This is an interesting approach to storytelling, but it doesn’t work as well as it might have, given greater depth to the new characters we meet along the way. The character designs, gorgeously animated sequences so typical of Pixar, and stellar voiceover work by the likes of Ed O’Neill, Kaitlin Olson and Ty Burrell especially are wonderful – but they don’t bring us close enough to the new cast additions for us to truly get to know them. Most of the new characters we meet here are out of Dory’s past – so we can only know them as she does, and react to them as she interacts with her associations with and memories of them. Even the gruff, abrasive octopus, Hank – played by O’Neill with stern detachment undercut with barely detectable agreeableness – does not give us much to work with. He is a plot device, and unlike so many of Pixar’s most memorable characters, does not seem to serve much other purpose although the animation for his movement, as a seven-legged octopus (or, as Dory christens him, ‘septapus’) who is able to camouflage himself with perfect chameleon-like color changes is brilliant and provides much comedic relief.