- “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 its $200 million budget. It is the third highest-grossing film of 2016 (behind Captain America: Civil War and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), the highest-grossing animated film of 2016, the 41st highest-grossing film of all time (22nd at the time of its release) and the eighth highest-grossing animated film of all time (behind Frozen II, Frozen, Incredibles 2, Minions, Toy Story 4, Toy Story 3, and Despicable Me 3) fourth at the time of its release (behind Frozen, Minions, and Toy Story 3).
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, thus the events of Finding Nemo take place.
A year later, Dory now rests in a little cave next to Marlin's anemone and constantly sleep swims in the middle of the night, much to the dismay of Marlin. Then, 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 endangering Nemo and claims that "forgetting things" 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 traveling 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. Finally, 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 to pursue 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 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 makes 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 is younger, she follows the trail to see more 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 Rudder 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 that she can find them again even if she forgets.
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 truck's roof 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, Marlin, Nemo, and her parents head back to the reef, where they play a game of hide and seek, although Dory forgets what they were doing before she remembers and finds both pairs 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 joined 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 will swim off again, and follows her, stopping her to ask if it is a good idea. She tells him that she will enjoy the view, and he lets her go, although he follows her.
Dory and Marlin enjoy the view at the drop-off, 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."
The credits scene is a mini-prequel featuring clips of Hank set before the events of the film's main plot.
In a post-credits scene, the Tank Gang (from Finding Nemo), still trapped inside their (now covered in algae) plastic bags, reach California one year after floating across the Pacific Ocean, where they are picked up by staff members from the Marine Life Institute.
Cast[]
- Ellen DeGeneres as Dory
- Sloane Murray as baby Dory
- Lucia Geddes as young Dory
- Albert Brooks as Marlin
- Ed O'Neill as Hank
- Kaitlin Olson as Destiny
- Hayden Rolence as Nemo (Rolence replaces Alexander Gould from the first film)
- Ty Burrell as Bailey
- Diane Keaton as Jenny
- Eugene Levy as Charlie
- Idris Elba as Fluke
- Dominic West as Rudder
- Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray
- Andrew Stanton as Crush / Clam
- Bennett Dammann as Squirt
- Bill Hader as Stan
- Kate McKinnon as Stan's wife
- Torbin Xan Bullock as Gerald and Becky
- Sigourney Weaver as herself[2]
- 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 (Jerome replaces his late brother Joe Ranft's death from the first film)
- John Ratzenberger as Bill
- Angus MacLane as "Charlie Back and Forth"
- Alexander Gould as Passenger Carl and Tommy
- Katherine Ringgold as a chickenfish
- Aaron Fors, Bob Peterson, and Andrew Stanton as the Seagulls
Development[]
Early concept art from Finding Dory.
Ellen DeGeneres said in September 2003 that she is game to dive back in for the inevitable sequel. "Disney and Pixar have to make that deal right now," she says of Nemo 2, "but everybody is all for it." Reminded that Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz will pocket upwards of $5 million apiece for Shrek 2, DeGeneres jokes, "Then I'll make $12 million."
Directors Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich stated in an October 2003 interview to the British press that they were also not ruling out the possibility of making a sequel. "After Toy Story came out everybody said 'Is there going to be another one? We all said 'No way!' But you never know--maybe we will do Finding Nemo 2!"
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 Seven 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.
Music[]
- Main article: Finding Dory (soundtrack)
The score was composed by Thomas Newman. The soundtrack was released on the same date as the film, and includes Sia's cover version of "Unforgettable".[3]
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.[4]
Reception[]
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.[5]
Critical Response[]
Finding Dory received an approval rating of 94%, based on 297 reviews, on Rotten Tomatoes.[6] On Metacritic the film has a score of 77 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[7]
Possible sequel[]
Director Andrew Stanton commented in June 2016 about the possibility of a third Finding Nemo film, stating: "I really do feel like that this was the missing piece, emotionally, for the first movie. Now, I've stopped saying never for anything because there are a lot of new characters that get introduced and we've broadened the universe for this movie. And again, I'm very used to seeing that world continue to open up from the Toy Story movies, so I've learned to just say, to my knowledge, I think everything that was born of the first movie is wrapped up. But we'll see. With any of the other sequels, we strive to try and make it seem like it was inevitable, like it was meant to be, that all these extended stories and journeys with these characters were part of the whole canon. And that's really hard, but it's so satisfying for me when I'm experiencing that, whether it's a great second season of a TV show or another book in a series. It's a small club when it's done successfully. Regardless of how much people may vocalize that they don't enjoy or wish that there weren't extensions, sometimes it's really nice to go back and spend more time with these characters if they evolve, if they grow, if they expand. So that, I'm very happy with. I feel like it was just as hard, if not harder, on Finding Dory to get it to feel inevitable and preordained, and that it was always of the larger piece."[8]
In May 2024, Pixar CCO Pete Docter suggested that the studio is considering making a third installment in the Finding Nemo franchise. He stated "Where else have we not gone in the ocean? The ocean's a big place. I think there's a lot of opportunity there. We're kind of fishing around."
