Friday afternoon I was sitting in a sold out movie theater with my 19-year-old sister, my 15-year-old sister and my mom, surrounded by children and middle schoolers who were all giddy to be seeing the highly anticipated sequel to everyone’s favorite animated movie, "Finding Nemo." Once the beginning credits began to roll after the local advertisements, the theater fell silent and I became immersed in the animation that I obsessed over as a kid.
Sitting in the theater I realized that "Finding Dory" was not just like any regular animated movie: this movie held meaning about being special. Dory is a bubbly blue tang fish who deals with short-term memory loss. You would think that a character with short-term memory loss would just continue to repeat itself, but that is anything but true with Dory. While Dory is sad when she remembers certain things and is unable to remember certain things as well, she has a commendable stance on the world. Dory inspires the audience with her perseverance to bring back her memories and to strengthen what she does remember. Her musical motto “just keep swimming” summarizes her life attitude, even though she often forgets the origin of that song.
Family being what is sought out in Dory’s search is an obvious theme throughout the movie. But, while some animated children’s movies often center the family ideals as being bloodline related, "Finding Dory" did not restrict family to people being strictly genetically related. Dory has her family - even though sometimes she does forget as Dory does about most things - and so does Nemo, but Dory and Nemo are still each other’s family. Family is all about the experiences that people share together, and how those people support and help each other. I think this is a realization most people do not have. I applaud the producers, writers and directors of "Finding Dory" for highlighting this forgotten aspect of the definition of family.
I am so happy that "Finding Dory" showcased someone who’s life was not picture perfect: her home life had bumps and she had something neurologically wrong, but her life was still good. Her optimism, determination and kind-heartedness made her life great even though it could have seemed so awful if she had a different outlook.
This children’s movie, therefore, had a very important takeaway message for people of all ages: life is all about the way you make it. All the cards may seem to be dealt in your opposite favor, but if you take what you do have and play around with it and your attitude, you will be able to see that every day has good in it.
