BACKGROUND
2016 was a big year for The Walt Disney Company, in terms of their movies.
Disney Animation themselves released both Zootopia in March that year, and then Moana in November. Pixar’s Finding Dory, the long-awaited, but perhaps not requested, sequel for Finding Nemo was released in Summer 2016. Outside of that, Disney released other movies, like Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, their live-action The Jungle Book remake, and Lucasfilm’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
It was a busy time, but one that naturally benefitted Disney’s profits, and made them feel very confident in their movie-making abilities, although let’s not forget that by this point, Disney had purchased Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Pixar, so really, their success was mostly down to other studios and directors, not solely themselves. Just trying to lower their ego.
Anyway, Pixar had needed a boost after their late 2015 film The Good Dinosaur, especially as 2016 was the 30th anniversary of the studio. The Good Dinosaur didn’t feel much like a movie from Pixar, missing a lot of their warmth and generally just being too scary and strange. It flopped at the box office and critics were not kind to it, a rarity for Pixar.
There was also concern from audiences that perhaps Pixar were going a little overboard with their sequel-making, as Finding Dory became their fifth sequel or prequel. Disney was following a similar pattern, with Frozen II (2019) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) on the cards for them. Was this going to be an early sign of “sequel fatigue”?
Well, I’d say Pixar got a bit lucky because for the most part, audiences and critics enjoyed Finding Dory, despite the fact the story is largely the same as its predecessor, only that forgetful Dory gets to be the main attraction here, not the sidekick, and the location is moved from Australia to California. It may not have been a necessary film to make, but they just about got away with it.
I’m not saying that to be unkind because I’m one of few people that actually prefer Finding Dory to Finding Nemo. I’ve never been much of a nature person, not enjoying documentaries about that sort of thing, mostly because nature is cruel and makes me sad, so to have Finding Dory set in an aquarium made it more enjoyable for me, because I am familiar with that environment, whereas the ocean will always be a mystery.
PLOT
Finding Dory begins with young Dory, who I call baby Dory, learning how to talk to people about her short-term memory loss, with help from her parents. They seem to be getting her to practise playing hide and seek, however, Dory being Dory is told to count and forgets what she’s doing part-way through her counting. She sees a group of young fish playing nearby and swims out to them, but her parents tell her not to go over there because of the undertow:
A little while later, we see baby Dory is lost in the ocean, trying to ask other fish to help her find her parents. Most of them just ignore her, or claim not to be able to help her, but two kelp bass fish, Stan and Inez, do stop to talk to Dory. However, they are confused when she keeps restarting the conversation. Stan and Inez go to talk alone about how best to deal with the lost little fish, but by the time they turn back, Dory has gone…
Over the years, Dory continues to swim through the ocean alone, asking for help. As time goes on, she starts to forget exactly why she’s looking for help. At one point she sees a boat overhead, and then hits straight into Marlin, recreating a scene from Finding Nemo. Dory tells Marlin she knows where the boat went and tells him to follow her.
One year later, Dory is living next door to Marlin and Nemo. One night, she starts to remember something about her past, but she can’t quite figure out what. The next morning, Marlin and Dory swim Nemo to school, where Marlin continues to talk about his mission to rescue Nemo from the dentist, overexaggerating parts of the story, such as claiming he took on four sharks, when actually, he only met three. At the school grounds, Mr. Ray, Nemo’s teacher, arrives to take the class on a field trip to see the ray migration. Dory is looking forward to going along too, but Marlin is told by Mr. Ray that he’s going to have too many other fish to think about today, and having Dory along would be too much. Marlin tries to explain this to Dory; however, she misunderstands and says she’ll be Mr. Ray’s teaching assistant for the day to help out. It’s not worth the fight, so she sticks around.
Before heading off, Mr. Ray explains that the stingrays are heading home and that is why they migrate. Some of the kids ask Dory where her home is, which makes Dory question where she does come from, and where her parents are… before instantly forgetting what they were even talking about! But it’s time to go to see this migration.
At the stingray migration, Mr. Ray warns the kids not to get too close to the undertow, or they might be swept away from the group. This triggers something in Dory’s memory so when the rays come by – singing, of course – Dory becomes distracted and swims too close to the undertow. She is later found by Nemo and Marlin on the sand, where Nemo hears her mumbling something about “the Jewel of Morro Bay”. Dory comes round and Nemo repeats what she just said. This triggers a flood of memories for Dory and she finally remembers her family! Dory desperately wants to get to California to find them. Marlin says that’s too far away and she should accept her life as it is now. Marlin eventually reconsiders after thinking of Dory’s help on their journey to find Nemo, and he knows who can help.
We then see Marlin, Nemo, and Dory with Crush and the other sea turtles riding another current. This time, the current is heading to California. Crush tells them to get ready as their exit is coming up and they leave the current at some dark and scary place, full of wrecked ships and storage containers. This is the Shipping Lanes and Dory claims it is vaguely familiar to her. Dory starts shouting for help, asking if anyone knows her parents, Jenny and Charlie. Marlin tells her to stop making so much noise. He was right to be concerned because Dory inadvertently wakes up a big, glowing squid, who chases them through the area. Eventually, the squid is trapped in a container, but it still has use of one of its tentacles and grabs Nemo, slowly bringing him up to its mouth. Marlin and Dory try to get him back, and the squid lets go of Nemo when the box falls. Nemo is quite shaken by this near-death experience, and Marlin tells Dory, who is also concerned, to go away and just forget about it, like she does best. Dory decides to go and get help, with some plastic becoming stuck to her. Dory hears a voice, the voice of Sigourney Weaver, who leads her to a cove. As Dory surfaces to figure out where she is, Marlin and Nemo pop up too, just in time to see Dory being plucked out of the ocean and taken away in a boat.
It turns out Dory has been placed in the quarantine unit of the Marine Life Institute. She has been tagged on her fin. Here, Dory meets octopus Hank, although she quickly works out he only has seven tentacles, so is actually a “septopus”. Hank tells Dory where she is and explains that her tag means she is going to Cleveland Aquarium. Dory asks if he can help her find her parents in this institute. Hank says he will in exchange for her tag, since the institute is planning to release him into the ocean and he’d rather go and live in an aquarium alone for the rest of his life. Yeah, Hank’s a bit of a grumpy curmudgeon. Hank says he will take Dory to a map of the institute in a coffee pot, using his camouflaging and shape-shifting abilities to hide them from institute employees.
Meanwhile, Marlin and Nemo are trying to work out where Dory will be, with Marlin feeling especially guilty. They meet two sea lions sat on a rock and Nemo wants to ask them for help. Marlin fears these predators will pounce on them but these particular sea lions, Fluke and Rudder, are too lazy to do any pouncing. They tell Marlin and Nemo that the Marine Life Institute is a fish hospital and that Dory will be getting treated and then will be released back into the ocean. Marlin wants a way into the institute so Fluke and Rudder call for loon Becky – a loon being an actual type of bird. Marlin and Nemo watch confused as Fluke and Rudder make strange noises to call her…
At the map, Dory looks over it and tries to work out where to go. But Dory doesn’t know what to do, and Hank says she’s running out of time, because the employees are looking for the missing octopus, him. He takes Dory to a backstage area, where Dory sees a bucket labelled “Destiny”. Since Dory believes in destiny, she drops into this bucket, which is full of dead fish. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. At the tank, Dory and the other fish are poured in and Dory comes face-to-face with Destiny, a near-sighted whale shark, who hits into her tank’s walls all the time. Dory starts talking to Destiny, telling her she swims beautifully, and when Destiny thanks her “in whale”, Dory responds. This makes Destiny recognise that this fish is Dory. Destiny tells Dory that they used to speak through the pipes all the time as kids, dubbing themselves “pipe pals”. Dory realises Destiny must know which exhibit she is from and she sure does; Dory is from the Open Ocean exhibit. At that moment, Destiny’s neighbour, beluga whale Bailey, comes into the conversation. He’s in the institute for a head injury that he claims has damaged his echo location, where he can “see” his surroundings using echoes, but Destiny knows he’s fine. Bailey “attempts” to help, but it just won’t work. Destiny tells Dory she can easily get to Open Ocean through the pipes anyway, but Dory isn’t so good at remembering directions. Then, Hank arrives in the tank, demanding Dory’s tag. She says she needs more help first.
