I guess I’m a bit late on this one, as Finding Dory has been out for a while, but since the kids have gotten older we don’t rush to the theaters for Pixar movies quite as quickly as we used to. We still try to see each of them when they come out, but for some reason this sequel went under our radar for a while. On Friday last week we finally decided to buy it and see what Pixar had accomplished in their latest flick. (No spoilers in this review)

I really enjoyed Finding Nemo, but it took a while for the Dory character to grow on me. When I first saw the movie I felt that her silliness was a bit overplayed, but after seeing the movie a few times I came to really enjoy her simple attitude towards life. She simply didn’t understand all the complexities that caused Marlin anxiety, and the interplay between the two worked.

In Finding Dory you really get to know her and her backstory, as the gang heads out on a quest to find her parents. You get to meet a new cast of characters and through the course of the movie your sympathy and admiration for Dory grows. She’s a character who is suffering from a disability, and yet she wants to live as normal a life as possible. Her disability is a problem to her as much as it is to others around her. Yet, she doesn’t want to be treated differently, she just wants to enjoy life and experience all that the world has to offer.

Through the course of the film you see her grow to overcome her problems and really be the hero she is capable of being. Finding Dory is a really great film about learning to overcome and triumph in spite of hardship. It’s a film in the best tradition of Pixar, albeit with a few moments that were a bit more over the top than I would have liked. It tells a simple story about finding your past, and not letting your problems stand in the way.