Finding Dory

"An unforgettable journey she probably won't remember."

- Tagline

Finding Dory is a 2016 3D computer-animated film and sequel to the 2003 Pixar computer-animated feature film Finding Nemo. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, who also directed the original film, and was released on June 17, 2016.

The film received widespread critical acclaim and was a massive box office success, grossing $1.028 billion worldwide against it's $200 million budget. It is the highest-grossing animated film of 2016.

Plot
Dory is a very young blue tang who suffers from short-term memory loss. While she finds this as a weakness, her parents constantly tell her that it is all right, but they warn her to stay away from the undertow. Later, young Dory has been separated from her parents and is trying to find them. Years pass, but she cannot find anyone who can help, and as she grows older, she even forgets who she is looking for. She then suddenly sees a white boat and a frantic clownfish named Marlin. Running into him, she promises to help him find something himself: his kidnapped son, Nemo.

A year later, Dory now rests in a little cave next to Marlin's anemone, and constantly wakes up in the middle of the night, much to the dismay of Marlin. One day, Dory joins Nemo on a class field trip: a stingray migration. Dory is excited, but when the class mentions an "undertow," she wanders off and gets caught in the migration. While unconscious, Nemo hears her mention "the Jewel of Morro Bay, California," and these magic words remind Dory that she is still looking for her family. She wants Marlin to help her, and after being reminded of what happened to Nemo, he joins in.

After taking the California Current, with the help of an old friend, Crush, Dory remembers that her parents' names are Jenny and Charlie. Her excitement, however, awakens a giant squid. As they try to escape, Nemo is captured and nearly killed. Getting stuck in plastic six-pack rings, Dory pulls Marlin and Nemo to safety. Angry, Marlin blames her for nearly killing Nemo, and claims that "forgetting" is all she is good at.

Heartbroken, Dory wanders to the surface and is captured by some rescuers from the Marine Life Institute. A plastic tag is attached to her fin which reads "Transfer," marking her as a specimen due to be shipped to an aquarium in Cleveland. Here Dory meets Hank, an ill-tempered, seven-legged octopus (or septopus). Noticing the tag, he makes a deal with Dory: Hank wants to go to the Cleveland aquarium. He will help her find her family in exchange for the tag.

As they move through the Marine Life Institute, Dory remembers more and more; she meets a whale shark named Destiny, who reminds her that they used to be friends, and that she is from the Open Ocean exhibit. Destiny and a beluga whale named Bailey, who believes he cannot use his echolocation, help her find the exhibit by travelling through the pipes of the building.

Meanwhile, Marlin feels guilty about how he spoke to Dory. In his sadness, he wakes up Fluke and Rudder, two sea lions napping. Nemo wants to ask for directions, but Marlin tells him that they eat fish. Marlin tells Nemo that he will ask them. After an interruption from Gerald, another sea lion who covets the rock, the sea lions introduce the clownfish to Becky, a black loon. She takes Marlin and Nemo into the institute via a green bucket that Fluke and Rudder obtain from Gerald, in exchange for (very temporary!) access to their rock.

Hank and Dory make their way through the Aquarium in a push pram, ending up in a touching tank, where Hank scares off the children poking them by releasing ink, and they find the Open Ocean Exhibit.

Dory gives her tag to Hank and heads into the exhibit, following a trail of shells left by her parents when she was a child to her old home, remembering various little snippets of their lives along the way. When she reaches her old home, she remembers how she became separated from them: while finding a purple shell (her mom's favorite) to cheer her up, she was sucked into the undertow and out of a pipe into the open ocean.

She meets two small crabs, who inform her that all blue tangs, like herself, are tagged and taken to quarantine to be shipped to their own exhibit in Cleveland. The two crabs tell her she can get to quarantine through the pipes, and Dory heads off in pursuit of her parents.

Dory gets lost inside the pipes, forgetting the directions the crab gave her, but Destiny hears her, and with the help of Bailey, who relearns to use his echolocation with encouragement from Destiny, guides Dory to quarantine, bumping into Nemo and Marlin along the way.

Dory worries that her parents will not want to see her, but Marlin reassures her that her parents will be thrilled to see her, recounting on how Dory has helped him and Nemo in their lives, apologizing for not appreciating her enough. As they continue their search, Nemo asks his dad if they will have to say goodbye to Dory, to which Marlin replies that they will.

