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[Fancyarcher]

both films try and have some kind of realistic message. in monsters u - you can fuck up and get kicked out of college, and sometimes you just aren't going to do the thing you love, no matter how hard you work or how much you want it. in finding dory, i was afraid it would fall into the 'marlin and nemo were my family all along' but it even avoids that. instead it's about dory finding confidence in herself and overcoming fears. its message is 'i can get through this'.

it's grayer areas that work at a deeper level than pixar's earlier stuff.

That's actually a really good point. Nemo dealt with some really hard issues like fatherhood, but there are a lot of mature ideas in Finding Dory just as well. The whole idea of Dory being "lost" herself both figuratively and literally, I thought was a great idea, and they handled it extremely well.

 

[notaskwid]

Inside out is the second best Pixar movie after the original Finding Nemo.
Those are my feelings.

 

[Kthulhu]

It was a cash grab. What did you expect. Pixar may be resistant to it, but Disney ain't.

 

[LewieP]

Pixar have always been hit and miss. They've got as many duds as they got solid gold movies.

 

[scoobs]

Ya, this movie was super boring and not funny. I enjoy basically all Pixar movies (haven't seen Cars, I'm assuming I'd hate it) but this is their first big misfire for me

 

[old manatee]

Pixar films have been rough for a while. They are way too formulaic for their own good.

 

[siddx]

Naw, it was a lovely movie. Maybe you are just a bad person with no joy or love inside of you. I'd recommend maybe a therapist or medication.

 

[H2intensity]

Agree with all the OP points. Its disappointing for me too because i love finding nemo. Making Dory as a main character is a big mistake because she's not interesting and using her short term memory as story mechanic annoyed me more because its exhausted.

 

[MattKeil]

Lovely if you like watching a female protagonist begin almost 50% of her lines with an apology.

Probably Pixar's worst film next to Cars 2.

 

[wmlk]

It's okay. I can't really remember liking any particular part from it. I think they expected baby Dory to resonate with people when it was just dumb flashbacks to a boring, one-note character.

 

[Choppasmith]

I enjoyed it honestly. I think it's kinda weird that people are comparing a direct sequel and calling it bad compared to fresh, original movies like Zootopia and Moana. Compared to that dark Eisner era of DTV sequels, I thought Dory was great. I think Pixar have been great doing sequels, but then I'm in this weird minority that actually, GENUINELY likes Cars 2.

 

[JeTmAn81]

I really enjoyed it, nearly as much as Nemo. I was surprised at how good it was. I didn't even get to see it until its Netflix release. My favorite character was Gerald. And those otters! Also, Becky with the good feathers.

 

[rpmurphy]

I enjoyed it but I thought the last 15 minutes or so was unnecessary. I thought Kubo was a lot more disappointing.

Same. The stop motion animation was really cool, but the plot felt pretty bland to me, the main character was rather an empty shell and his development was not built up very well through the interactions with the monkey and beetle. I tried to like Kubo but it was meh. I'd rather just watch The Tale of Princess Kaguya if I'm in the mood for a good moon fable with amazing animation. Dory as a character, on the other hand, feels much more relatable and is able to impact and develop the supporting characters in the film, and that made the movie an enjoyable watch for me.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

So tired of computer generated art, both 2D and 3D. Give me some of that hand drawn goodness.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Finding Dory > Finding Nemo

 

[AudioEppa]

This movie was great. Better than the first.

 

[FeenixRising]

I liked Finding Dory....

 

[mrkgoo]

Finding Dory was only ok to me for all the reasons people have already mentioned. It's not awful though.

I'm also not a HUGE fan of Finding Nemo, which has a lot of great parts but doesn't sit as highly as other Pixar movies.

I'm also a huge fan of Inside Out.

 

[Roo]

I did like the movie but it definitely wasn't anywhere near as good as the first one.

 

[Darko]

It wasnt terrible but it wasnt a good movie either.
The end sequence was stupid though.

 

[The Citizen Kane of Games]

Worst Pixar film? Clearly hasn't seen The Good Dinosaur.

But yeah finding Dory was a very mediocre Pixar film especially seeing the competition this year (both Disney film are clearly better).