Back with Marlin, Nemo, and the sea lions, finally Becky has been called over. Fluke and Rudder tell Marlin he needs to look Becky in the eye and make a noise like “roo-roo” to get her attention. Then, she’ll take them straight to quarantine. Fluke and Rudder even convince fellow sea lion Gerald to give up his pale as a transportation device in exchange for a few seconds on Fluke and Rudder’s precious rock.
Dory devises a plan to get to Open Ocean without the pipes. Hank has commandeered a stroller and put Dory in a cup. Bailey looks over the top of his tank and waits for just the right moment. On his command, Destiny starts jumping in her tank to distract on-lookers. Dory and Hank get going, with Dory being tasked with following signs to Open Ocean. However, Dory gets distracted and they hit a small child on the way, knocking the cup with Dory over. The cup is returned to the stroller by a parent and Hank pretends to be a really ugly baby to avoid suspicion! But the kid dropped popcorn everywhere when she was hit and Becky the loon gets distracted this time, and leaves Marlin and Nemo in the pale on a tree branch while she eats. Marlin tries to get Becky’s attention again, but nothing works. Nemo tells him to just be patient, but Marlin pushes the pale closer to Becky, further down the branch. The branch snaps back and flings them into a gift shop tank.
Dory and Hank continue their journey, but Dory insists on following the sign to “The World’s Most Powerful Pair of Glasses”. Hank stops and demands Dory’s tag, telling her he’s done enough now. But Dory wants to remember more and tells Hank he’s being mean, despite octopuses – octopi? – having three hearts. As they argue, the stroller starts rolling down the hill with them inside and they crash into the Kid Zone, specifically the hands-on tank, where kids can grab at anything they want to grab at. Why would anyone think that was a good idea? Dory loses Hank in the tank and tries to find him. Hank is hiding and is absolutely terrified, since it would seem a child had something to do with him losing his tentacle. Dory tells Hank they should just keep swimming to get out. But to get out, they have to go through “Pokers’ Cove”. Just as they are about to leave, one kid pokes at Hank who freaks out and releases his defence mechanism: ink. Hank is embarrassed, but hey, it got all the gross children to go away! They also see they are right by Open Ocean.
In the gift shop, Marlin continues to try to get Becky’s attention, but she is too far away. Marlin and Nemo see her pick up the pale and fly to the roof of quarantine, proving that Nemo was right and they should’ve just waited. Nemo tells Marlin that this is just what he did to Dory; made her think she couldn’t do something she actually could. Marlin admits he was wrong to do that and says he could really do with her help right now. They start to think about what Dory would do to get out of this tank. Ahead of them, Marlin sees splash pad fountains. He tells Nemo they are going to jump out of the tank and use them to get across the park. They end up in a new pond, with a very loud, chatty clam. Now what?
At Open Ocean, Hank takes Dory in a cup to the roof of the exhibit. They say goodbye and Dory passes over her tag before being poured in. Dory swims in but can’t find help again. She starts to see shells in the sand and remembers that she was told by her parents to always follow the shells to find her way home. Dory does just that and she ends up at her home. However, the home is empty… Dory then remembers how she went missing. She heard her mother crying one night, concerned about how Dory was going to cope with her memory loss, and Dory decided to find a purple shell to cheer her up. But as she did, the undertow took her right into the pipes. Dory then hears two crabs ask how she got back to Open Ocean since all the blue tangs are meant to be in quarantine right now. Dory believes that must be where her parents are and asks how to get there. The crabs say to use the pipes, telling her it’s two lefts and a right to get to quarantine. Dory heads in.
Soon, she gets very lost and confused, as expected. Dory uses the pipes to contact Destiny, who convinces Bailey to use his echo location to locate her. They start to direct her but then “see” a big fish heading towards her. It’s too late; Dory heads right for this fish and Bailey and Destiny believe it has eaten her. But that’s not the case, because that big fish was just Marlin and Nemo; they’ve found her! Dory tells Destiny and Bailey she isn’t dead, to their relief, and the three fish all head to quarantine together.
In quarantine, they eventually locate the blue tangs, but as they attempt to jump there, they end up in a mop bucket. Luckily, Hank comes over to scoop them out and takes them to the blue tangs. Here, the blue tangs realise Dory is Jenny and Charlie’s daughter and have to give her the tragic news that they went to quarantine ages ago to find her and never returned. Dory is distraught, believing her parents must be dead. In the confusion, Dory is taken out of the tank by Hank just in time, but Marlin and Nemo are left in there. Suddenly, Hank is discovered by the workers and Dory is tipped down a drain. Once again, she is lost and alone in the ocean. Not knowing where to go, she sinks down to the sand, and then sees lines of shells in the sand. Following them, she comes to a house and two fish. Dory goes to ask for help, but the two fish rush up to hug her. It’s Dory’s parents! Dory apologises for forgetting them, but they say she didn’t forget them because she’s here, and they’ve been leaving shells for her in the hopes it would help bring her back to them. They went into the ocean to look for her, as they couldn’t find her in quarantine all that time ago.
Her parents ask what has happened over the years, which is when Dory remembers she hasn’t been alone all that time, because Marlin and Nemo were there for her, but now they need help. Dory and her parents go outside the institute and call to Destiny. They want help locating the van with the blue tangs heading to Cleveland. Bailey uses his echo location and tells Dory where it is. Bailey then convinces Destiny to jump out of her tank into the ocean to help Dory more. Destiny is concerned but Bailey reminds her there aren’t any walls in the ocean. They jump out and join Dory and her parents. Fluke and Rudder, the sea lions, also leave their rock to watch the commotion, with Gerald taking their place!
The truck is heading away at speed so Dory knows they need to stop traffic. Dory involves a group of otters, who Destiny catapults with her tail onto a nearby bridge. Dory is tossed up there too and caught by an otter. Dory tells the otters to cuddle and the cuteness overload causes a pile-up. The otters then approach the institute’s truck and open the door. Hank quickly puts Dory into the tank with Marlin and Nemo. The otters are chased away by the van drivers, so Marlin calls for Becky. Becky comes over but only takes Marlin and Nemo out of the tank, not Dory. She’s still in the van with Hank. Becky returns but is too late, and the doors close. Dory comes up with a new plan: Dory and Hank get out via the sunroof of the van, and Hank throws himself onto the windscreen, making the drivers leave their seats. Hank then takes over the steering wheel with Dory in a cup beside him. She directs him, badly, through traffic. Eventually, they come to a police road block and Dory knows they’ll have to fly over it, sending the truck into the ocean. Dory convinces Hank that the ocean is the right place for him, and he agrees to do this. All the fish tumble into the sea.
