Finding Dory was a film that could have failed in many more ways than people would have expected it too. Pixar already had a track-record at the time for most of their sequels excluding the Toy Story line to being dumb, pointless, and a complete departure from what people liked originally about the first. Creating a sequel to the 2003 Finding Nemo 13 years later had potential, but with the main focus changing to the side-character Dory, many things could have gone wrong with not only how its handled, but also in given purpose to its existence. When the film came out, it was met with generally positive reception and proved that Pixar was capable of continuing a film’s story after the initial hit. Set a year after the original film, Dory (voiced again by Ellen DeGeneres) sporadically remembers something for the first time; her parents who she got separated from years ago when she was a child. Tagging along with Marlin and Nemo (voiced by Albert Brookes and Hayden Rolence), the three make their way to an aquarium which Dory finds herself being stuck in. With the help of an octopus named Hank (voiced by Ed O’Neill), Dory navigates the aquarium in hopes of finding her parents, while Marlin and Nemo try to get into the building and finding Dory. For being a follow-up that did not need to exist, Finding Dory keeps things fresh enough to warrants its existence while also remaining true to its previous film’s morals and atmosphere in creating a heart-warming, beautifully animated, well-voiced acted film.

The stigma that sequels suffer from seemed to be a major problem with this movie during the opening segment as the first act feels very slow and features a lot of rehashing that is not necessary. That along with a pretty uneventful squid chase, starts this movie off in a pretty bad spot. Thankfully, the movie seems to click on as soon as they reach the aquarium; the movie does a wonderful job giving this location so much personality that is not identical to the originals open-spaced sea location, but never feels claustrophobic or limited in its environments. It utilises various different aquatic life as well as various exhibits that keeps the movie from feeling stuck in one place forever. Once the actual ‘’Finding’’ element of the movie starts up with trying to find Dory’s parent, it does become pretty engaging as the results aren’t as clear as they were in the first film and the drive of the main character is strong enough that you want to see them reunite. What the movie surprisingly succeeds at the most is its handling of the message. While the message in the first film is important, unique for its time and handled effectively enough, it was overblown to the point where it was drilled into your skulls and became too obvious throughout several moments in the film. This movie tackles a more complex moral that is handled in a much more subtle way; how a person is not always going to figure things out the same way but can still find a way of doing it themselves. With the main character having short-term memory, it not only is portrayed wonderfully in several scenes where the paranoia of the situation is conveyed very realistically, but it also works as a metaphor for anyone suffering from any mental illness that doesn’t do things similar to regular people. Its saying that methods of handling situations are not always straightforward and do not require that mindset to get it done; it deserves some points for tackling something like that. The film is still balanced between being colorful bright fun adventure as well as the occasional quiet sombre moment that keeps the tone feeling very similar to the original, even if it can be broken in certain moments particularly with the climax that has such an out of nowhere final note that it’s a strange mix of awkward but funny.

The main three characters are still the ones that you know and love, but thankfully the movie does not utilise any more of the side characters from the previous film, not having to rely on familiar characters and gags in order to keep its audience invested. Most of the new characters created are all pretty funny, memorable, and likeable and do a good job at helping advance the story without just being they are for one-off support. Hank’s constant pessimism works as a great foil for Dory’s naive overly positive attitude, Dory’s whale friends Destiny, played by Kaitlin Olson and Bailey, played by Ty Burrell, are nice additions to the cast, and Dory’s parents are given the voice talent of Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy behind them so it’s not too difficult to make them likeable. Making Dory the star of the next film is both a smart but risky decision; most audience members were a fan of her so giving her the main focus makes sense, yet having a character with a bad memory as a lead in a movie not only could get on people’s nerves pretty quickly, but would also make it incredibly difficult to advance the plot if the character isn’t aware of it herself. Luckily, they manage to not only point out the annoyance of her condition as well as the determination of the character in how she is not letting her problem get in the way of finding her parents. Marlin and Nemo are still used in the movie and do contribute overall, but the focus in clearly on Dory and her trying to find her parents.

While the first film already looked incredibly and managed to give the ocean a great personality with being both beautiful and deadly at the same time, technology advancing over 13 years allowed the movie to looked even more amazing than its previous. Not only in how vibrant and colorful it makes its location along with the wonderful moment and expressions that it gives each of its character, but the textures and realistic details that it adds to its world helps to make this still-animated environment feel much more alive. The humans are given more detail and the water looks downright realistic with how it reflects the sunlight and moves with motion, it does a wonderful job as a visual update. The writing still does a great job at being both entertaining and funny as well as emotional and meaningful at the same time; Pixar has always had a knack at making their movies both for adults and kids while mostly sticking to a timeless appeal that can be appreciated for years in advance.

Finding Dory is a delightful surprise that many can enjoy equally as much as its predecessor without having it be a complete waste of time or a complete retread. Its hard to say that this film manages to surpass the original in quality as the first film has a lot more importance and gravity behind it premise, while this one is a lot more light-hearted, but it can be seen as the more enjoyable experience. It has all the amazing elements of the original that worked so well on top of featuring plenty of new stuff to get into along with a better handling of a much more complicated message. It will offer up enough laughs and enough emotions to make it worth a watch despite the track history that Pixar had going for its sequels at the time. Its up to you to decide which one is the more superior one, check it out and jump back into the sea to figure it out.