Finding Dory

Year: 2016
Directors: Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane
Voice cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O'Neill, Hayden Rolence, Idris Elba, Dominic West, Eugene Levy, Diane Keaton, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell


Plot: When Dory starts to remember details of her parents, she persuades Marlin and Nemo to follow her on a quest across the ocean to find them.


Review: It's been 13 years since Finding Nemo came out, and it is still one of the best Pixar works out there. So Finding Dory has its work cut out for it to match its predecessor.

Like in the first film, our characters embark on an adventure to find a loved one, in this case Dory's parents. Dory convinces Marlin and his son Nemo to follow her all the way to California to find Jenny and Charlie, her parents. They wind up at the Marine Life Institute, where Dory gets separated from the two clownfishes. And again, just like the first film, they all meet a colorful set of characters, which include a short sighted whale shark, a beluga whale, a couple of sea lions, a talking clam and a grumpy octopus.

Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton, shares duties with Angus MacLane on Finding Dory and does a splendid job once again, though it isn't quite as endearing as the original. As mentioned, the sequel shares many things in common with the original, such as the theme of family, a journey across the ocean, an assortment of characters to help the leads, and of course a healthy dose of humour. More importantly, this film sees a development of Dory's character as we see flashbacks of her life as a young blue tang fish who was already forgetful and how her parents helped her with her memory problems, and how she eventually got separated from them.

The new set of characters here may not be as memorable as the original Tank Gang or the trio of sharks from Nemo, but they do come close. The standout one would be Hank the octopus, whose camouflaging abilities makes for several hilarious moments, not to mention his grumpy attitude towards Dory.

The reason Finding Dory falls a bit short of Finding Nemo is the feel that Stanton and co. are trying too hard to milk the drama in the film's more tender moments. The climax of the film is also quite similar to Toy Story 2 but still very fun to watch.

Overall I enjoyed Finding Dory, and if you loved Finding Nemo, you ought to go see this. And do stay till the end credits for one final scene. (8/10)