10 Most Emotional Moments In Pixar Movies

8. Seashells – Finding Dory

Dory has had one hell of an emotional rollercoaster of a life, though we had no idea just how rocky it was in Finding Nemo. With most of Pixar movies centring on the theme of memory and never forgetting the important things, Dory represented the struggles of finding those lost memories. Dory suffers from short term memory loss, and throughout the two Finding movies, she struggles constantly to hold onto the things she deems precious to her without forgetting their own significance.

In her own movie we discover through the saddening reveal that Dory since a little fishling had spent years lost in the ocean, unsure where she was or who she was meant to be looking for, and unable to make any progress due to her disability. This is actually horrifying as well as saddening, but it setting up for the emotional climax in the third act.

Lost and alone again, Dory finds a trail of sea shells and instinctively follows them, leading to a pipe line surrounded by sea shell lines, all heading in several directions. Before Dory can realise its meaning, her parents appear from the darkness, carrying more shells. It takes a second to put everything together but... it means they never stopped looking for her. Even while Dory always felt lost, scared, abandoned, there was always her family out there still searching for her. Cue sobs.