Finding Dory (2016)

It is very rare that a sequel will be a better film than the original, but this film – Pixar’s follow-up to its hugely successful 2003 film Finding Nemo – is definitely among that select few.

Blue tang Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) has been living happily with Marlin (Albert Brooks) and his son Nemo (Hayden Rolence) for a year now. One day, while accompanying Nemo and his school friends on a field trip, she suddenly remembers her parents (Eugene Levy & Diane Keaton), and decides to journey across the ocean to find them.

Unfortunately – as viewers of the original film will recall – she suffers from short-term memory loss, and has no idea where to start looking. With only a tiny fragment of memory, she sets out, joined by Marlin and Nemo.

In a repeat of Nemo’s abduction from the first film, she is snatched up into a boat by two humans, and taken to the Marine Life Institute in California.

Believing her parents to be in an exhibit in the Institute, and with the help of an octopus named Hank (Ed O’Neill), and new friends whale shark Destiny (Kaitlin Olson) and beluga whale Bailey (Ty Burrell), she makes her way around the entire Institute, desperate to find them.

Meanwhile, Marlin and Nemo are trying to get into the Institute to rescue Dory, getting help from two seals, Fluke (Idris Elba) and Rudder (Dominic West).

As I have already mentioned above, I believe that this film is even better than the original that preceded it in almost every sense.

Director Andrew Stanton (who directed Finding Nemo as well), along with co-director Angus MacLane, has created a film that not only has several nods to the original, but also many new elements to enjoy.

The array of new characters are fantastic, but the characters who have returned are great as well. The entire original cast have returned to reprise their roles, with the exception of Nemo of course (however, Alexander Gould, who voiced Nemo in the original, does have a cameo in this film).

The screenplay, written by Stanton with Victoria Strouse, is brilliant at every turn, with plenty for audiences young and old to enjoy.

Thomas Newman’s music is delightfully unassuming, lurking in the background with the utmost subtlety. In fact, in most scenes, it is barely noticeable at all. And yet when it is apparent (rare, but it does happen), it is so perfectly suited to the on-screen action and emotion.

Pixar’s films just seem to keep getting better and better every year. While there is a lot to love in their older films, they are a studio that are improving constantly with each release. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

10 out of 10.