FINDING DORY 3D: Sure to be a bit hit, this sequel to "Finding Nemo" delivers all the charm and childhood scares that we expect. With a stellar cast including Ellen DeGeneres as Dory and Albert Brooks, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton, Ed O'Neill, Idris Elba, Eugene Levy and Willem Dafoe adding their voices to this animated treasure. The plot is of little importance... Dory is looking for her parents and her travels take her from under the sea to the Marine Life Institute, a conservatory that houses diverse ocean creatures. With the help of a clown fish named Marlin and a seven-legged Octopus named Hank, she "just keeps on swimming". What works here is the sheer innocence of Dory and the fact that she has short term memory loss. Trouble ensues.... I won't go on and on about this lovely film (although comparisons to the original make it come up short, in my book), suffice it to say, I enjoyed it thoroughly, and you will too. You know you'll see it, don't you? Do I dare hope for "Finding Hank" in the future?
INDEPENDENCE DAY RESURGENCE: Director Roland Emmerich has become the master of blockbuster summer entertainment and this is another in his resume of nonsensical mayhem. This time out we are not destroying buildings as much as we are annihilating alien spacecraft. Will Smith declined to be involved in this sequel but many of the regulars are back including Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch and Vivica A. Fox, This time we add in Liam Hemsworth, Sela Ward (as the President) and Jesse T. Usher (as the son of the Will Smith character) And while the acting is adequate, it is no match for the CGI effects in this hodgepodge of destruction. So if you like this sort of thing, you will enjoy this outing, although it is inferior to the original and a bit farfetched to say the least. Good aliens against bad aliens with us caught in the middle is a bit of a stretch to me.
