art Director discusses his time at the company and the character design process.
• Dory's Theme (4:57): Making the music and discussing how it compliments the film with Director Andrew Stanton, Composer Tom Newman, and Music Editor Bill Bernstein.
• Rough Day on the Reef (1080p, 1:11): A collection of fun computer glitches from the making of the movie.
• Finding Nemo As Told by Emoji (2:47): As the title suggests, emoji quickly tell the story of the first film.
• Fish Schticks (3:35): A collection humorous extra moments.
• Living Aquariums (1080p): This is pretty cool: a collection of four themed digitally animated "fish tanks" designed for ambient enjoyment. Included are Sea Grass (3:03:52), Open Ocean (2:48:30), Stingrays (2:48:42), and Swim to the Surface (1:02:20).
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 50:15 total runtime): An Introduction with Director Andrew Stanton precedes the following scenes: Losing Nemo, Sleep Swimming, Little Tension in Clown Town, Meeting Hank, The Pig, Dory Dumped, and Starting Over. The scenes are not presented in a completed state.
• Trailers (1080p): Included are Sleep Swimming: United States Trailer (1:43), Theatrical Payoff: Japan Trailer (2:09), Can't Remember: Spain Trailer (1:22), and Journey: Russia Trailer (2:31).

Finding Dory Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Finding Dory is superficially derivative, a rather basic animated Adventure film that's frequently not all that dissimilar from the first. It finds its place and success beyond the cruder story details and down within the characters themselves. The film is more a journey of the spirit than it is the body, and with excellent depth of character support complimenting the outer layers, the film plays very well and works as a quality sequel to a great original. Disney's Blu-ray release of Finding Dory delivers superb video, terrific 7.1 lossless audio, and a nice allotment of bonus features. Highly recommended.