I almost named this review “Can fish cry underwater?”, but it sounded too much like a The Fray album.

Finding Dory is spectacular, and arguably even better than Finding Nemo. Thirteen years after the first movie, Pixar has delivered a gut-wrenching story about family and living with a disability that will hit you straight in the feels.

After helping lovable worrywart Marlin find his son Nemo, Dory now lives with them as a sort of quirky aunt. While chaperoning Nemo’s class trip, Dory miraculously remembers where her parents live. This time around, it’s Marlin and Nemo who help her as she tracks her family down at the Marine Life Institute in California.

Unlike the first film, their trip across the ocean is a hop, skip and a jump with the help of Crush the (stoner) turtle. All the action is at the aquarium, where Dory meets a goofy new cast of characters. Modern Family’s Ed O’Neill is especially endearing as a grumpy octopus, while Ty Burrell, my TV husband, plays an adorable porpoise.

What’s so brilliant about Finding Dory is its subtle message about living with impairments, and how we’re only as strong as our greatest weaknesses. Dory, of course has short-term memory loss. As she searches for her parents, she encounters an octopus missing a tentacle, a near-sighted whale shark and a porpoise whose echolocation sucks. It’s moving to watch Dory overcome years of being a lost fish to finding a family of her own.

By the end of the movie, I was curled up in a ball ugly crying in the theater. And then, oh God, Sia starts singing “Unforgettable” as the credits roll, and you cry some more because you know she’ll sing it at the Oscars. I can already see her wearing some ridiculous wig while another child prodigy dances around her.

#FindingDory #review #EllenDegeneres #TyBurrell #EdONeill #AlbertBrooks #DianeKeaton #EugeneLevy #KateMcKinnon #BillHader