We then see Marlin, Nemo, and Dory have returned home, with their new friends Destiny, Bailey, and Hank, who is substituting as the teacher at Nemo’s school whilst Mr. Ray is away on his migration, along with Dory’s parents, Jenny and Charlie. As Nemo heads off for school, Dory says she’s going to the drop-off on her own. Concerned, Marlin follows her, only to see that Dory just wanted to take in the view. They sit together and watch.
In a post-credits scene, we also see that the “tank gang” from Finding Nemo, still in their plastic bags, have made it to California and the Marine Life Institute. As they work out their next move, they are picked up by institute staff and taken inside…
CHARACTERS & CAST
Unlike in Finding Nemo, Dory is no longer the funny sidekick in Finding Dory. She’s still funny, still has short-term memory loss, and still acts impulsively, but this time she gets to do more of it as the whole story revolves around her! Throughout Finding Dory, Dory is getting flashbacks of memories from her childhood, slowly allowing her to piece together who are parents are, where she is from, and how she ended up so far away. This leads Dory on an amazing journey to find her family, taking her all the way to California. After Dory becomes separated from Marlin and Nemo, she then relies on Hank to help her find her parents in the Marine Life Institute, and adds Destiny and Bailey to that support system because Dory being Dory needs some help remembering exactly what she’s doing from time to time! Dory goes through a whirlwind of emotions on this journey but Dory finds she’s more capable than she thought and she manages to bring everyone together again, just like in Finding Nemo.
Ellen DeGeneres returned to reprise her role as Dory. This time, Dory also had two other voice actors, to voice baby Dory and teenage Dory. Baby Dory was voiced by Sloane Murray, who is the daughter of Pixar producer Lindsey Collins. Collins produced Finding Dory and went on to produce Turning Red (2022) and Elio (2025) for the company. Teenage Dory was voiced by Lucia Geddes.
At the start of the film, Marlin is perfectly content with how everything has worked out for him. He’s back with his son Nemo and he’s found a new friend in Dory. Marlin doesn’t want to go on another epic journey like he did the year before, believing Dory should just be satisfied with how life is right now, like him. But Nemo guilts Marlin into going on this journey to help Dory because that’s what friends should do. Nemo has to be the voice of reason a lot of the time in this film, telling Marlin he shouldn’t have gotten annoyed at Dory for being concerned after the squid attack, and that he needs to be more patient with people, like Dory and Becky, instead of thinking they’re going to ruin things all the time. His “relationship” with Becky the loon is quite funny actually, because she seems to like him. Marlin must have a way of attracting strange women into his life! In the end, Marlin admits that he does appreciate Dory and her “Dory ways”, especially when she comes back to save him and Nemo from ending up in Cleveland.
Albert Brooks returned to voice the character of Marlin, however, the voice actor for Nemo changed. Because of the 13-year gap between Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, it was only expected that Alexander Gould, voice of Nemo in the original movie, would not be able to reprise his role for the sequel since his voice would have changed. Alexander Gould is given a small voice cameo as one of the workers in the institute’s truck, Passenger Carl, to make up for this. Hayden Rolence was cast as Nemo.
Then, we have a collection of new characters. Hank is a grumpy octopus, sorry, septopus, who has some unresolved trauma after the loss of one of his tentacles, which he seems to suggest had something to do with an incident with a child but it’s not clear how this happened. Like everyone, Hank finds Dory and her memory loss particularly irritating, just wanting to get her tag so he can go to Cleveland. Dory takes so long to find her parents that he can’t ever have thought he was going to get that tag, but she does and Hank is left to go on his merry way. However, when Dory comes back to quarantine, Hank knows he has to help her, finding that he does like her, even with her strange quirks. I think he was actually pleased to see her come back. After stealing the truck, Hank is convinced by Dory that he doesn’t actually want to be alone forever, and that he should live in the ocean with her and her friends. He decides that would be the best option for him.
Ed O’Neill was cast as Hank, having previously voiced the character Mr. Litwak in Wreck-It Ralph (2012) for Disney. He reprised this role in the sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). O’Neill is known for his roles in television series, such as starring as Al Bundy in Married…with Children (1987-97), and more recently, as Jay Pritchett in ABC’s Modern Family (2009-20). O’Neill is set to appear in All’s Fair (2025), a new legal drama series for Hulu, starring Kim Kardashian and Naomi Watts.
Destiny is a whale shark who was childhood friends with Dory, communicating through the institute’s pipes. She stills like Dory even after all the years. Dory and Destiny pick up right where they left off with Destiny being a huge help to Dory in finding her parents, knowing exactly what exhibit she is from. Destiny also overcomes her fear of the ocean, having been in captivity for most of her life, if not all of it. She then returns home with Dory and the others to start her new no-walls life.
Destiny was voiced by Kaitlin Olson, who rose to fame with her role as Deandra “Sweet Dee” Reynolds in the comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-present). Olson currently appears in the recurring role of DJ Vance in the series Hacks (2021-present), and stars as Morgan Gillory in the ABC drama series High Potential (2024-present) for ABC. In movies, Olson was cast as Tatiana in The Heat (2013), which was led by Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, and as Ms. Nielsen in Netflix’s Incoming (2024).
Destiny’s neighbour at the Marine Life Institute is beluga whale Bailey, who seems to be a hypochondriac as he had a head injury ages ago and became convinced his echo location was gone forever. Because of this, Destiny and Bailey have a bit of a contentious relationship, as Destiny thinks Bailey is just making a fuss and needs to get it together! She manages to convince him to try to use his echo location to get Dory through the pipes and much to Bailey’s surprise, it works. His echo location comes in quite handy in this movie. Bailey is also the one to encourage Destiny to jump out of their tanks together and leave the institute, so they both encourage each other.
Ty Burrell was cast as Bailey, and he is also known for his role in Modern Family, like Ed O’Neill. Burrell played Phil Dunphy on that show, winning Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2011 and 2014 for his role, as well as a Screen Actors’ Guild Award in 2013. Outside of that, Burrell also voiced the character of Peabody in the animated movie Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014), and was cast as Jean Pierre Napoleon, the French Interpol agent, in Muppets Most Wanted (2015).
For Charlie and Jenny, Dory’s parents, they spent much of Dory’s childhood trying to prepare her for life with short-term memory loss, which can be a struggle, as well as the fear that Dory may end up forgetting them because of it. After Dory goes missing, her parents search for her, but despite the length of time that has passed, they never lose hope that Dory may return to them, doing the smart thing and staying in one place instead of scouring the ocean for her. They leave out trails of shells like they used to when Dory was little, to help lead her home. They are ecstatic when Dory does come back to them and they return home with her, ensuring that they will never be separated from her again.
Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton voice Charlie and Jenny. Both have had incredible careers, so here are some highlights from their acting careers. In more recent years, Levy is known for being the co-creator and actor behind the character of Johnny Rose in Schitt’s Creek (2015-20), winning Emmy awards for Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Comedy Series in 2020. His son, Daniel, also co-created the series and played David Rose. Levy played a version of himself in Season 4 of Only Murders in the Building (2021-present), and currently hosts the travelogue series The Reluctant Traveler on AppleTV+ (2023-present). Other past roles Levy may be known for are his recurring role as Noah Levenstein in the American Pie film series, and as Dr. Walter Kornbluth in Splash (1984).
Diane Keaton’s earlier roles include playing Kay Adams-Corleone in The Godfather series, as well as starring in the title roll of Annie Hall (1977), for which she won the Academy Award, the BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. She also starred alongside Steve Martin as Nina Banks in Father of the Bride (1991) and Father of the Bride Part II (1995), which Eugene Levy also had small cameo roles in. She was later cast as Erica Barry opposite Jack Nicholson in the romantic comedy film Something’s Gotta Give, winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress. In more recent years, she played Diane in Book Club (2018) and its 2023 sequel, with Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen.
