Critiques: Finding Dory and Zootropolis

Everyone who knows me knows that I love Finding Nemo and that I identify with Dory.

They know I’ve been waiting thirteen whole years for this movie (which has been over half my life). When I found out a second one was coming out I was ecstatic. When I learnt it was going to be centred on Dory, I squealed.

There was so much anticipation on my part that I repeated ‘I shall call you squishy and you shall be mine and you shall be my squishy’ a lot.

I wasn’t disappointed when I watched the film.

Thankfully.

Finding Dory quickly surpassed Finding Nemo as my favourite film of all time ever. It kept me laughing and all the characters were full and detailed. I didn’t like that the seals were mean to Gerald, but you can’t have everything.

***SPOILERS***

Zootropolis, which I watched a week after Finding Dory, was mind-blowing. Absolutely fantastic with so many funnies!

It explored racism, discrimination and stereotyping to debunk preconceptions people may have of others just because of the way someone looks or what they are. Equality and acceptance are two of the most important things for so, so this film exploring them was very powerful for me. The dealing with inequality was moving.

            I really liked that predators and prey lived together in (for the most part) harmony. It showed that, with intelligence, you can rise above dangerous instincts. As a fantasy writer who has talking animals that coexist, it was really nice for me to see these principles have been used in more things than Narnia.

            However, it did leave me with one question: what did the predators eat? This was neither shown nor explained in the film. (It isn’t central to the plot so I don’t hold it against the film; maybe it could be part of the plot for a sequel that I hope they do?) Maybe the predators ate reptiles, fish, insects, crustaceans, molluscs and birds, because only mammals were shown to have sentience (or shown in the film at all, actually) and eating non-sentient animals may be deemed morally okay.

            Assistant Mayor Bellwether being the actual antagonist was a real big shock for me. Usually I watch or read things and know where things are going. This has been one of few times where I’ve actually been surprised with how events turned out.

Zootropolis instantly surpassed Finding Dory as my favourite film of all time ever.. I’m slightly resentful it surpassed the film I’d been anticipating for most my life but in the end that just shows how amazing it was.

P.s. Finding Dory and Finding Nemo, I still love you loads <3