The gang make it to quarantine and hop through tanks to reach the blue tangs, who are waiting to be packed into the transport truck to Cleveland until they bump into the side of a tank being lifted and get knocked into a mop bucket. Hank rescues them in a glass beaker and tells them they have three minutes to get everyone out before he leaves for Cleveland with the quarantined fish.

In the tank, the other blue tangs are shocked to see Dory. When she asks where her parents are, the other fish tells them that a young Dory disappeared and that her parents went to quarantine to look for her, but never returned.

Dory is shocked at the news and, believing her parents to be dead, zones out as the tank is taken. Hank rescues her from the tank, leaving Marlin and Nemo behind by accident. Distracted by being spotted by a human, Hank drops the beaker that contains Dory, smashing it and causing Dory to be dropped down into a drain, and flushed out back into the ocean. Dory panics, asking other fish for help in finding "them," but her memory problem makes her forget who she was looking for. Asking herself what Dory would do, she begins to look around, heading to a kelp field. She despairs, remarking that there is nothing but kelp until she spots some shells in the sand. Remembering that following shells would bring her home when she younger, she follows the trail to see more trails of shells, all leading to the same point. At this point, Dory sees two fish swimming toward her, and is finally reunited with her parents. They have an emotional reunion, with Dory apologizing for her problem (her memory loss) and remarking that she has tried to fix it. Her parents reassure her that she has nothing to apologize for and that she has finally found them and they had been waiting for all this time, making shell trails to guide her home.

When they ask her if she had been by herself for all that time, she remembers Marlin and Nemo, and that they have been taken to the truck.

Inside the truck, Marlin and Nemo ask if anyone saw where Dory went, spotting a fish they think is Dory until it turns out to be Hank in disguise. He apologizes for losing her as the truck doors close. Dory, in the ocean, heads back towards the Institute with her parents to rescue her friends, recounting their tales from Finding Nemo along the way. Jenny and Charlie do not think that they will be able to help, but Dory says that she misses them and that they are family, convincing them to help.

Dory says that meeting Marlin and Nemo was destiny, reminding her of the whale, Destiny, who she calls to. Inside their enclosure, Destiny and Bailey hear Dory and escape their tanks, leaping over a wall to help her. Fluke and Rubber leave their rock to follow them, joining in on the chase to stop the quarantine truck as it heads towards the freeway.

At a bridge, Dory asks a group of otters for help in stopping traffic and tells Destiny to flip her up onto the truck when she asks. Dory's parents worry that she is leaving them again, but she tells them even if she forgets, she can find them again.

Destiny flips Dory up onto the bridge where the group of otters is waiting, one of them catching her in its paws. She instructs the otters to have a cuddle party, stopping the traffic on the bridge, which includes the quarantine truck.

The otters break into the quarantine truck, reuniting Dory with Marlin and Nemo, as well as Hank, who scoops her up and drops her back into the tank of blue tang. Nemo tells Dory he thought they would never see her again, but she remarks that she could not live without the rest of her family. Marlin calls Becky for help, but she leaves Dory behind, dropping Marlin and Nemo into the ocean with the rest of the gang. He manages to send Becky back for Dory, inside the truck, where Hank tried to say his goodbyes. Dory tells him that he is not going to "the Cleveland" and is instead coming to the ocean to live with her. He argues, but Dory convinces him to come with her instead. As they try to leave, the truck's doors close, and it drives off with them still inside.

Hank and Dory escape through the roof of the truck and get into the cabin, where Hank attempts to drive the truck. They escape, driving the wrong way back down the freeway, hitting a roadblock before veering off and driving the whole truck into the ocean, freeing all the other fish, and Becky, as well.

Dory, along with Marlin, Nemo, and her parents, head back to the reef, where they play a game of hide and seek, although Dory forgets what it is they were doing before she remembers and finds both pairs, along with Nemo's class. Destiny and Bailey pop out, remarking that Dory had not found them, as Hank gathers the class back up. A student inquiries after Mr. Ray, whom the viewers find out has gone to join in the stingray migration. Hank remarks that if Mr. Ray is smart, he will stay away for a long time, and until he is back, Hank is the teacher. Bailey asks who wants to learn about echolocation, upon which the students groan.

Dory's parents leave for a swim, and when Marlin asks Dory if they are going home, she remarks that she is going to the drop-off. Marlin panics, thinking she is going to swim off again, and follows her, stopping her to ask if it is a good idea. She tells him that she is going to enjoy the view, and he lets her go, although he follows her.

