Not another Cash-Grab Sequel

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2016)

This sequel has been a long time coming. 13 years after the release of 'Finding Nemo,' The kids who once sat in theatres worldwide- munching popcorn and Twizzlers with their parents and siblings- have now returned, perhaps with their own little ones in tow. After the tear-filled reception of Toy Story 3, Pixar has gained a reputation for making sequels that not only tie a story together, but are good stand-alone movies in their own right.
'Finding Dory' did not disappoint.
The two most notable things about this film are: A)The flawless animation, coupled with almost an over-saturation of cuteness. (The trademark short film at the beginning, "Piper", practically made me melt out of my seat.) The first scene shows a wide-eyed baby Dory (What's the proper term here...small fry?) repeating a disclaimer that her parents patiently teach her, in an effort to prepare her for social interaction. Which leads into point B)...an underlying social statement about disability, primarily mental illness.
Dory knows that she suffers from short-term memory loss, and this impairs her ability to function independently. Her parents, Jenny and Charlie, are near perfect in their patience and understanding. Instead of babying Dory- or worse yet, blaming Dory and pitying themselves- they empathize with her and work hard to give her the tools she needs to succeed in the outside world.
In 'Finding Nemo,' we see evidence that Dory's mental illness has little or nothing to do with her intelligence. Unlike Marlin, who never ventured far from his some anemone, she is able to read English and speak whale. Both skills prove to be invaluable: They are able to find Nemo's whereabouts and avoid being eaten along with a school of krill, respectively.
However...mental illness is one thing, but 'Finding Dory' decided to approach mental disability a different way. This is evident in the treatment of Gerald, the presumably mentally challenged sea lion (who bore eerie resemblance to an individual with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome) and of Becky, the helpful but easily manipulated loon. I'm not saying that the whole movie needs to be completely sanitized and PC (we all know how famous Disney is for hidden dirty jokes and racism)- but, given the overall theme of the story, it makes for an interesting contrast.
The 'Finding Nemo' franchise has one more overriding theme: Parent-child relationships. Marlin represents the hyper-conservative, over-protective single parent. His pivotal line in the first movie- "You think you can do these things, but you just can't, Nemo!"- Is the opposite of what Dory's parents tell her:
"Now you can go anywhere you want!" "Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming..." After their first encounter with Becky, Nemo grabs the chance to throw this back it Marlin's face. "You made her feel like she couldn't do it, Dad!" The scene where Dory reunites with her parents is incredibly gratifying. Even after suffering her loss for so long, they still managed to support her enough to go on another crazy adventure to rescue her friends back at the rehab centre.
In a nutshell, Pixar succeeds in making another thought-provoking, heartstring-pulling, visually pleasing masterpiece.