There is also Fluke and Rudder, the lazy sea lions who sit on a rock outside the institute all day, protecting this rock from odd sea lion Gerald. They are very protective of their rock, and only use it as leverage to Gerald’s pale being shooing him away. I wonder what Gerald ever did to them to make them react in this way? Gerald gets his own back though, because when Fluke and Rudder do decide to leave the rock to watch Dory’s plan with the truck in action, he takes over the rock – although I’m sure Fluke and Rudder were able to get it back from him!
Fluke was voiced by Idris Elba, who voiced characters for two other movies for Disney in 2016: Chief Bogo in Disney’s Zootopia, and Shere Khan for The Jungle Book live-action. Elba has continued to voice act, for example with his role as Knuckles in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. On television, Idris Elba appeared as Stringer Bell in The Wire (2002-08), and starred as DCI John Luther in the BBC series Luther (2010-19), for which he won a Critics’ Choice Television award, a Golden Globe award, and a SAG award. Elba also portrays Heimdall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Dominic West voiced Rudder. He had previously played Detective Jimmy McNulty in The Wire, and portrayed Fred West in the British TV movie Appropriate Adult (2011), winning a BAFTA for his role. He was cast as Noah in the series The Affair (2014-19), winning Satellite Awards for Best Actor in a TV Series – Drama in 2015 and 2016. West was also cast as Prince Charles in Seasons 5 and 6 of The Crown (2016-23) for Netflix, and currently plays Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke in SAS: Rogue Heroes (2022-present). Other recent roles include Dr. Chris Cox in comedy-drama series Brassic (2019-25) and Guy Dexter in Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) and The Grand Finale (2025).
Other characters who return in Finding Dory include Crush the sea turtle, who guides Marlin, Dory, and Nemo to California, still voiced by Andrew Stanton, director of both Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, and Mr. Ray, Nemo’s teacher, who takes them to the ray migration, also still voiced by Pixar story man Bob Peterson. Another Pixar employee to voice a character here is Torbin Xan Bullock, an editor for Pixar, who voiced Gerald.
There are many cameo roles in Finding Dory too. One is Sigourney Weaver who provides the voice of the public messages at the Marine Life Institute, such as the aim of the institute to “rescue, rehabilitate, and release” creatures to the ocean. Weaver won Golden Globes for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her role as Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist (1988), and for Best Supporting Actress as Katharine Parker in Working Girl (1988). Weaver is also known for playing Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise, as well as Dr. Grace Augustine in the Avatar films, and even Dr. Rebecca Gorin in the Ghostbusters movies. For Pixar, Weaver was the voice of Axiom in WALL-E (2008).
Then, we have Stan and Inez, the two kelp bass who try to help lost baby Dory at the start of the film. They were voiced by Bill Hader and Kate McKinnon, both former cast members of Saturday Night Live (1975-present). Hader was there from 2005 until 2013, and McKinnon from 2012 to 2022. Hader also voiced a few characters for Disney and Pixar movies, such as Fear for Inside Out (2015); J.P. Spamley in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018); and Featheringhamstan in Lightyear (2022). He voiced the main role of Flint Lockwood in Sony Pictures’ Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and its 2013 sequel; and Guy Gagné in DreamWorks’ Turbo (2013). McKinnon is no stranger to voice acting either, having voiced Stella and Eva in The Angry Birds Movie (2016). She was also the voice of Miss Frizzle in The Magic School Bus Rides Again (2017-21). Both actors have appeared in numerous comedy movies, such as Hader playing Dr. Aaron Conners in Trainwreck (2015) and George Custer in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009); and McKinnon for her roles as Weird Barbie in Barbie (2023) and Morgan Freeman – not the actor – in The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018), alongside Mila Kunis.
The whole “Tank Gang” from Finding Nemo also reprise their voice roles for a special post-credits scene in Finding Dory, where they are “rescued” by employees at the Marine Life Institute after being spotted in their plastic bags, now covered in algae. This includes Willem Dafoe as Gill; Brad Garrett as Bloat; Alison Janney as Peach; Austin Pendleton as Gurgle; Stephen Rott as Bubbles; and Vicki Lewis as Deb. The voice of Jacques the cleaner shrimp was replaced by Jerome Ranft, the brother of Jacques’ original voice actor Joe Ranft, and also an employee at Pixar.
Finally, John Ratzenberger, who voiced a character in every Pixar movie up until Onward (2020), including Hamm in Toy Story franchise, and returned as a voice cameo for the studio in Inside Out 2 (2024), voiced Bill the crab in the Open Ocean exhibit.
PRODUCTION
Given the 13-year gap between Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, it might be assumed that Pixar never intended to make a sequel to Finding Nemo, at least not initially. However, it has been reported that around 2005, Disney tasked Circle 7 Animation, a division of Walt Disney Feature Animation that only lasted from 2004 to 2006, with making a Finding Nemo 2. At the time, they’d also planned to make a Monsters, Inc. 2 and a different version of Toy Story 3, as a way of using Pixar properties. Allegedly, Finding Nemo 2 was meant to see Nemo and his long-lost twin brother go on a mission to rescue Marlin from an aquarium[1].
Luckily, once Pixar and Disney came to an agreement for Disney to acquire Pixar in 2006, this animation division was shut down and these ideas were scrapped, allowing Pixar to leave the decision of what happened with Finding Nemo in the capable hands of Pixar employees, namely the movie’s director Andrew Stanton.
Stanton has admitted that rarely does he watch the movies he’s made after their release, because during the development process, movies have to be screened and watched so many times to make sure they are on the right track.
But around 2010, Stanton had to watch the 3D version of Finding Nemo to sign it off for its release. Finding Nemo in 3D was available for a limited time at theatres during 2012, for Finding Nemo’s 10th anniversary. Whilst watching, Stanton started to wonder how easily Dory could get lost again, and he began to feel worried for this character, that she might forget about her new family with Marlin and Nemo because she’d seemingly already lost her actual family. All the backstory that had been given to Dory for Finding Nemo was that she had been swimming alone in the ocean for many years before she met Marlin, and that she was probably overly optimistic and positive because her memory loss problem had caused some to abandon her, meaning Dory puts on a façade to get fish to like her and stay with her. That’s a clear reason why she got upset whenever Marlin said he wanted to continue his journey to find Nemo without her. Now, Stanton was wondering where Dory was from, what happened to her parents, and just how much could her memory deal with.
Stanton began to discuss this idea privately with co-workers, not wanting to cause mayhem at the Pixar studios with talk of “Finding Nemo 2”. Once he’d thought it over more and had a story together, focusing on Dory’s emotional memory, instead of her memory of names, locations etc., Stanton pitched it to John Lasseter, then Chief Creative Officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Feature Animation, around early 2012. Lasseter was happy to greenlight this endeavour so Stanton hired a writer to work on the story further. I assume this writer was Victoria Strouse, credited as co-writer of Finding Dory’s screenplay. Strouse went on to co-write the movies Let It Snow (2019) and Family Switch (2023), both for Netflix[2].
Now that Finding Dory was happening, the story needed some work before locking that in and moving on to animation. This required many rewrites as well as numerous areas of research. It also required the team to push away the fear of making a sequel, which is deemed to be even harder than making an original movie because most of the characters are already there, and parameters have been set in terms of their characteristics and behaviours, so these cannot be changed. The team working on Finding Dory said they had to forget they were making a sequel and just try to make the best film they could[3].