At the drop-off, Dory and Marlin enjoy the view, and Marlin says that Dory has done it. The film flashbacks briefly to Dory and her parents, who tell her she can do anything. Dory agrees, and Marlin says that it really is quite a view, to which Dory remarks "unforgettable."

Back in California, the Tank Gang is revealed still stuck in their bags, and they are spotted by the MLI rescuers.

Cast

 * Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a Pacific regal blue tang
 * Sloane Murray and Lucia Geddes voice Dory at younger ages
 * Albert Brooks as Marlin, a clownfish and Nemo's father
 * Hayden Rolence as Nemo, a clownfish and Marlin's son. Rolence replaces Alexander Gould from the first film.
 * Ed O'Neill as Hank, an ill-tempered seven-armed octopus with "3 hearts" of gold
 * Kaitlin Olson as Destiny, a whale shark
 * Ty Burrell as Bailey, a beluga whale
 * Diane Keaton as Jenny, Dory's mother
 * Eugene Levy as Charlie, Dory's father
 * Idris Elba as Fluke, a sea lion
 * Dominic West as Rudder, a sea lion
 * Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, a spotted eagle ray, the school bus of the class, and the teacher of the class
 * Andrew Stanton as Crush, a Green sea turtle, and the Clam
 * Bennett Dammann as Squirt, Crush's son. He was voiced by Nicholas Bird in the first film.
 * Bill Hader as Stan, a kelp bass
 * Kate McKinnon as Stan's fish wife
 * Torbin Xan Bullock as Gerald and Becky
 * Sigourney Weaver as herself
 * Willem Dafoe as Gill
 * Vicki Lewis as Deb
 * Brad Garrett as Bloat
 * Allison Janney as Peach
 * Austin Pendleton as Gurgle
 * Stephen Root as Bubbles
 * Jerome Ranft as Jacques, a cleaner shrimp from the first movie. In that film, he was voiced by his brother, the late Joe Ranft.
 * John Ratzenberger as Bill, a crab
 * Angus MacLane as "Charlie Back and Forth", a sunfish
 * Alexander Gould as Carl and Tommy, the delivery truck drivers that work for the Institute
 * Katherine Ringgold as a chickenfish
 * Aaron Fors, Bob Peterson and Andrew Stanton as the Seagulls (cameo only)

Production
In 2005, after disagreements between Disney's Michael Eisner and Pixar's Steve Jobs over the distribution of Pixar's films, Disney announced that they would be creating a new animation studio, Circle 7 Animation, to make sequels to the seven Disney-owned Pixar films (which consisted of the films released between 1995 and 2006). The studio had put Toy Story 3 and Monsters, Inc. 2 in development, and had also hired screenwriter, Laurie Craig, to write a draft for Finding Nemo 2. Circle 7 was subsequently shut down after Robert Iger replaced Eisner as CEO of Disney and arranged the acquisition of Pixar.

In July 2012, it was reported that Andrew Stanton was developing a sequel to Finding Nemo, with Victoria Strouse writing the script and a schedule to be released in 2016. However, the same day the news of a potential sequel broke, director Andrew Stanton posted a message on his personal Twitter calling into question the accuracy of these reports. The message said, "Didn't you all learn from Chicken Little? Everyone calm down. Don't believe everything you read. Nothing to see here now. #skyisnotfalling"

According to the report by The Hollywood Reporter published in August 2012, Ellen DeGeneres was in negotiations to reprise her role of Dory. In September 2012, it was confirmed by Stanton saying: "What was immediately on the list was writing a second Carter movie. When that went away, everything slid up. I know I'll be accused by more sarcastic people that it's a reaction to Carter not doing well, but only in its timing, but not in its conceit." In February 2013, it was confirmed by the press that Albert Brooks would reprise the role of Marlin in the sequel.

In April 2013, Disney announced the sequel Finding Dory for November 25, 2015, confirming that Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks would be reprising their roles as Dory and Marlin, respectively. Ellen has made a long campaign for a sequel on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

In a Los Angeles Times interview, Stanton talked about the sequel's origin: "There was polite inquiry from Disney (about a Finding Nemo sequel). I was always 'No sequels, no sequels.' But I had to get on board from a VP standpoint. (Sequels) are part of the necessity of our staying afloat, but we don't want to have to go there for those reasons. We want to go there creatively, so we said (to Disney), 'Can you give us the timeline about when we release them? Because we'd like to release something we actually want to make, and we might not come up with it the year you want it.'"

