If there is one thing everyone can agree on it is that Pixar is unapologetically relenting in its quest to get audiences to cry. From “WALL-E” and “Up” to the tear-jerking sacrifice of Bing Bong in the critically acclaimed “Inside Out” Pixar has been unfailing in its efforts to touch the heartstrings.  Such films seem to indicate that Pixar seems to be in its Renaissance stage, much like its visionaries breathed magic into Disney’s once failing animation division to usher in what many are calling a second Golden Age with hits such as “Zootopia,” “Frozen” and “Wreck-it-Ralph.” Now with the release of “Finding Dory” Pixar pulls out all the stops to maintain their pedestal in modern cinematics.

While Nemo was the protagonist of the 2003 classic, viewers knew that the heart, best lines and humor lay in the scatterbrained, but no less lovable, Dory. Now everyone’s favorite Pacific regal blue tang is back and this time she takes center stage. Living a comfortable life with her adopted family, Dory’s life is turned upside down when she begins having fragmented recollections of her old life, augmented by a lecture given by Mr. Ray. Soon the trio is off on a trail leading to a Sea World like animal rehabilitation center in California. Along the way they encounter and befriend a host of animals ranging from an octopus missing a tentacle (a septipus if you will) and a near-sighted whales to a Beluga names Bailey.

Admittedly the plot is a little predictable – it is a children’s movie after all. But what the film lacks in originality it makes up with its powerful and touching message. With a lead suffering from chronic short term memory loss and various side characters dealing with their own afflictions, mental and physical, “Dory” is one of the rawest depictions of what it means to be “different” in a world that values conformity in a children’s film. Through the warmth of the first film, carried into the second, “Dory” serves as a way to remind viewers that differences, family and friends should be celebrated, not put down.