Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Ed O’Neil, Kaitlin Olson, Hayden Rolence, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Sloane Murray, Idris West, Rob Peterson, Dominic West, Kate McKinnon, Bill Hader, Sigourney Weaver, Alexander Gould, Torbin Xan Bullock, Katherine Ringgold, Lucia Geddes, William Dafoe, Allison Janney.

Some sequels can justifiably be seen as a marketing tool, a chance to take the public down the same road with just enough plot twists to make it feel new and exciting, and too which the money becomes sly as the franchise becomes all consuming. It is perhaps cynical to think of it that way but it is nonetheless an important factor to remember.

It is however something that should be dismissed easily from the minds of those tempted by Pixar’s latest release, Finding Dory, the beautifully imagined spectacle which follows on rather neatly from the cinematic smash Finding Nemo.

Even when the initial story is about someone else, those that were seen as aiding and abetting the hero in their quest, there is always the thought that they too have their own back story, their own moment in which they are the centre of attention and their story is just as memorable as the hero’s; if only they could remember it all.

The loveable Dory, a fish who suffers from short term memory loss and to whom Nemo owes so much thanks too, returns in this highly enjoyable and poignant adventure to which perhaps far too many years have elapsed to make it look like a desperate attempt to rake in the cash by the company but not enough to not make it a clever and intelligent sequel.

Many words of disquiet have been muttered about the film before the first trailer even left the screens but put all that insanity away, it matters not one iota in the modern world and instead concentrate on the fact that the film is about family, that those who truly love you, whether of blood or not, will never stop searching for you; in that, the true message comes across, that it takes all sorts of good people to make you remember the fish out of water you are and to care for you regardless.

With a splendid performance by Ellen DeGeneres, arguably the best thing she has done in many years, and captivating performances by Ed O’Neil and Albert Brooks, this sequel is as wonderfully observed as the original and one that will fight hard for the title of animated film of the year.

Ian D. Hall