The initial concept for Finding Dory was always going to be about Dory finding home, but how could they make that happen for a character who has short-term memory loss? This concept came from the fact that goldfish memory apparently only lasts around five seconds. Goldfish can’t “cure” their “memory loss”, so why should Dory? But not being able to remember your home is quite an obstacle to finding it, so there had to be a way of triggering Dory’s memories. In the final film, we see that Dory’s memory of her past is triggered by certain things, like seeing a shell, or hearing about an undertow. Nemo then manages to trigger a whole flood of memories when he mentions “the Jewel of Morro Bay, California”, the phrase Dory was mumbling when she was in shock from being swept away by the undertow at the ray migration[4]. This was going to be something Nemo heard while Dory was “sleep swimming”, with this sequence being completely finished and even used in the Finding Dory teaser trailer before being cut. The idea of a flood of memories is quite accurate to real-life because our memories can be recalled through something simple, like a smell or a song.
But how would Dory find her home? She’d have to cross the whole ocean to get there, and where would she even be going? In a deleted scene, an initial idea for this was that Dory would have a migratory instinct, where her fins would guide her home, this being something that Nemo had learnt about at school. Nemo and Marlin would’ve been right with Dory as she began her journey, simply following her fins. There was also a big-mouthed clam in this deleted scene who was meant to be Marlin’s nosy neighbourhood, who would tell Dory that her memory loss must be linked to some sort of childhood trauma. In the end, the character of the clam was added to the final movie, in the pond that Marlin and Nemo get into via the institute’s splash pad fountains, who just talks about himself and his sad love life! This clam was voiced by director of Finding Dory Andrew Stanton.
Another idea that appeared in an early scene that was later cut but appeared in the final film was the ray migration. Originally, Dory was meant to take Nemo to the ray migration alone, something Marlin isn’t sure about but feels guilted into agreeing to. He tells Dory to be hyperaware of her surroundings and if either she or Nemo gets separated, they should wait under a ledge. On the day of the migration, Nemo and Dory arrive together, but Dory gets distracted after seeing two blue fish who she thinks are her parents. She chases after them and then forgets what she was doing. She goes home with some other fish. Once home, Marlin asks where Nemo is and is furious to see Dory forgot about him. She couldn’t even remember taking him to the ray migration. Luckily, Nemo did as he was told and waited under a ledge until Marlin and Dory find him.
One of the more annoying character points that was quickly removed was that Dory’s parents were also going to have memory loss. This came from a line in Finding Nemo where Dory explains her short-term memory loss, saying it runs in her family, or at least, she thinks it does. This meant that Dory’s parents also forgot about her, so when Dory did eventually find home in a cut scene, she saw no-one there, and swum out to sea. Dory’s parents were told to use their fins to find their home via this homing instinct that was used in another deleted scene. They would eventually find home and Dory, with the parents apologising for not remembering her. However, it soon became clear that having three characters with memory loss was irritating, plus, having parents who can’t remember their child is not ideal! Because Dory only says she thinks memory loss runs in her family, this element of the story could be removed, simply accepting that Dory was wrong on this fact[5].
Something that Andrew Stanton had initially wanted to do with Finding Nemo was tell Marlin’s backstory about his life with Coral through the form of flashbacks, but this concept didn’t work and just made Marlin a difficult character to like. But for Finding Dory, Stanton got to experiment with flashbacks once more, for Dory’s backstory.
There were multiple different prologues that were made to open the story, revolving around Dory’s childhood. The first would’ve seen Marlin bumping into Dory as per their meeting in Finding Nemo, going all the way up to them meeting Bruce. Marlin would’ve then beaten him up and caused all the sea mines to explodes. Obviously, that never happened in the original movie and that is because this is Marlin’s parent presentation at Nemo’s school, talking about his journey to rescue Nemo. A kid asks about Dory’s family, confusing her and making her think. Marlin says Dory is part of their family and there’s no need for further questions. This led Nemo to become concerned that Dory might leave to find her family.
Another prologue showed young Dory getting lost and floating out to sea, before going to the scene from Finding Nemo of Marlin bumping into Dory whilst searching for the diver’s boat. There was also a third prologue that involved Dory’s parents’ memory loss, apparently something that affects all blue tangs. The three go on a walk together and repeat the same conversation over and over again, but when Dory chases after a fish, she gets lost. Dory kept swimming until she bumps into Marlin like in the first film. A fourth version was closer to the final film but gave away too much of Dory’s backstory, showing instantly how she got lost, i.e., by being sucked into the pipes by the undertow in her exhibit.
Finally, another set of deleted scenes was meant to include the “tank gang” from Finding Nemo, who were meant to help Marlin and Nemo get into the institute to save Dory via a series of complicated military-like plans, including riding on flying fish and loons[6].
Research in the real world was also helpful in cementing the story of Finding Dory. For example, Pixar spent a lot of time at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, south of San Francisco, and based their Marine Life Institute on the layout of this aquarium, as they’d explored public areas and backstage areas. The Marine Life Institute was decided to be the setting of Finding Dory based on clues given about Dory’s character in the first movie, like being able to read showing that she had to be somewhere near humans, and how she can speak whale, meaning she needed to be around whales at some point in her life. New characters were also added to match the location of coastal California, which is why there are otters and sea lions here[7]. Other places they went to include the Vancouver Aquarium and the Marine Mammal Center in California to get further information on what a place like the Marine Life Institute would look like.
It’s also been said that the documentary film Blackfish (2013), about orca whales in captivity and their behaviours, with a particular emphasis on SeaWorld’s duty of care, or lack thereof, to their orcas and personnel. Blackfish was a sensational documentary, containing many claims and questions that were quite damning, and was very popular on its release. The Pixar team watched Blackfish and John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton sat down to discuss it with Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite. It has been assumed that Pixar adjusted their Finding Dory story based on this documentary, suggesting that perhaps it was meant to be set in an aquatic theme park but was later changed to a rehabilitation centre, to avoid too many comparisons with parks like SeaWorld. It’s also been said that releasing the sea creatures back into the ocean was added in to the story based on this documentary[8]. Pixar hasn’t commented on exactly how Blackfish impacted Finding Dory, only saying that it was just one area of research that they undertook during the development process.
With a concrete story in place, work could begin on animating it. One thing to note is that all the work done on Finding Nemo is not simply stored in Pixar’s computers, ready to use again if needed. Everything had to be rebuilt and recreated again, however, the benefit of a 13-year gap between movies was that there had been many improvements to technology around imagery and rendering, such as Pixar adopting the new technology RIS, the next-generation of RenderMan, Pixar’s core system to render animation and visual effects. This helped deal with light in more sophisticated and accurate ways[9]. Since they knew they were going to use a replay of the scene of Dory and Marlin meeting in Finding Nemo as part of the opening sequence of Finding Dory, this was a good test to see how much could be changed from the original film[10].
There were also plenty of new sets to create as well as new characters. One of these new characters that particularly benefitted from new technology was Hank the septopus, although even then, making a flexible character on a computer was a challenge. Hank was the most complicated character that Pixar had ever made. Drawings of the character looked good but having to animated him on computer filled animators with a mixture of excitement and dread! It was exciting to see how he could camouflage and move around on land, solving the logistical problem of Dory making her way through the human world, but with all those tentacles and that squishy body, shapeshifting and changing colour, it took a while to figure him out. It apparently takes between six and nine months to create characters at Pixar, but it took over two years to work out Hank!
