The thing we’ve all been waiting for is here: the sequel to "Finding Nemo," "Finding Dory." In case you need a little refresher, "Finding Nemo" came out in 2003 (yes, it really has been that long), so we’ve been waiting for this sequel for 13 years.
As I was buying my ticket for one of the first showings of "Finding Dory" with two friends, I was preparing myself to enter a movie theater full of young children and to suddenly feel too old for the movie. I mean, this is what happened with "Frozen," "Tangled," "How To Train Your Dragon 2," "Inside Out," and countless others. (I really love Disney and no, I cannot wait for them to come out on DVD.) But when I entered the theater, what I saw warmed my heart. Just about everyone in the theater was my age, settling into their seats and holding giant tubs of popcorn, talking excitedly about the “children’s movie” we were about to see.
When the previews started, I felt as though all of us in the theater were suddenly taken back to the time we first came to see "Finding Nemo." We laughed at the previews for the other soon-to-be-released kids’ movies (do not tell me that you don’t want to see "The Secret Life of Pets"), gasped at all the right moments during the opening Pixar animation (which was amazing, by the way), and bounced in our seats when the screen opened up onto the animated ocean and that iconic "Finding Nemo" music started to play.
Nobody cared that we were a bunch of adults watching on the edge of our seats as animated fish crossed the ocean (yet again), or holding onto the armrests when it seemed as though our favorite fishy trio might be separated forever. Nobody cared that we all got teary-eyed when we saw baby Dory singing “Just Keep Swimming” or that we had to wipe away tears as the movie came to a close. Nobody cared that we were more invested in the movie than probably most 5-year-olds will be. Or that we were probably acting like 5-year-olds ourselves.
In case you need to re-live the movie a bit, here are some honorable mentions (and if you haven’t seen the movie, some mild spoilers are headed your way, so keep that in mind if you are trying to shield yourself before you see it):
Baby Dory explaining to people about her short term memory loss,and being the most adorable thing you’ve probably ever seen.
The return of Crush.
Hank, the "septopus" that is probably the grumpiest sea creature in existence, but we love him anyway.
Our new favorite sea lions. And Gerald.
Learning why Dory can, in fact, speak whale.
Becky.
Bailey learning to use his echolocation.
Your reaction to the ending.
Friendly reminder we still have 3 YEARS to wait for the next "Incredibles" movie.
So thank you, Disney, for letting us all return to the time when we were 6 years old, when you mesmerized us with talking fish, gave us the correct pronunciation of “sea anemone” (though I think we all say it the way Nemo does anyway), and teaching us to just keep swimming.