The film's ending was revised after Pixar executives viewed Blackfish, a documentary film which focuses on dangers of keeping orca whales in captivity. Initially, some of the characters would end in a SeaWorld-like marine park, but the revision gave them the option to leave. On September 18, 2013, it was announced that the film would be pushed back to a June 17, 2016, release. Pixar's The Good Dinosaur was moved to the November 25, 2015 slot in order to allow more time for production of the film.

On March 17, 2016, Michael Sheen revealed that his character had been deleted from the film.

On April 13, 2016, the first 27 minutes of the film were shown at Cinemacon.

Release
Finding Dory was released in theaters on June 17, 2016, marking the 30th anniversary of Pixar.

Home media
Finding Dory was released on Blu-ray (2D and 3D) and DVD in the United States on November 15, 2016, with a digital release on October 25. The DVD release includes the short film, Piper.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on the same date as the film, and includes Sia's cover version of "Unforgettable".

International Release Dates

 * Argentina - June 16, 2016
 * Chile - June 16, 2016
 * Peru - June 16, 2016
 * Mexico - July 15, 2016
 * United States - June 17, 2016
 * France - June 22, 2016
 * The Netherlands - June 29, 2016
 * Brazil - June 30, 2016
 * Hong Kong - July 14, 2016
 * Japan - July 16, 2016
 * United Kingdom - July 29, 2016
 * Indonesia - June 16, 2016
 * Greece - September 1, 2016
 * Italy - September 14, 2016
 * Germany - September 29, 2016
 * China - June 16, 2016
 * Nordic Countries (except Denmark, Norway and Island) - August 26, 2016

Box office
Finding Dory has grossed $486.3 million in North America and $542.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.028 billion against a budget of $200 million. It had a worldwide opening of $185.7 million, which is the second biggest of all time for an animated film behind only, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($218.4 million), and an IMAX global opening of $6.4 million.

North America
In the United States and Canada, Finding Dory opened on June 17, 2016, alongside Central Intelligence, with projections having the film grossing $110–120 million  in its opening weekend, with some estimates going as high as $130 million. It received the widest release for a Pixar film (4,305 theaters, breaking Brave 's record), of which 3,200 venues were in 3D, along with 425 premium large format locales, approximately 100 IMAX theaters and a handful of Dolby Cinema sites. It was Fandango's top pre-selling animated film of all time, outselling the previous record-holder, Minions. The film grossed $9.2 million from Thursday night previews, a record for both Pixar and any animated film, and $54.9 million on its opening day, marking both the biggest opening day and single-day for an animated film. This also marks the first time that an animated film has grossed over $50 million in a single day. It went on to gross $135.1 million in its opening weekend, finishing first at the box office and setting the record for the highest opening weekend for an animated film (breaking Shrek the Third 's record) and the third biggest adjusted for inflation. It is also the second highest opening for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 's $135.6 million that is not a Marvel film or Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and is the studio's seventh-biggest debut overall. It also became the the fifth animated film and the fourth film of 2016 to open above $100 million. Moreover, its opening also marked the second biggest for the month of June, behind only Jurassic World. Its opening was 93.8% above Finding Nemo 's $70.2 million debut. It further broke the record for the biggest PLF and Cinemark XD opening for an animated film with $10.4 million and $2.6 million respectively. In IMAX, it made $5 million from 211 IMAX theaters, the third best animated IMAX opening, behind Zootopia ($5.2 million) and Toy Story 3 ($8.4 million).

Following its record breaking openings, it scored the biggest Pixar Monday by grossing $19.5 million, breaking Toy Story 3 's $15.6 million, and the best Monday in June for an animated film. However, among all animated films, it is second, behind only Shrek 2 which made $23.4 million on its first Monday. And also, the biggest Tuesday for an animated film with $23.1 million, besting Minions 's $16.8 million. It jumped 18.5% over its Monday gross, a rare achievement for a film. It crossed the $200 million mark in its first seven days, becoming the first (and fastest) animated film to pass the said milestone in just a week.

Outside North America
Outside North America, Finding Dory was released across 29 countries – which is 32% of its entire international release territories – the same weekend as its U.S. premiere. It made an estimated $50.7 million to take the No. 1 spot at the international box office. It had the biggest opening of all time for a Disney/Pixar film in Australia ($7.7 million), the Philippines ($2.1 million), Singapore ($1.3 million), India ($1 million), Indonesia, Peru and Central America and in Russia it opened with $3.19 million, and the second biggest in Argentina ($3.5 million), and that’s despite amidst the country's Copa America soccer match and Colombia ($2.1 million), behind Monsters University.

