After 13 years since "Finding Nemo" stole the hearts of '90s and early 2000’s babies, their dreams of a sequel were finally coming true. "Finding Dory" was announced by Ellen DeGeneres in 2013 and since then has been anticipated. Finally on June 18, 2016, Finding Dory was released and has broken records, making $55 million on Friday night, higher than any other animated movie. Clearly there was a lot of hype for this movie, but did it live up to expectations?
I went to see "Finding Dory" Saturday night at a local drive-in. I had very high expectations, considering my love for "Finding Nemo." Usually, when I have high expectations for sequels, I am let down in the end because they can never live up to them. But "Finding Dory" was well worth the wait and definitely lived up to my expectations. It was full of life lessons and just one of the cutest movies I have ever seen. It almost stands as its own when compared with "Finding Nemo" because it was that good.
"Finding Dory" picks up one year after Marlin and Dory find Nemo. Dory has been living with Marlin and Nemo, but takes a sudden interest in finding her original family. She has lots of flashbacks to being with her mom and dad when she was younger and these flashbacks allow her to piece together her home and find her parents. Dory, Marlin, and Nemo, and a slew of new, loveable characters adventure in an aquarium in California in search for Dory’s parents.
"Finding Dory" really focused on how flaws and disabilities can actually be strengths and that everyone can overcome. It follows this theme from "Finding Nemo," where Nemo had a small fin and Dory suffered from short-term memory loss. The new characters we are introduced to include Destiny the Whale Shark who is near-sighted and Bailey the Beluga Whale who can’t use his echolocation. Most characters had flaws/disabilities, but they all contributed to helping Dory find her parents despite these flaws. It was a feel good movie that taught an important life lesson to people of all ages, to never give up despite your circumstances.
Aside from the deeper meaning behind the movie, its plot line and characters were absolutely amazing. It was nice to experience the aquarium aspect in this movie. Dory and her pals experience nearly every aquarium exhibit and it was so funny to see things from the animal’s points of view in an aquarium. One of my favorite scenes was when Dory and her octopus friend end up in the hands-on exhibit. As humans, we love the exhibit where we can touch the starfish and other sea creatures. But according to "Finding Dory," the creatures in the water hate it. It was so funny to watch the creatures be grabbed by hands because they had horror movie music and they made it seem as though it was a traumatizing experience.
The only critique I have is that I wish it was longer. Although it was an hour and 45 minutes, I found myself wanting more when it ended. But despite that critique, Pixar did it again, made an unforgettable, great movie that I will definitely have to see again. "Finding Dory" was filled with scenes that made you laugh and scenes that made you tear up. You won’t regret seeing this sequel.
