Finding Dory

This is a really good sequel. Taking characters from the first one and putting new ones in there as well, it never gets boring or seems to repetitive. And you don't even have to be Dory, I mean forgetful, for this to work for you. Yes it does make sense to watch the first one (Finding Nemo) then, although I reckon you could watch it and enjoy it as a standalone too.

The characters and their traits are strong and there are a lot of side jokes built in to this too. Humans are being treated like extras and we wouldn't have the time to deal with them anyway. That is apart from one major voice - but it's being highlighted too as if one of the writers or Ellen herself might have a crush there. But you can't blame them for that. On the contrary you can congratulate everyone involved for a really good movie

I may be one of the few people out there that doesn't love Finding Nemo, it was ok but it didn't really do anything for me. So, going into Finding Dory I had no real expectations.

First and foremost, it is GORGEOUS. The colors are striking, the blue tones of the water are realistic at times mesmerizing and the movements of the various creatures are realistic and fluid.

Most importantly though is the story. Dory's journey is one of self discovery, of living with a disability and all of the hurdles that creates in your life. It's about the way it makes others look at you and how she overcomes that. Not with some miracle cure that instantly solves everything or erases the issue altogether in the end, but with honest to goodness character growth.

As an aside, I had avoided seeing this one until I had finally seen Finding Nemo and while I would recommend seeing Nemo, Finding Dory does stand alone as it's own film.

I think it was great to see Dory side and more about her life. It was creative and overall it was good.

Right from the start I could easily tell why Finding Dory isn't the most appreciated. It wasn't as brilliantly written as Finding Nemo was and in the opening, it immediately showed your throat with the main plot about Dory's parents and all.

I must admit it wasn't a bad film at all. It definitely had a ton of great things going on, it was still enjoyable and I liked some of the new characters introduced. Look if this was a standalone film or if Finding Nemo was around the same quality, my review would have been normal but I just have to compare it with the superior original

What happened with the insanely brilliant ways the first was written in? Don't get me wrong, Finding Dory still had some clever ways to get the plot going but it definitely didn't have the Pixar magic for me, I never laughed during this film. One thing to add that severely affected my experience was Dory's short-term memory loss. I know people with it suffer like she does but Dory just experiences it way too many times, in Finding Nemo it was alright because they had some comedy in them plus it was mainly focused on Marlin and Nemo. But as I said I didn't find it funny so each time she would experience her short-term memory loss, I would get frustrated because it genuinely gets on my nerves. If the writers didn't show it into your face that Dory has it, I would have been in a completely different mood

But as I said Finding Dory is still good film, it was entertaining, fun and overall a fun experience but it was lacking

Rating: 7.0/10.

The story was beautifully executed, it was well paced, the new characters kept the story fresh and the film was somewhat educational. Perhaps not as emotionally charged as the first, but not many sequels can achieve such a high quality level in terms of depth in all its characters and minor details. Only Pixar can make you feel empathetic towards a fish.