Not Bad Just Underwheming

Rating: 5/10 (2 July 2016)

Maybe I'm biased because, Finding Nemo used to be my favorite Pixar movie when I was a kid so my hopes were very high going into this. Not bad or terrible just below expectations and an overall meh. Its a pretty harmless kids movie that they will probably enjoy but for an amazing followup to Finding Nemo it might not meet every expectation.
**Full Review and Spoilers** Dory works better as a side character definitely. This reminded me of Cars 2 where Pixar thought it was a good idea to make Mater the main character but he just wouldn't stop talking and came off as annoying. The same pretty much applies for Dory. I like Dory as a character but What made Dory likable is that the writers knew when to use her and when to have her be quiet. She was able to be loud and exuberant but still likable because they used her in certain amounts. In this movie she is just constantly talking on and on. There was one scene where Dory and this Octopus are sneaking down a hallway and Dory is irrelevantly babbling the whole time and all I could think was "If she wasn't talking right now this scene would be exactly the same but better". Its just a typical case of putting a good side character in a main character spot and it being unsuccessful.
I think Nemo's character could have been stronger they definitely missed an opportunity there. His only trait in this movie was "I believe in Dory" which is nice but they could've done something more with him. Maybe it should have been just Nemo without Marlin trying to find Dory that way Nemo could have matured or developed some character like his dad did in the first movie.
The references got a bit annoying. I love a good callback but these weren't clever just blatant and repetitive. There times where the characters were literally just reciting the plot of the first movie. All this did was remind me that I could be watching a better movie. I think they did this to bring up a feeling of nostalgia but I think they would have been more successful at doing that if the callbacks were subtle.
The plot was pretty wonky as well. There were several times I think the movie could have ended. The pacing just felt very off and rushed, some parts could've been slown down or cut like the octopus driving a friggin truck. Instead they could've cut that scene and maybe put in a slower scene that helped show the development of Dory and the Octopus' friendship or something. (That relationship was one of many things that felt rushed as well).
I wish that since this was a sequel to a movie that was made thirteen years ago that they could've put more material for older audiences to enjoy. Just because a movie is targeted at kids doesn't mean there can't be stuff and elements in there for adults to enjoy as well. Pixar normally does well at making movies that kids and older people can enjoy and relate to. I just thought this movie in particular was very shallow and pandering toward kids, but I have a higher expectation for Pixar with this kinda thing as I previously mentioned so this could just be me.
But as I said this movie isn't all bad. Pixar is very good at electing emotions and this movie had some emotional moments. Like Dory actually Finding her parents or when she thought they were dead. That first person scene when the truck with Marlin and Nemo in it was pretty exciting, sad, and cool. I think they did a pretty good job with showing the struggle associated with short term memory loss (even though the amount of flashbacks she kept having kind of made it seem like she didn't have memory loss).
Overall this movie is not terrible just bland. Its just a typical cute clean Pixar movie that kids will like enough. I couldn't recommend it to older audiences though.