To research the character, Pixar workers went backstage at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to feed and interact with an octopus. They found that the suckers on their tentacles are incredibly strong, and that they like to escape in real-life, by using their tentacles to open hatches and lids, sometimes just creeping their tentacles up and over the lip of their tanks. The animators also looked to Kaa from Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967) as a reference point for animating Hank’s tentacles.
Randomly, Hank was meant to be addicted to hot sauce, and would drink it all over the park, but this became distracting, so was removed. No doubt that would’ve made the animation even harder as well! Another thing that was removed was Hank’s eighth tentacle, which helped with the animation, since they had one less tentacle to work with[11].
Pixar can’t have a movie without Easter eggs so naturally, these were included in Finding Dory. For example, A113, referencing the room at CalArts where some of Pixar’s animators studied, can be seen on Fluke and Rudder’s tags, with one saying “A1” and the other “13”. It is also on the licence plate of the institute’s truck, as “CAL A113”. The Pizza Planet truck can seen rusting away in the Shipping Lanes scene. In reference to Pixar’s next movie, a Lightning McQueen plaster can be seen on the hand of the truck driver; the Pixar movie to follow Finding Dory was Cars 3 (2017). In The Good Dinosaur (2015), the movie preceding Finding Dory, Hank was spotted in a pool of water that Arlo the dinosaur falls into.
Some other Easter eggs include the Marine Life Institute’s motorboat reading “1200 PA”, referring to the address of Pixar’s headquarters, 1200 Park Avenue. In quarantine, there is a pipe with “Seawater Supply TL59” written on to it. This is a nod to a similar pipe in the Disneyland attraction Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, which itself refers to 1959, the original opening date of Submarine Voyage, and Tomorrowland, its location.
MUSIC
The Finding Dory soundtrack consists of mostly instrumentals from another ocean-inspired score, composed by Thomas Newman. Newman composed the score for Finding Nemo (2003), as well as WALL-E (2008) and Elemental (2023), also for Pixar.
Within the score, there is a mixture of pieces that evoke the excitement of a long-awaited journey, as well as the perils and dangers of that journey. “Finding Dory (Main Title)” is a stand-out piece within the score, as it manages to capture some of Dory’s child-like spirit and joy, and uses abstract vocals to get the feel of marine noises travelling through the sea[12]. “Lost at Sea” also has similar elements to it, as it continues Dory’s journey through the sea as a child, desperately trying to remember her parents and where they are. Elements of “Main Title” appear again in “Quite a View” for when Dory and Marlin sit at the drop-off and just take in the view at the very end of the film. Some of the music that is used for scenes at the Marine Life Institute are quite calming, matching the feeling that we get at the aquarium, where everything seems slower and more relaxed as we watch fish swimming around in their tanks. This is felt during pieces like “Sigourney Weaver” and “Open Ocean”. I also like “…Shells”, which plays when Dory reunites with her family.
I like the calmer, more emotional pieces of music in any score, but others that have a sense of threat include ones like “Hands!” for when Dory and Hank get trapped in the Kid Zone, and “Okay with Crazy” as Dory and Hank hijack the institute’s truck.
There are only two songs credited in Finding Dory and only one of these features on the official soundtrack. This is the End Credits song “Unforgettable”, written by Irving Gordon and performed by Sia. It is a cover of the song which was previously recorded by Nat King Cole in 1951, and featured on his 1952 album of the same name. I don’t really understand why Pixar chose to use “Unforgettable” as their End Credits song, other than it is a clear reference to Dory’s memory, where she has memory loss, but did not forget her family. However, I find Sia’s version of this song quite haunting, as many of her songs, especially the slower ones, tend to be. Not that I have a problem with that normally; I like a lot of Sia’s music, but I don’t think her version of “Unforgettable” fits here. I was expecting a more upbeat, positive song to end the movie, like Finding Nemo’s “Beyond the Sea”.
The other song credited in Finding Dory is “What a Wonderful World”, written by Robert Thiele and George David Weiss, and performed by Louis Armstrong. This song was originally recorded in 1967. Here, the song is used to accompany the slow-motion sequence of the Marine Life Institute’s truck tumbling into the ocean, spilling all of the marine creatures back to their home. The song is naturally quite relaxing and calming, so it’s fun to see it combined with a scene that would actually be quite disturbing and shocking to see in person; I suppose that was the joke!
There is another small song that shouldn’t be forgotten and that is the rays’ migration song, “O, We’re Going Home”. It is sung by the group of rays as they pass by the field trip on their way home as part of their migration journey. It’s fun, it’s loud, and it lets us in on just why Mr. Ray sings so much! It is unclear who specifically performs this song, but the lyrics were written by Finding Dory screenwriters Andrew Stanton and Victoria Strouse, and Pixar story man Bob Peterson, voice of Mr. Ray.
Finding Dory’s soundtrack was not nominated for as many awards as the Finding Nemo soundtrack, not even at the Annies. However, it was nominated at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards for Best Original Score in an Animated Film, but it did not win; Alexandre Desplat’s work on The Secret Life of Pets (2016) did. Newman himself was nominated for Soundtrack Composer of the Year in 2016 at the World Soundtrack Awards, for his work on Spectre (2015), Bridge of Spies (2015), and Finding Dory, but lost out to Carter Burwell, for his music on movies like Hail, Caeser! (2016) and Carol (2015).
RECEPTION
At the 2015 D23 Expo Panel for Pixar, they spoke about The Good Dinosaur, which was to be released in November 2015, originally the release slot for Finding Dory, but both were pushed back. Finding Dory was obviously mentioned too, with Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane, co-director of Finding Dory, on stage to discuss it. Angus MacLane had worked at Pixar since 1997, working as an animator on some of their biggest movies like Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Finding Nemo (2003). He later directed the Toy Story spin-off Lightyear (2022), and was subsequently let go from Pixar in 2023 as part of a company restructuring. MacLane and Stanton introduced the voice actors on stage, Ellen DeGeneres, Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell, and Kaitlin Olson, and their characters were discussed, with some footage from Finding Dory being shown to attendees.
After a premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on 8th June 2016, Finding Dory was widely released in the US on 17th June 2016, making its way to other countries over the following months. Unlike Finding Nemo, Finding Dory was released in both IMAX and 3D at the time of its initial release. The new short Piper (2016), about a little sandpiper trying to balance eating with a fear of drowning, learning how to act like a hermit crab in the process, was released alongside Finding Dory. It is one of three shorts at the Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival attraction in Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Finding Nemo has made around $940 million at the box-office worldwide, over two releases. It was the most successful animated movie of all time until Toy Story 3 in 2010. How would Finding Dory do? Early signs were incredibly positive as Finding Dory raked in $136.2 million in its domestic opening weekend. The global opening for that weekend increased the figure to $186.2 million, and the movie had $200 million by the end of its first week, with many international markets, like the UK and Germany still waiting for the movie.
Finding Dory broke records for: the opening weekend for an animated movie; the largest single day for an animated movie; and the largest opening day for an animated movie. It also beat the domestic opening weekends of all previous Pixar movies, including Toy Story 3 with $110.3 million and 2015’s Inside Out with $90.4 million. It even beat Disney Animation’s recent hits of Zootopia (2016), with $75.06 million, and Frozen (2013) and its $67.39 million[13]. Finding Dory crossed the $1 billion mark on 9th October 2016, becoming only the second film in Pixar history, after Toy Story 3, to reach this figure. It settled at $1.029 billion. Finding Dory was only the fifth animated film to take $1 billion of box-office revenue, after Frozen (2013), Minions (2015), and Zootopia, and Toy Story 3[14]. It peaked at No. 4 on the list of highest-grossing animated films at the time.
