Funny, Touching, and Beautifully Animated

Rating: 9/10 (21 June 2016)

Finding Dory, the long awaited sequel to Finding Nemo is here and while it's nowhere near as good as the original it's a pretty solid follow up. It should be stated that a solid follow up by Pixar is still a great film, as they've shown that they have making amazing films down to a science. Finding Dory is funny, beautifully animated, and often touching. It should be stated up front, that Finding Nemo is a nearly flawless film, and that when comparing them, Finding Dory doesn't quite live up, but on it's own merit it is still a great film.
One major reason that Finding Dory is so good is that it's hilarious, and not just a few moments of humor, but hilarious throughout the entire film. Much like Finding Nemo the film gives voices to animals we see and throws their own wit into what those characters would say and do, much like the crabs and seagulls from the first film. It isn't as consistently hilarious as Finding Nemo and never reaches the same range of pure hilarity and heart stopping moments, but it does have quite a few of both. Above the humor of the film another major element that worked so well for the film is the animation which is gorgeous.
This is true for both the film and it's short, both were gorgeously animated, so much so that it's becoming more and more realistic. Animating people still seems to be a work in progress, and we may never get that right, but when it comes to animals, Pixar seems to have a firm grip on making them look flawless. The only problem I have with this film is the story, which is okay, but coming from such a talented studio that consistently focuses on story, the story had some liberties and plot holes that aren't common from Pixar. That is the major area where Finding Nemo was so great and Finding Dory fell a little flat.
However, Pixar's greatest strength over the years has been it's ability to make mass amounts of people feel something watching their films. This is an amazing accomplishment, because some people are easily invested in a film and get immersed easily, while some find it very hard to get immersed in films, but Pixar seems to know how to make everybody feel something watching their films. There are multiple moments in this film that do that, and convey as with many other Pixar greats an amazing amount of emotional depth. I typically say if a film can make somebody have a visceral reaction then it's a great film, I wouldn't say this film does that but it comes very close, which is impressive in it's own right.
For those who loved Finding Nemo I wholeheartedly believe you'll love this film to, but restating the obvious don't expect it to match Finding Nemo. This film is hilarious, beautifully animated, touching, well paced, and features great voice acting. The film isn't as good as Finding Nemo, as it's story isn't quite as good and frankly was probably never going to be as good. That being said for all who love Pixar films, families especially, this is a great film to go see.