Not Too Far Behind the Masterpiece That is Finding Nemo

Rating: 9/10 (19 June 2016)

Having lived through the Pixar golden age, it's hard not to get nervous with them announcing sequels to some of the more successful movies. These movies are happening years later and as a big fan of those classic movies, it's hard not to feel that Pixar is taking advantage of the nostalgia. To be fair, Toy Story 3 was amazing and completely lived up to the previous movies but I found Monsters University to be really disappointing. But I want to trust them so I went into Finding Dory hoping for the best. Finding Nemo isn't my absolute favourite Pixar movie but it is tremendous and is definitely one of the best animated movies of it's time so that's a high bar to hit. I can't say I loved Finding Dory as much but to even come close is an achievement.
*Minor Spoilers Ahead* We begin with Dory (Ellen DeGeners) when she's very young. She tries to deal with having a terrible short-term memory but luckily she has her parents Charlie (Eugene Levy) and Jenny (Diane Keaton) who love her dearly and are trying to help her. One day when she is distracted, she gets separated from her parents and cannot find them. She searches for them for years without remembering anything about them and she grows up unfortunately being unable to locate them. We follow her up until the events of the original Finding Nemo when her and Marlin (Albert Brooks) collide as he's trying to chase down his son Nemo (Hayden Rolence). If you have seen the first movie you know that they bond crossing the ocean together and they are able to get Nemo back and they become their own quirky family.
A year later from the end of the original film, we join the 3 of them living in the same spot. Nemo goes to school and Dory even attends class with him. The teacher Mr. Ray (Bob Peterson) doesn't really want her along but she comes along anyway. While they are out on their field trip, something jogs Dory's memory and she realizes that she has a family out there. She decides immediately that she has to go find them. Marlin tells her that they were lucky to make it back the first time and that there are no assurances that they will be able to find them. Dory decides that its something that she has to do and they set out to go across the Pacific Ocean to find them.
With the original Finding Nemo you got not only a great story but a really cool cast of interesting characters that were not only funny but touching and really well developed. I'm happy to say that you get to see a lot of the same characters again but you get some pretty awesome new characters. I really loved Hank the octopus (Ed O'Neil) who was the right balance of cranky and sympathetic. Destiny (Kaitlin Olson) and Bailey (Ty Burrell) were fun additions and Fluke (Idris Elba) and Rudder (Dominic West) were really funny. It's a credit to the writers to find ways to bring in so many new characters and to make them as memorable. If I had a complaint about the character development it would be that Nemo and Marlin are put on the back-burner and they don't really get much to do until they get to their destination. The stuff they do until that point seemed really cliché (being overly mean to Dory despite knowing the problems she is dealing with just to advance the plot).
Another thing that the original Finding Nemo did well is that it really brought the beauty of ocean life to the forefront with some really colourful and interesting computer animation. Finding Dory gets the same treatment, there are scenes where it's hard not to be in awe of how beautiful everything is. The colours of the environments and even the fish themselves are really vibrant and help you get into the world the movie exists in.
The plot of Finding Dory seems a little contrived at first (after how many years why would Dory believe that her parents are still out there looking for her?) but if you stick with it, it's actually a lot more emotionally involving. The beginning of the movie is a little reminiscent of another great Pixar movie (Up) in that it gets really emotional really quickly. This isn't a bad thing, it helps you get invested immediately. Dory goes on quite the journey throughout and you really get swept up in it. Again it's a lot like the first film in that way. The movie is about the concept of family which isn't necessarily complicated but what makes it great is that you go on this sweeping adventure with the characters that gets that message across. Finding Dory really takes you on that ride and by the end you'll more than likely be happy you took it.
You get some really good voice acting in Finding Dory too. Ellen DeGeneres really does embody Dory I don't think anyone else could really do the character justice. Albert does more good work and Hayden did a good job filling in as Nemo. Again the biggest surprise was how good Ed O'Neil was as Hank. I could just go on about the whole rest of the cast as there isn't a weak link among them.
I love most of the Pixar Animation films I have seen. I do have that bias but I didn't expect this movie to be as good as it was. Living up to Finding Nemo is a tall task but I found Finding Dory to be a worthy sequel. I will say thought that I don't think we need a trilogy, just leave us with these 2. Having a third entry won't really add anything and I wouldn't want to risk the great memories I have from the first 2.