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Dory falls short on another front too: It comes really really close to hitting a hard home run on the issue of dementia and memory issues and the strain it puts on a family, but every time it's about to get genuinely frightening on that front it pulls it back and shoves a cute joke, deflating the emotion of the scene. They definitely established the thematic backdrop for this between the various manifestation of disability large and small (you know, just like the first film) amid the other inhabitants of the aquarium but unlike Inside Out they never maturely confront it, they just drift in and out of it stupidly. At least at the end of Toy Story 3, you get that sweet, tearful ending without something huggable getting in the frame to comfort you. This film literally puts a HUGGING PARTY in the middle of a car chase to cut the tension, a reminder that they're not missing a beat with the very predictable drama > yuk yuk it's funny tempo.

It's not Pixar's worst but it was not in my top 3 that year.

 

[Reversed]

That Piper short, though.

 

[Mossybrew]

Agreed. Was bored after about 20 minutes and just shut it off an went about my life.

 

[Figboy79]

Pixar threads on this board never fail to scramble my brain.

Lucky for you all, the world is a can of frozen concentrate what the fuck, schlorped gracelessly into a blender set to "incomprehensible," so I'm coping with the relative insanity of your Pixar opinions a whole lot better than I normally do.

Finding Dory is not an awful movie. It's not great, but it's a considerable distance away from "bad."

I haven't seen Finding Dory, but I have to say that one of the most frustrating/disappointing aspects of critical discourse in modern times is the almost universal categorization of movies into only "GOAT," and "Shit" tiers. Sometimes a meh movie is just that, meh. Or sometimes a good movie is just that, good. Not everything is solely at one end of the spectrum or not. I can enjoy some dumb fucking movies. I of course can enjoy some fun and entertaining movies. It's hard to get any real substantial discourse about entertainment media when the conversation is almost always. "I don't like thing, therefore thing is shit," or "I love thing, therefore thing is god tier."

 

[Brandon F]

Also found it really dull. To the point I had to pause it a few times and come back to it days later, I think it took 3 separate sittings to finally finish it. The entire time watching I felt I would have been much better off just rewatching Nemo as the core theme and plotting was nigh identical, but far less memorable here. Not an awful movie, just really dull.

 

[BeforeU]

it was far from awful. It wasn't as good as the first one though.

 

[Lucreto]

Pixar is in a slump. The last great movie was Toy Story 3. Brave was okay, The Last Dinosaur was meh, Inside Out was a wasted 90 minutes and I didn't watch Monster University. Dory was okay but the first film was better.

Other than Coco all I see is sequels I am not really interested in.

 

[Kuro]

Inside out was trash at least Finding Dory had some funny moments. Both movies are not classic Pixar quality.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Inside out was trash at least Finding Dory had some funny moments. Both movies are not classic Pixar quality.

 

[RedAssedApe]

Your name got robbed...oh wait finding dory didn't get nominated for an Oscar either.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

I dunno man, Finding Dory was pretty great.

 

[| Praxis |]

I enjoyed it, but I love Finding Nemo and whilst I didn't think it was anywhere near as good, it felt like catching up with old friends. Doubt I'll watch it again any time soon though.

 

[watershed]

Finding Dory was absurd and fun with a touch of heart. I thought it was really well done, a bit different in character than other Pixar films, but not near their all time greats.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

Pixar is in a slump. The last great movie was Toy Story 3. Brave was okay, The Last Dinosaur was meh, Inside Out was a wasted 90 minutes and I didn't watch Monster University. Dory was okay but the first film was better.

Other than Coco all I see is sequels I am not really interested in.

I'm hopeful. It seems like they're trying to do for Cars 3 what they did for Toy Story 3 by bringing in someone other than Lasseter to inject a third movie with new ideas from a directorial debut. Coco I'm looking forward to because Unkrich did a great job with Toy Story 3. And then Brad Bird is just one of my favorite directors hands down, so even though this isn't the most inspired Pixar in the world, I think they can do good.

No hope for Toy Story 4. Expecting a harrowing train wreck.

I enjoyed it, but I love Finding Nemo and whilst I didn't think it was anywhere near as good, it felt like catching up with old friends. Doubt I'll watch it again any time soon though.

Yes! I love bringing back old characters from years ago and it being well done. Call me a nostalgic (which doesn't even make sense when we're talking about a NEW movie), but whatever, I love the feeling of "oh, I missed these guys!"

 

[dancingphlower]

I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, though it did fall apart at the end for me.

