Finding Dory

Finding Dory: What We Know So Far

Sequels. A few years back, Pixar found themselves heavily involved in the sequels game. Toy Story 2 wasn’t the exception anymore. Cars begat Cars 2. Monsters Inc.gave way to Monsters University. A third and fourth Toy Story became realities. And now, Finding Nemo is getting a sequel… or, at least, a spinoff. 

Pixar’s summer release in 2016 will take audiences back into the water with everyone’s favorite forgetful fish. Finding Dory will reach theaters 12 years (!!) after 2003’s Finding Nemo introduced us to a nervous clown fish, his suffocated son, and the amnesic blue tang fish that helped them on their rescue mission. But what has changed between now and then? A lot, both on the screen, and off. Let’s dive in to Pixar’s latest sequel with our What We Know So Far guide to Pixar’s Finding Dory. 

Ellen Degeneres

When Pixar decided to go ahead with a Dory-centric sequel, as opposed to following Nemo or Marlin, it became very important to bring Ellen DeGeneres back into the fold. The comedian and daytime talk show host signed on then dotted line way back in August 2012, which we hope means that she was given time to possibly contribute ideas, jokes, concepts… all sorts of things she could do to make her return to Pixar a bright and shining success. Of course, Ellen has her own talk-show empire to preside over. And she spent a lot of time preparing to host the Academy Awards. IN reality, it takes a LONG time to animate these features, so Pixar probably just locked Ellen up contractually, then had her come in from time to time and record dialogue as they went. 

Albert Brooks

You can’t really do a sequel without bringing back some familiar characters, andFinding Dory will have the blue tang fish’s running – er, swimming partner, Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks. This, also, is fantastic news. There’s a sense of "getting he band back together," and a Nemo continuation without Marlin would be lacking. It’s not exactly like doing a Toy Story film without Tom Hanks or Tim Allen… but it’s close. It’d be like if Larry The Cable Guy or Owen Wilson didn’t return for a Carsmovie. You’d notice that the voice was missing. However, from what we hear about the sequel, Marlin might not be around for the duration of the film. More on that in a minute. 

The Director

This is the best news I could possibly bring you regarding Finding Dory. When the sequel swims back into theaters, Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton will be at the helm. Why is this so important? Because Stanton is one of then original Pixar masterminds, a storytelling genius whose fingerprints are all over all of the early Pixar masterpieces. As a director, he helmed both Nemo and WALL-E, which I personally consider to be the studio’s finest film. Bringing him back suggests that the sequel will not be a lazy cash grab. And after Stanton left Pixar to explore live action (with John Carter), I feared he might not be back. The sequel’s in fantastic hands is Stanton is guiding the Finding Dory ship.