2016 Rental Roundup 4: Arrival, Finding Dory, Kubo and the Two Strings

After dragging 2015 and 2016 out far too long, it’s finally the end of rental roundups more than a year old. Rejoice!

Arrival

How’s this for a movie: Aliens land on Earth, and just kick around a bit while the nations of the world each try to figure out their language.

Obvious special effects were rare, but very high quality. Naturally, I cannot comment on the unobvious special effects, but I’m sure they’re there. The design for the alien ship doesn’t do much to capture the imagination, but the aliens themselves are wonderful.

It gets Interstellar-weird for the ending, which I’ve found really divides the viewers. It introduces a very weighty sci-fi concept that there really isn’t time to explore fully (it really could be a movie all on its own), but nevertheless expects you to feel the full, crushing weight thereof.

Verdict: Rental. (3/5) It’s a fascinating watch, but it seems like a lot of hard-sci-fi movies are one and done with me, no matter how good they are that first time around.

Finding Dory

With The Incredibles 2 coming out this year, I thought it apropos to actually bother watching the most recent Pixar sequel that isn’t Cars 3.

Finding Dory does a great job showcasing how Finding Nemo’s amnesiac-savant has managed to survive despite her extreme difficulty in forming long-term memories. The writers took effort to play it off as natural (or what passes for natural in-universe), and they succeed for the most part.

The movie repeatedly calls back to Finding Nemo by providing entirely too much backstory to Dory. However, it manages to get it all in without the movie seeming like an endless string of continuity porn.

Finding Dory doubles down on its predecessor’s theme of maine characters with disabilities (the titular Nemo and Dory, though Nemo’s malformed fin is of no consequence in the sequel). New to the cast are an octopus who lost a limb and a legally blind whale shark. It’s good for representation, though Nemo’s condition remains the only one not played for laughs.

Verdict: Go for it (4/5). Considering how unimpressed I’ve been by every Pixar sequel that wasn’t to Toy Story, Finding Dory was a pleasant surprise.

Kubo and the Two Strings

I first heard about this movie as a major Oscar snub (oddly, as this at least got two nominations while Finding Dory had zero). But I clearly see why people complained; it’s definitely the clear winner of this roundup.

Kubo is a breathtaking-looking movie that brings a lot of novel visuals to the table. The story has an ancient feeling to it that gives what amounts to a story about just a family an epic, mythic feel.

There’s some extra visual effects that really elevate the movie’s presentation and makes you momentarily — but frequently — forget you’re watching stop-motion animation. Henry Selick’s got nothing on this.

The “twists” are pretty obvious, but that doesn’t hurt the movie’s charm. It’s very clear that a lot of thought and effort went into it. Kubo is the best example of an all-ages movie since How to Train Your Dragon, and I would say Kubo and the Two Strings is the better one.

Verdict: Must see (5/5).