In China, where Pixar films have been struggling to find broad audiences and accrue lucrative revenues, the film was projected to make around $30 million in its opening weekend. The film ended up grossing $17.7 million – the highest Pixar opening in the country's history – debuting in second place, behind Warcraft.

Critical Response
Finding Dory received widespread critical acclaim from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 94%, based on 297 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. On Metacritic the film has a score of 77 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."

Trivia

 * Finding Nemo is Disney's 26th animated film to become a franchise, after Saludos Amigos, The Rescuers, Aladdin, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, The Lion King, Toy Story, Fantasia, The Little Mermaid, Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, Cinderella, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, Mulan, The Emperor's New Groove, Bambi, Brother Bear, The Fox and the Hound, Cars, and Monsters, Inc.
 * This is the second Pixar sequel/prequel to not have the same name as the original with a number after it, with the first one being Monsters University.
 * Finding Nemo is the fourth Pixar film to become a franchise, after Toy Story, Cars and Monsters, Inc.
 * This is the third Pixar movie to have a female protagonist, after Brave and Inside Out.
 * This is the third Pixar sequel/prequel to have the co-star from the first film become the protagonist, after Cars 2 (Mater) and Monsters University (Mike).
 * It is the sixth Pixar film with the PG rating. This is unlike the original Finding Nemo, which was rated G by the MPAA.
 * It is also the first PG-rated Pixar sequel, making it the first Pixar sequel not to be designated the same MPAA rating as its predecessor.
 * It received the basis of "'Mild thematic elements" because the rating system is more strict as of 2010.
 * The song that plays during the first trailer is called "Beyond the Sea", which has already been featured in the credits of Finding Nemo.
 * The song that plays during the second trailer is "Solsbury Hills" by Peter Gabriel.
 * Gabriel has previously interpreted "Down to Earth", which plays during the credits for WALL-E.
 * Ed O'Neill and Ty Burrell, who play Hank and Bailey respectively, are in the series Modern Family, as Jay Pritchett and Phil Dunphy, respectively.
 * This is the fifth Pixar film with the closing music of Disney and Pixar logos since A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Toy Story 3.
 * Dory is seen addressing Marlin by his name for the first time and also, she never gets Nemo's name wrong.
 * Hank and his penchant for escaping is based on the fact that octopuses are some of the smartest and most intelligent invertebrates around, and many octopuses in aquariums have a penchant for escaping from their pens or tanks. The latest example is Inky from the New Zealand Aquarium.
 * Gerald and his bucket could be a pun on the "a sea lion and his 'I has a BUKETTT!!!!' and then 'I has no BUKETT!!!'" meme that was popular several years ago.
 * In the scene where Marlin and Nemo are stuck in the tank with the other blue tang, one tang is wearing a tag that says "1995" and another wears one that says "2015" referencing Pixar's first movie Toy Story and its latest movie before Finding Dory, The Good Dinosaur.
 * The Tank Gang can be seen after the ending credits.
 * Dory believes everyone can squirt ink.
 * Almost every main character in this movie has some form of a disability: Nemo has an underdeveloped fin, Dory has short-term memory loss, Hank lost a tentacle, Destiny is near-sighted, and Bailey is unable to use echolocation(though he later learned how to use it).
 * Rudder and Fluke the sea lions are male characters, but in real life, the smaller, lighter sea lions are female while only the big, dark seal lions (bulls) are male.
 * Eugene Levy and Allison Janney previously co-starred in the 2006 DreamWorks film Over the Hedge.
 * Ty Burrell and Allison Janney previously co-starred in the 2014 DreamWorks film Mr. Peabody and Sherman.
 * This is the third of three Disney movies released in 2016 to feature the voice of Idris Elba. He first voiced Chief Bogo in Zootopia, and next voiced Shere Khan in the live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book.
 * This is the first film to have a major main character being recast from original to sequel due to age (in this case being Nemo).
 * This is the first Pixar film to be streaming on Netflix; all of the previous Pixar films (with the exception of A Bug's Life) were broadcast on STARZ.
 * This is the fourth Pixar film not to win an award for best animated film.
 * This is the first Pixar film to feature the full 2011 Disney opening logo as a closing logo.