Touching story of teamwork

Rating: 8/10 (4 October 2016)

With its fast paced story line, cartoon graphics, and aquatic protagonist, Finding Dory is perfectly tailored to captivate a child audience. As a result, it is likely those older than children have overlooked the movie, thinking it to be too juvenile to interest them. However, digging beyond the cute graphics, the film has a deeper lesson: interpersonal relations can be the most powerful tool in overcoming hardships. This moral makes Finding Dory relevant to all age groups. Some critics argue that the portrayal of marine life as being literate and surviving for long periods of time on land takes away from the validity and enjoyment of the film. However, quite the contrary, this unrealistic setting actually helps to accentuate its moral, making it more satisfying. Often times, familiar settings lead viewers to become biased and less able to see the true meaning of the film intended by its producers because they overlap their own life experiences onto those of the characters. That being established, Finding Dory has a clear moral. Dory is only able to accomplish her goal of finding her parents by borrowing the help of many others. Without, Marlin's affection, Nemo's optimism, Crush's generosity, Hank's resourcefulness, and much more, her mission would have been totally futile. The final scenes of the film are especially memorable because all of the characters are working together to return to the ocean where they belong and where Dory's parents may be. Hank the octopus is furiously turning the steering wheel and the fish are sloshing every which way in their tanks as the truck topples over the edge of the seacliff. When they reach the water, everyone knows that it was nothing but their teamwork that brought them so far. These interpersonal relations, or rather interfishonal relations, are Dory's most valuable asset. Finding Dory's powerful lesson of teamwork makes it appealing to those of any age. Watching the film will serve as a reminder to all that asking for help is not showing weakness. In fact, it is when we rely on each other that great dreams are fulfilled, just as Dory's dream to find her parents was realized.