“Finding Dory” reunites the friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish with her loved ones, and everyone learns a few things about the true meaning of family along the way. The all-new big-screen adventure dives into theaters in 2016, taking moviegoers back to the extraordinary underwater world from the original film.
About a year after the first film, Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) remembers part of her past so she, Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (Alexander Gould) travel to the coast of California to find it. Unfortunately, this means the Australian cast won’t return but the majority of the rest, including Crush and Squirt, do. All of this sounds like it was devised with EPCOT in mind. The theme park has a “Seas” area that includes a ride based on the first film and an interactive exhibit with Crush. Right next door to that area is “The Land” with “Soarin'” where you fly over California. The new film will tie both together and make them more viable. It also just happens to correspond with an upgrade to “Soarin'” including greater rider capacity.
The new film seems to be keeping the more serious, thoughtful tone of the first which is a good idea. “Toy Story”‘s two sequels were so successful because they kept the bittersweet feeling of the first whereas “Cars 2” was a spy film and under-performed at the box office because of it.
There has been renewed interest in marine life thanks to “A Dolphin Tale” and it’s sequel. However, there was also “Blackfish”, a documentary about the dangers of marine parks. The documentary caused rewrites on “Finding Dory” where portions of the story take place in a public aquarium setting. Will the new film go even further than “A Dolphin Tale 2” in discussing captive marine animals?
“Finding Dory” will be released June 17, 2016.