Videos[]
Trailers and clips[]
Interviews[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the second non-original Pixar film to not have the same name as the original with a number after it, with the first one being Monsters University (though, for the latter film's case, it's because it's a prequel).
- This is the only Pixar sequel in the 2010s to not be numerically labeled in its title (not counting Monsters University, as it is a prequel).
- 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 first Finding Nemo production to be set in America.
- This is the third non-original Pixar film to have the co-star from the original film become the protagonist, after Cars 2 (Mater) and Monsters University (Mike). It is later followed by Incredibles 2 (Elastigirl).
- 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.
- The second animated sequel to be rated PG by the MPAA, unlike the previous installments which were rated G, after Rugrats Go Wild.
- It received the basis of "'Mild thematic elements" because the rating system is more strict as of 2010.[9]
- 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.
- The scene where Dory and Marlin meet recounts the event from Finding Nemo where the divers captured Nemo and Marlin tries to chase after the boat, but it ends up gone and he tries to ask if anyone has seen the boat. But this time, it shows Dory's perspective where she actually did see the boat until she and Marlin bump into each other. (even the same music is played during the scene) This surprised a lot of fans.
- Hank and his penchant for escaping are 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.
- Albert Brooks would later voice a hawk named "Tiberius" in the 2016 Illumination animated film The Secret Life of Pets. Coincidentally, Finding Dory and The Secret Life of Pets were both released in the same year.
- Andrew Stanton has indicated that the film makes two references to Die Hard, in a nod to a video by Mashable, which jokingly posits that all Pixar films exist within the same universe as the Die Hard films.
- 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).
- Excluding international releases, 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 or get nominated for an Oscar award for Best Animated Feature.
- This is the first Pixar film to feature the full 2011 Disney opening logo as a closing logo.
- The third Disney animated sequel to be rated PG by the MPAA after Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch and Planes: Fire & Rescue.
- This was the most recent Pixar film to be produced in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio until 2021's Luca (which, however, switched to the traditional theatrical ratio of 1.85:1).
- This is the second Pixar film with recycled animation after Toy Story 2.
- This film celebrates Pixar's 30th anniversary.
- This fifth Pixar Animation Studios closing logo cuts it from black, after WALL-E, Up, Cars 2, and Brave.
- The song that was used in a trailer was "Take Me Home".
- The coffee pot Dory is placed in by Hank is a real life mug that Disney sells in their stores.
- The picture of the little girl from the first movie can be seen in the background after Dory is tagged.
- This is the only non-original Pixar film in the 2010s where John Ratzenberger did not voice the same role as with the original film. In this case, he did not reprised as the Moonfish from Finding Nemo for this film; instead, he voiced a crab named Bill.
- This is the third Pixar film to not have any specific main antagonist, after Finding Nemo and Inside Out, and is followed by Onward, Soul, and Elemental.
- Interestingly, this is also the only one among them so far to not be an original one, being the sequel to Finding Nemo.
References[]
- ↑ Disney Banks on 'Finding Dory' Swimming Past Soggy Openings of Recent Movie Sequels
- ↑ Disney plays first 27 minutes of Finding Dory at Cinemacon
- ↑ 'Finding Dory' Soundtrack Details
- ↑ "Pixar’s ‘Finding Dory’ Swims to Blu-ray November 15". Animation World Network (September 8, 2016). Retrieved on September 10, 2016.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBOM - ↑ "Finding Dory (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on July 30, 2016.
- ↑ "Finding Dory reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved on June 27, 2016.
- ↑ https://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/20/finding-dory-nemo-sequel
- ↑ http://filmratings.com/downloads/rating_rules.pdf
External links[]
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