With help from Finding Dory, as well as a whole list of other movies Disney released in 2016, including Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, and the remake of The Jungle Book, the studio crossed the $2 billion mark at the domestic box office on 16th July 2016. A week earlier, Disney surpassed the $5 billion mark globally, and crossed $3 billion in international grosses on 6th July 2016. In the second-half of 2016, they also released Pete’s Dragon, Doctor Strange, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Moana, so even more money was awaiting them by the end of the year[15].
Finding Dory was met with mostly positive reviews, who enjoyed the beautiful animation, and the new characters and voice cameos. Hank was considered to be a fun new sidekick, and many liked how the movie had deepened Dory, making her more of a sympathetic character with those adorably cute childhood scenes. It was funny, moving, charming, and warm, as we’d all expect from Pixar. It was considered to be a sequel that worked for the majority of viewers.
But you can’t please everyone, and this being a sequel meant it was always open to scrutiny and comparison. It is no secret that Finding Dory follows a similar story to that of Finding Nemo, and for some, that simply isn’t enough to warrant a sequel. That didn’t bother me with Finding Dory because I liked the new setting, but I can understand this opinion. Others said it was just not as good as Finding Nemo and was pretty unnecessary.
This sentiment could be seen as being reflected in awards season as Finding Dory did not receive as much acclaim as Finding Nemo did. For example, Finding Nemo won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film, and cleaned up at the Annie Awards. In comparison, Finding Dory was not even nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the Oscars, although Disney’s Zootopia and Moana were, with Zootopia winning. Piper, the short Pixar film that accompanied Finding Dory in theatres, did, however, win Best Animated Short Film here. At the Annie Awards, Finding Dory was nominated for Best Animated Feature but once again lost to Zootopia. It was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Character Animation, and Storyboarding, but lost to Jan Maas for Kubo and the Two Strings, and Dean Wellins for Zootopia, respectively. Piper once again won Best Animated Short Subject though. But, at the Saturn Awards, Finding Dory did win Best Animated Film.
Finding Dory won other awards, including Favorite Animated Movie at the 2017 Kids’ Choice Awards and Ellen DeGeneres won Favorite Voice for Dory. The ensemble cast won the #Squad award here. At the Teen Choice Awards, Finding Dory won Choice Movie: Summer, and Ellen DeGeneres won for Choice Movie Actress: Summer. The film also won Favorite Movie and Favorite Family Movie at the People’s Choice Awards. DeGeneres won for Favorite Animated Movie Voice once again. I guess this shows that Finding Dory was not considered the amazing animated feat that Finding Nemo was but that it was still popular.
LEGACY
After Finding Dory was released, a short movie called Marine Life Interviews was released exclusively on the Finding Dory Blu-Ray. It is similar to Aardman Animations Creature Comforts, where the animals are being interviewed, answering questions about their time with Dory. Outside of that, there have been some other short episodes of Disney+ series themed to Finding Dory. One is an episode of Pixar: In Real Life, released in 2019, where the scene of Hank and Dory using a stroller to get round the Marine Life Institute is recreated in real life. Another is a Pixar Popcorn episode, from 2021, where Dory finds different trinkets on the ocean floor; and a LEGO Pixar: BrickToons short, titled Field Trip from 2024, showing LEGO versions of the characters going on a school field trip to a shipwreck. There is also talk of a National Geographic series called The Real Finding Nemo, announced at the end of 2024. This will follow in the footsteps of the A Real Bug’s Life series.
The Disney Parks have been representing the characters of Finding Nemo ever since its release in 2003, in parades, shows, and attractions. So, some of these experiences already existed before Finding Dory was released in 2016, but others opened later, and there are some experiences that were revamped to include characters from Finding Dory.
For example, at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, The Living Seas pavilion at Epcot closed in August 2005, reopening as The Seas with Nemo & Friends alongside a new attraction and updated aquarium space in January 2007. Here, there is the interactive show Turtle Talk with Crush, which opened in 2004. It uses a mixture of digital puppetry, image projection, and improvisation by an actor in real-time to make guests feel like they are having a conversation with fan-favourite Finding Nemo character Crush the sea turtle. Children can even ask Crush questions. A version of Turtle Talk with Crush exists at Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland, opening in July 2005, and at Tokyo DisneySea in October 2009, which opened in October 2009. A similar show also exists at the Animator’s Palate restaurant on the Disney Cruise Line, and Walt Disney Imagineering even donated a Turtle Talk with Crush unit to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County in California in 2013. Ahead of Finding Dory’s June release date, characters like Dory, Destiny, Bailey, Hank, and Squirt were added to the shows at Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland[16]. Due to the live nature of this show, Turtle Talk with Crush will be different every time you watch.
At Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World, Finding Nemo – The Musical opened at the Theater in the Wild on 24th January 2007. Finding Nemo – The Musical was a roughly forty-minute show, featuring live actors and elaborate puppetry. Finding Nemo – The Musical closed in 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic closures. When it reopened in June 2022, the show reopened as Finding Nemo: The Big Blue…and Beyond! This show is now about 25 minutes long, and includes an opening sequence relating to the Marine Life Institute in Finding Dory, complete with Sigourney Weaver’s narration. Here, we see the Tank Gang from Finding Nemo getting ready to be released back into the ocean after a stay at the institute – they were picked up by institute workers at the end of Finding Dory – and them explaining how they got there, taking us back to the events of Finding Nemo. Some songs were cut from the original musical, including my favourite song, and more of the story was condensed. The ending of the musical sees the Tank Gang released from the institute and finding Nemo to see how he’s getting on at home. There is also a golden statue of Nemo and Dory at this park, as part of the Fab 50 Character Collection installed throughout Walt Disney World for the resort’s 50th anniversary in 2021.
There is also a Walt Disney World hotel that features suites and courtyards themed to Finding Nemo, alongside those themed to The Lion King (1994), Cars (2006), and The Little Mermaid (1989). This hotel is Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, which officially opened on 31st May 2012, becoming Walt Disney World’s 26th resort. The Finding Nemo suites opened first on 31st May with décor to match the movie’s settings and the main pool area of the resort is based on the film.
Speaking of hotels, at Disneyland, their newly renovated Pixar Place Hotel opened in January 2024, along with a new pool area, which is themed to Finding Nemo and Finding Dory and their characters. It consists of a splash pad area called Nemo’s Cove, and Crush’s Surfin’ Slide. Pixar Place Hotel itself is themed to Pixar and its movies, so you may find some Finding Nemo or Finding Dory artwork or Easter eggs when exploring the space.
Outside of that, Pixar Pier, which opened at Disney California Adventure in June 2018 as a retheme of Paradise Pier, has a few references to Finding Nemo and Finding Dory including a billboard featuring Gerald, Fluke, Rudder, the sea lions, and Dory. The Pixar Pal-A-Round Ferris wheel attraction here also has character-themed gondolas, with Dory and Nemo just two featured Pixar characters. At the Lamplight Lounge restaurant, you may also see some small references to the artwork of Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. Sadly, since the characters of these movies cannot walk around the park unlike other Pixar characters, they were not referenced much at Pixar Fest here in 2024, but they were included as projections for the Together Forever fireworks show during this festival.
At Disneyland, along with Turtle Talk with Crush, the biggest Finding Nemo addition to Disneyland was the reimagining of the Submarine Voyage ride at Tomorrowland in the original Disneyland Park. Submarine Voyage opened in 1959. Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opened in June 2007. Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage now follows the story of visitors helping Marlin and Dory find Nemo once again and characters from the movie are projected into the water scenes, similarly to The Seas with Nemo & Friends attraction, at points throughout the ride[17]. Dory and Nemo were also added to it’s a small world here.
