Is there anything harder to overcome than great expectations?

Is there anything harder than to have to follow in the footsteps of a beloved film, but more than that, to be the next installment of a legacy of beautiful filmmaking?

This is the issue that Finding Dory finds itself stuck in, before frame number one. A sequel to 2003’s beloved Finding Nemo and the seventeenth film by Pixar, the movie picks up one year after the events of Nemo, and focuses on the film’s most beloved character - Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), the blue fish with short-term memory loss. After Dory’s adventure with Marlin to find Nemo across the Ocean, Dory has settled in with life alongside her clownfish friends, but suddenly - some of her memories begin to return, of her parents Jenny and Charlie (voiced by Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy). In turn she becomes determined - she has to find her family.

On paper, the movie is an easy retread of the first. They once again travel across the sea on the backs of sea turtles, our heroes find themselves out of water, and in a man-made environment - even if this one is a more inspiring public aquarium in California - but the movie touches on a brilliant storyline, which, to my dissappointment, it quickly loses.

Pixar’s storytelling - besides drawing emotion from every audience that takes in their beautiful films - has always drawn in on using animation to discuss bigger topics. Stories about growing up in the Toy Story franchise, about love and loss in Up, how great things can come from unexpected places in Ratatoullie, the ways that humanity needs to develop and grow in Wall-E, and even the emotions that make us who we are in Inside Out; these are the tales that make their movies so much bigger, brighter and illuminating than their contemporaries in the world of animation. In Finding Dory, we see a glimpse of this: the difficulties of raising a special needs child. Dory’s short-term memory issues clearly are a space of difficulty for her parents, but they love her and believe in her. We see moments of their struggles in Dory’s scattered memories, and we feel the depth of their love later in the film - yet, I’m left feeling like an emotional catharsis is lost with the lack of connecting tissue.

That isn’t to say Finding Dory is a bad film, not by any means, but it’s this lack of illumination to a greater point that leaves this as one of the studio’s lesser films.

While the story may miss some beats, the animation doesn’t, with the Pixar team pushing their tech forward once more, mixing the character designs of the 2003 film, with bleeding edge water technology, photo realistic envronments, and yes, humans!

The returning voice cast does great work: DeGeneres is probably the most vulnerable she’s ever been on screen, even just as a fish, and it’s always great to hear Albert Brooks’ trademark style of humor in a movie theater. New characters bring great moments to the table as well, including It’s Always Sunny’s Kaitlin Olson as a whale shark named Destiny and Modern Family’s Ty Burrell as Bailey, but the real highlight is Ed O’Neill’s Hank, a grumpy “septopus". I could watch Hank hate his way through an adventure all day long.

The most interesting addition? Sigourney Weaver as Sigourney Weaver. Yes, she plays herself, as an interactive voice over played at the Marine Life Institute…which I think means that either the Nemo franchise takes place in our world, or there’s a weird Pixar version of Aliens out there. Either way, the Internet’s going to have a field day with this, and You Won’t Believe what someone thinks about it all when it’s posted about on BuzzFeed someday.

The animation remains beautiful, the sea life design enthralling, and there is an incredible action sequence at the end of the film - but without that glue, it just doesn’t hit the highs I’d expect. Finding Dory isn’t another Inside Out gem, but it’s a solid base hit, a’la Monsters University. If you’re in for another romp with your favorite fish, this is the movie for you: just don’t expect a masterpiece, just a great time at the movies.

Additional notes: There is a post-credits scene (wrapping up a loose end from Finding Nemo), and the pre-film short, Piper is the most goddamned adorable thing ever.

Finding Dory is in theaters now.