 

[Timbuktu]

I thought it's fine entertainment, though not particularly ambitious by their standards. I know gaf loves to say that Pixar is shit, but they are simply just falling back to the hit rate of a more regular studio compared with the 10-15 years run they had previously. Lasseter fixing Disney Animation probably means the top talent in that area don't have to go to Pixar anymore.

 

[innervision961]

What Pixar lost, Disney animation found and I'm ok with this.

 

[Professor Lexicovermis]

It's kind of a shame; ever since that accursed princess movie that shall not be named, Disney's gotten complacent. Toy Story 3 was the last Pixar movie I really enjoyed, everything since has been kind of bland. Likewise, there's been a notable influx of increasingly generic movies from each of the Disney Studios. I legitimately didn't realize Zootopia was Disney for a good while. Thought sure it was Illumination or Dreamworks. More power to those who are happy with the current Disney output; I just want to see a return to creativity instead of Cars 45.

 

[bosseye]

Everything about this film, from fish jumping between salt water to fresh water(and even into dirty mop water) to actually driving a truck was just too unrealistic for me.

I think playing fast and loose with a few habitats is the least of this films realism issues. Which is fine; is there anything actually realistic about any of their films, especially the ones with talking fish?

I liked Finding Dory. Kids enjoyed it too. To be honest, I've yet to see a pixar film that I didn't enjoy on some level even the ones GAF widely condemn as being shit tier.

 

[jem0208]

Huh, it was one of my favourite movies of last year, I enjoyed it far more than Zootopia.

Baby Dory is just far too cute.


It might not be as good as Pixar's best (Wall E) but awful it is not.

 

[SoRuffShoNuff]

Awful? Why does there seem to be a normal scale for rating animated movies and then the Pixar scale?

 

[TheDanger]

I didn't enjoy it because it wasn't nearly as grounded in reality as other Pixar films are. Sure the studio is known for making films about talking toys or bugs or cars or rats, but those films were always believable, even Finding Nemo was believable. Everything about this film, from fish jumping between salt water to fresh water(and even into dirty mop water) to actually driving a truck was just too unrealistic for me.

how the fuck can too unrealistic be a complaint in an animated movie about talking fish?

 

[| Praxis |]

I watched Kubo because of how much praise it was getting here. The animation was absolutely amazing, a real show stopper but everything else was just average at best. I preferred Finding Dory. I did like Zootopia though, probably more than Dory which is surprising because it has a lot of stuff I hate in modern animation like big name stars doing the voice acting, tired pop references (The Godfather) and pop music.

 

[Alex Stroud]

It served as a terrific sleeping aide in the theater, though my girlfriend wasn't satisfied with my slumber. Pixar's worst non-Cars movie by a good measure.

 

[ramparter]

What is "Storks"? Please tell me it's not some Dreamworks thing.

It's not. It was really great we watched with some friends on my birthday an had a great time. Imo it's not as good as Zootopia but it was definitely funnier.

As for Dory, I'm glad I wasn't the only one. Seriously what the hell reviewers??

 

[KayMote]

Finding Dory was my biggest movie disappointment in 2016, since I simply loved Finding Nemo - easily the best Pixar movie for me. The best thing about it was probably its message: the sequence of Dory's parents laying down sea shells in order to help her to find her way back to them. For me it seemed almost like the equivalent of alternative/modern communication techniques for handicapped people - showing that they can have a more "normal" life if we only try to find the right strategies of help for them.

I really liked that, BUT - you can't have such a message in a movie and THEN put in two mentally challenged characters in it that are almost exclusively there for some stupid jokes.

Apart from that Finding Dory suffered from some of the common sequel issues feeling sometimes too similar to the predecesor. Nemo as this character who is only there to play the part of Marlin's concscious was annoying as hell and then it went completely over the top with a bonkers finale.

After watching it I was even unsure if Finding Nemo was even as good as it was in my memories or if I only idealized it, so right after the showing in the cinema I went home and put it up again: and no, still a masterpiece!

 

[Vampirolol]

Finding Dory is the best Pixar sequel and yes, I saw Toy Story 2 and 3.

 

[jem0208]

Finding Dory is the best Pixar sequel and yes, I saw Toy Story 2 and 3.

Yup.

 

[Real Hero]

Safe bet to assume the sequels are made because they need to make them while the original stuff is something they want to make