Finding Dory

Pixar's belated follow-up to Finding Nemo isn't as sharp, smart or funny as the films we've come to expect from the animation studio

Since 1994, Disney have been making mostly forgettable sequels to their biggest screen hits (The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar, etc), which would invariably go straight to VHS (or DVD, or BluRay – delete as applicable for the appropriate decade). Now it’s Pixar’s turn. Finding Dory might be coming out on the big screen first, but its sluggish pace and wayward plot is more reminiscent of an overextended kids' TV episode, or one of Disney’s many, many home-entertainment sequels.

After a quick (and, in traditional Pixar-fashion, slightly heartbreaking) prologue that hints at how Dory, the regal blue tang fish who struggles with remembering much of anything, came to be wandering the ocean on her own, we’re soon back in the present where Dory remembers something for the first time in a long time. She had a family – perhaps even still has a family – and she’ll travel umpteen thousand leagues, and more, if it means she might be in with a chance of finding them.

After his brief foray into live-action filmmaking (with the overblown John Carter), Andrew Stanton has returned to Pixar to co-direct with the help of first time feature director Angus MacLane. As per usual with Pixar, this is an immaculately realised film – at least from an animation standpoint – but there’s something missing. Where Stanton’s WALL-E felt real and tactile (in part thanks to the help of cinematographer Roger Deakins), the world in Finding Dory only achieves this fleetingly.

The voice cast work hard with a script that is significantly less sharp, smart or funny then we’ve all come to expect from Pixar. When it comes time to hit home the emotional punches, however, the studio prove they’re still among the very best. It’s just that it’s all a little bit, um… What’s the word? Ah, yes, forgettable.