My Experience With... Finding Dory

Wow. This one's REALLY late. Ugh... I need to remind myself to write even in spite of... life.

Life's not bad, just busy.

So, anyway, in my last post, I wrote about Finding Nemo. Now... FINDING DORY!!!

Looooouuuuuueerrrrrrve this poster!

Like, if I were the type to post posters

all over my bedroom wall (which

is something I haven't done since

I was a teen), I'd do everything 

to try to set this one up.

I remember hearing about this particular Pixar sequel and thinking.... Oh, no...

Here's my reasoning:

1) Sequels in general get progressively worse. Except Pixar sequels, but...

2) Even Pixar was losing its touch in the movie industry. When Cars 2 came out, I thought it was the beginning of the end of cinema as we knew it.

Then I saw a post that Josh Taylor (YouTuber) made -- which actually, now that I think of it, I don't think I watched because I hadn't even seen the movie yet), and thought Huh. Pixar seems to have gotten its circuits back together.

You know, because... circuits... the lamp...

The logo.... Yeah, I'm not funny.

I went with a friend named Sarah, this time with her younger brother in tow. One of many sibs, btw. Think: Duggar. I hope she doesn't kill me for that comment if/when she reads this.

The movie starts off with this. Brace yourselves, ye that have yet seen...

No. No, no no no no no no, I can't... I just can't right now.

I've never done a "top cutest things" list, but I'm certain

this would be pretty high up on the list.

Basic reaction:

Okay, YOU try putting it into words, smartie!

Man, I love and miss that series.

Dory is a young fish who struggles with Short-Term Memory Loss. How in the world she manages to remember that is unexplained. She lives with her loving parents... somewhere... and they help her grow up. But one day, she's inexplicably taken away by a strong force. She then looks for her parents everywhere, to no avail, until she runs swims into Marlin.

Cut to one year later. Dory, in some fashion, has become part of the family with Marlin and Nemo. She still dreams about her family and former life, though.

The rest of the story sorta becomes a puzzle adventure of sorts. As far as plot and characters go, they're pretty similar to Finding Nemo. The adventure takes the trio to the West Coast of the United States, where Dory eventually finds her memory, herself, her parents, old friends, and even helps to bring out the best of characters she meets.

Now, I'm running on a deadline here, plus, I don't feel like putting in all of the spoilers. I would highly recommend this movie, though. It was really cute and definitely put some resolution to that ONE LINE Dory said early on in Finding Nemo. Is it better than the original? Meh... I wouldn't particularly say that. It is a pretty good movie, and it's definitely one of Pixar's better sequels.

What's your favorite character made into baby form?

My Experience With... Finding Nemo

(I wrote this a long time ago, and was too lazy to edit it.)

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I am planning on watching Finding Dory, which I hear is pretty amazing (I guess Pixar’s regained its magic touch with making movies and movie sequels), so I figure why not tell you about the original film?

You may have guessed by now that I enjoy movies. I do! Retro, animated, family, Christian, and independent / low-budget are my favorite genres. I used to go to the movies practically every weekend by the time I was a teenager, usually with my Dad. Mom would occasionally watch one in the theatre with me or with me and my Dad, but sitting in a dark room looking up for two hours at a gigantic screen that could for all intents and purposes be messing up your vision bit by bit was not her idea of fun.

You may stop singing the song from

The Swan Princess, thank you.

The first movie I saw in theatres was actually a Disney/Pixar film, but it wasn’t this one. Anyway, my Dad took me to see Finding Nemo, and I remember getting a little bit upset with him because he fell asleep several times during the film, including the beginning.

Like, SERIOUSLY.

Finding Nemo starts with a fish named Marlin and his wife Coral, who are the proud owners of a nice sea anemone with an oceanfront view. They are also proud soon-to-be parents. Coral likes the name Nemo for her kids, and Marlin agrees to name one of them that, even though he prefers that most be named Marlin, Jr.

Men...

Their bright future is thrown into oblivion, however, when a barracudda attacks, knocking Marlin unconscious as it eats his wife and all the eggs but one.

1) This is about as heavy as the beginning 

of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

2) See? Up wasn’t the first Pixar

film with a depressing beginning.

3) Wait, this was rated “G”???

A distraught Marlin wakes up to find his wife nowhere to be found, and finds one surviving egg out of over 400. He names him Nemo, in his wife’s memory.

These events, unsurprisingly, cause Marlin to be a very paranoid, overprotective father, much to the chagrin of his adventurous son, who has an underdeveloped fin due to the accident. Time passes, and Nemo heads off for school with his nervous wreck of a father. Marlin gingerly drops him off at school, but when he finds out that the teacher is taking the class somewhere dangerous, he flips out and goes to find Nemo. Marlin does find him, but in a series of rebellious events, Nemo ends up captured by a fisherman. This starts the adventure we know and love today, plus how we’ll end up with Finding Dory.

This movie was awesome. Classic lines, nice characters, and Dory cracked me up. Oh, and how many times have I sung that song of hers with friends or tried to “speak whale”?

Then, of course, this joke:

So funny.

I even remember being in a shoe store, and these three cute guys (probably significantly older than myself) who worked there quoted the Sharks once. I perked up, and my Dad mentioned that I had seen the movie several times (ugh, so embarrassing!!! Lol).

Overall, five thumbs up, plus one “lucky fin.” I’m looking forward to watching Finding Dory with my galpal / movie buddy Sarah (you may remember reading about her from the Annie post).

Okay, Pixar, you’ve won my trust back with original films, and I’ve heard that this was the best sequel you’ve done in a while, but still...

Please don’t mess it up.

Please don’t mess it up.

Please don’t mess it up.

Ciao!

What’s you’re favorite 2D animted feature? What’s your favorite 3D animated feature?

My Experience With... Luann

Hey, guys, another early one, but I promise there's a pretty legit explanation.

Anyway, I read a lot of comic strips growing up, which I can probably thank my Dad for. :) One of my favorite things to do on Sundays was read the (then) myriads of Sunday comics (and even that wasn't as many as the Sunday comics in my Dad's time!)

Being a child, I didn't always get the humor from the comic strips, but I did love looking at the characters, plus the humor I did get.

Anyway this was the first Luann trip I remember reading:

For a few years, I was a pretty casual reader, and then a few years ago, I came across the comic strip again, and decided to read it from the beginning (because I figured I'd missed a few key plots over time). By the way, it took WEEKS to read from its mid-80s origins. It's a pretty good storyline, and I'm glad they didn't make Luann anywhere close to a perfect protagonist, it makes her character multi-dimensional and her "life story" more realistic.

Recently, the story has been focused more on Brad (Luann's Brother) and Toni (Brad's fiancée), and Toni has just picked out a wedding gown. Of course, they won't show us what it is, because it will be based on a fan contest... which I've entered!!!

This is my entry:

You can access this at http://luannfan.com/contest-photo/507/.

There are some technical difficulties with the links, but my design is #507, if you go to luannfan.com

I posted this early because voting has come up today, and you can vote once per day until the 17, so I obviously want to gather as many votes as possible.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your vote!

What's the craziest thing you've ever done?