Outside of the US, there are some other Finding Nemo and Finding Dory attractions and experiences. At Disneyland Paris, specifically at the Walt Disney Studios Park – soon to reopen in 2026 as Disney Adventure World – in the Worlds of Pixar area is Crush’s Coaster, a thrilling, spinning rollercoaster, taking you through moments from the film, including the sharks’ shipwreck and a ride through the EAC. It opened in June 2007. At Shanghai Disneyland, there is a play area called the Junior Explorers Camp at Adventure Isle with an area themed to Finding Nemo. Two other areas are themed to The Lion King and Up (2009). At Tomorrowland in Shanghai Disneyland, there is an interactive exhibit called Pixar Adventurous Journey, with exhibits themed to different Pixar movies. One is Finding Nemo.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, there used to be a Turtle Talk with Crush attraction, however, it was only open through the summer of 2008, and did not return. However, you can see Nemo, Dory, and Peach the starfish within the it’s a small world attraction there. At the Disney Explorers Lodge Hotel, there is also a children’s indoor play area themed to Finding Nemo called Nemo’s Recreation Reef. At Tokyo Disneyland, along with their version of Turtle Talk with Crush, a new attraction, Nemo & Friends SeaRider opened at Tokyo DisneySea in 2017, taking over the space previously used by StormRider. This ride is a simulator attraction and takes guests through the Marine Life Institute in a submarine, experiencing moments from the movie and new scenes. You can also see Nemo, Marlin, and Dory within the it’s a small world attraction.
For parades and shows at the Disney Parks, Finding Dory specifically has been used less frequently than Finding Nemo, although a clip of baby Dory with her parents was used in the revamped nighttime show for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Rivers of Light: We are One back in 2019. This show no longer exists. This same image is used for the Momentous nighttime show at Hong Kong Disneyland, which seems to still be running. Finding Nemo characters are still used in Disney Stars on Parade at Disneyland Paris, with a whole float featuring the characters of Finding Nemo, including Crush, Dory, Bloat, and of course, Nemo. Previous versions of World of Color at Disney California Adventure included clips from Finding Nemo, and Nemo even flew over Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle during the Disneyland Forever fireworks back in 2015 for the park’s 60th anniversary celebration.
On the Disney Cruise Line, there is the Nemo’s Reef water play area on the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream. On the Disney Wish, Disney Treasure, and Disney Destiny, “Go with the Flow”, from Finding Nemo – The Musical, is performed as part of the Disney Seas the Adventure musical stage show. You can even experience a version of Turtle Talk with Crush at Animator’s Palate on some ships.
Pieces of merchandise have been available over the years since Finding Dory’s release, including toys, clothing, and pins. Finding Dory has not yet reached a milestone anniversary, with its 10th anniversary being in 2026, so Finding Nemo merchandise is more frequently available.
As Pixar continue to announce upcoming sequels to popular properties, I’m sure many are expecting the announcement of a third Finding Nemo movie. Initially, director Andrew Stanton joked that he was too tired to think about making a third film, whereas Ellen DeGeneres said she would consider it if the story for a third movie was good enough. She thought it could be something about new character Hank the septopus. However, in 2024, DeGeneres was asked about whether she would do a third Finding Nemo movie and she categorically said she would not. Yet Pixar said around this time that there were some ideas for a third film. Many fans don’t think there is anywhere they can go with this franchise now, as Finding Dory was incredibly similar to Finding Nemo, and if Dory isn’t going to return with Ellen DeGeneres, they may as well not bother, in my opinion.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Back in 2016, after an amazing year for The Walt Disney Company and their movies, Pixar apparently made an announcement saying they would not be making any more sequels. Since Disney’s record-breaking year encompassed a variety of sequels alongside original movies, this announcement was a bit of a surprise, and is even more surprising to us now, because all anyone wants to make is sequels!
In this case, Pixar said they were misquoted, and simply meant that they had just done a couple of sequels and they had lots of original movies in the works. They reiterated that they only make sequels if the story is good enough and the studio want to do it[18].
Now, I don’t have a problem with the occasional sequel, and Finding Dory was a pretty great one for me, but sequels at Disney and Pixar are getting just a little bit silly now. They’ve actually only made four since Finding Dory, but with the difficult movie-going landscape right now, studios are taking comfort in sequels to bring in those audiences, so they can make some decent profit from these very expensive animated films.
It seems like 2016 was really the start of this sequel-making world we live in, and it has only increased after the COVID-19 pandemic and economic troubles caused many of us to rely on streaming services instead of movie theatres to watch new films.
Finding Dory might have seen Dory reconnect with her family, but it seems to have signalled a disconnect between studios, filmmakers, and their audiences. Sure, sequels make a lot of money if promoted well and have the backing of an audience already, but do too many, and you risk alienating the public.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: The Disney Classics, ‘Circle 7 Animation (Pixaren’t)’, TheDisneyClassics.com, 4th September 2021.
[2] Credit: Marina Draskovic, ‘Director Andrew Stanton Brings Dory Back’, D23.com, 17th June 2016.
[3] Credit: Zach Johnson, ‘The Making of Finding Dory: Why It Took 13 Years to Make the Finding Nemo sequel’, EOnline.com, 18th October 2016.
[4] Credit: Pixar, “What Were We Talking About?”, from Finding Dory (2016) UK Blu-Ray (2016).
[5] Credit: Matt Singer, ‘Andrew Stanton And Lindsey Collins On ‘Finding Dory’, Making Sequels, And What They Learned From Steve Jobs’, ScreenCrush.com, 14th June 2016.
[6] Credit: Pixar, Deleted Scenes (2016), Disney+.
[7] Credit: BFI, ‘Pixar directors reveal Finding Dory animation secrets’, BFI.org.uk, 19th July 2016.
[8] Credit: Amy Kaufman, ‘‘Blackfish’ gives Pixar second thoughts on ‘Finding Dory’ plot’, LATimes.com, 9th August 2013.
[9] Credit: Disney, ‘Technology Enhances “Finding Dory” Filmmaking Process’, TheWaltDisneyCompany.com, 21st June 2016.
[10] Credit: Matt Singer, ‘Andrew Stanton And Lindsey Collins On ‘Finding Dory’, Making Sequels, And What They Learned From Steve Jobs’, ScreenCrush.com, 14th June 2016.
[11] Credit: Pixar, “The Octopus That Nearly Broke Pixar”, from Finding Dory (2016) UK Blu-Ray (2016).
[12] Credit: Pixar, ‘Dory’s Theme I Finding Dory (2016) Bonus Feature’, Capivaronator YouTube Channel, 28th May 2024.
[13] Credit: Simon Thompson, ‘Why ‘Finding Dory’s Massive Box Office Makes A Third Film Inevitable’, Forbes.com, 23rd June 2016.
[14] Credit: T.J., ‘‘Finding Dory’ Crosses $1 Billion in Worldwide Box Office Revenue’, PixarPost.com, 10th October 2016.
[15] Credit: Disney, ‘Disney Hits 2016 Box Office Milestones in Record Time’, TheWaltDisneyCompany.com, 18th July 2016.
[16] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Turtle Talk with Crush’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.
[17] Credit: Pixar, ‘Reinventing the Submarine Voyage I Finding Nemo’, Special Features Archive YouTube Channel, 16th March 2025.
[18] Credit: BFI, ‘Pixar directors reveal Finding Dory animation secrets’, BFI.org.uk, 19th July 2016.
The Disney Purist 