FINDING DORY – Review

Thirteen years after Nemo found his dad, Dory is getting her day in the spotlight with the new DISNEY•PIXAR feature FINDING DORY. After all of this time, she just keeps swimming into our hearts!

We pick up back in the reef, where Dory is happily living with Nemo and his father, Marlin. Still, Dory yearns for something more. She starts to piece together a past, and knows something is missing. We soon find out that her past isn’t that different from Nemo’s. Due to her short term memory loss, she wandered away from her parents and couldn’t find her way home. Soon, she couldn’t remember what she was looking for. When she finally starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Marlin, Nemo and Dory set out on a mission to find her parents. Together, they brave the ocean, and meet some new friends along the way in their quest to find the missing pieces in Dory’s life.

I honestly didn’t think they could top 2003’s FINDING NEMO, and they certainly did. Even though the stories have a simile thread, FINDING DORY still feels new. Plus, we find out where Dory learns to speak whale! I know you’re just dying to find out!

The humor is outstanding, and the animation is absolutely stunning. They managed to use their updated technology to give an incredible look to the film, while still making it feel like the original. I think this is in part of Andrew Stanton, who co-wrote and directed the first film. He also co-wrote and directed FINDING DORY, so the original feel and nostalgia are not lost along the way. DISNEY•PIXAR continues to impress me on a regular basis. My only regret is that I would have loved our screening to be in 3-D, but that just means I need to go see it again.

As far as voice talent goes, Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton were all incredible. DeGeneres and Brooks return to voice their characters from FINDING NEMO, while the rest are newcomers, including Hayden Rolence who takes on the role of young Nemo. They did manage to throw in Alexander Gould, the original voice of Nemo, as Passenger Carl, which is fun. Seeing as how the film takes place only a few months after their return to the reef, there was no way for a grown Gould to voice young Nemo. It was nice to see that he was included in the sequel. 

FINDING DORY is funny, smart, and heartwarming. Go see it as soon as you can! It’s in theaters NOW!

OVERALL RATING: 5 stars

FINDING DORY

DISNEY•PIXAR

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