<em>Finding Dory</em>, the highly anticipated sequel to <em>Finding Nemo</em> 10 years in the making, premiered June 17. The title is more metaphorical than literal because Dory is, in my opinion, not lost for about 70 per cent of the film. The new characters are very likeable, the plot is good, and the jokes are very on point. My only issue is the unusually high number of shots that are just open ocean (e.g. a blue screen with some sun rays and floating white shots). </p>
The article is not a review of the movie, but rather of the movie-going experience. A lot of university students likely want to see Finding Dory, but are hesitant to go because of the amount of kids that are likely to be present. Maybe my experience at the Boardwalk Landmark Cinema will change your mind.
A friend and I had purchased tickets ahead of time and were discussing when we wanted to go: an evening showing or later in the night. We opted for 6:30 p.m. because we both worked early the next morning. We were concerned, however, that such an early show would have a lot of children being loud — and we were somewhat right.
We arrived early and a lot of people were already sitting down. Young kids were running down the stairs and talking loudly. We chose to sit high in the theatre, but there was a family behind us with an excitable young girl. She was right behind my friend and she was kicking his seat, likely unintentionally. I asked my friend if he wanted us to move and he insisted it was fine, but I persisted and eventually we did move over one seat such that she wouldn’t be directly affecting his movie-going experience. I anticipated a troubling next two hours.
The theatre started to fill up and a couple of teenagers sat next to me. Whether they were high schoolers or university kids is unknown. Soon the commercials played and people were still chatting but slowly started to quiet down as the trailers started to play.
I greatly enjoy going to the cinema and I greatly prefer silence at the theatre — the only non-movie noise I tolerate is laughter. I told my friend we could leave the movie early if the little girl behind us turned out to be a nuisance, but he said it didn’t matter. So colour me surprised when it was the teenagers and not the little girl who were disruptive.
Finding Dory, obviously filled with more children than parents, was a really good experience for me. There was only one time I can recall where a child, somewhere a few rows below me, spoke aloud. The teenagers spoke throughout the trailers and whispered during the animated short Piper. Thankfully they were quiet through the majority of Finding Dory proper, but it was still annoying. The little girl hardly made a peep during the film, and if she did, I didn’t notice.
I’ve changed my views of kids a lot over university. A lot of young adults don’t like them and I understand that. For me, if a kid is respectful and not super annoying, I’ll probably like them. This screening of Finding Dory really raised the respect I have for kids, especially that little girl who was behind us, because she proved she could be quiet when she needed to be. A kid is allowed to be noisy, what matters is if they know when to be silent.
