We first met a familiar blue tang fish named Dory 13 years ago as she helped Marlin the Clownfish find his missing son, Nemo. On June 17th, Dory will journey to reunite with her mother and father in "Finding Nemo's" sequel, "Finding Dory."
Thankfully, a few characters from the prequel will return in the upcoming movie, including Dory, Marlin, Nemo, Mr. Ray, Crush, and Squirt. Most of the creatures that appeared in Finding Nemo will be voiced by the same people: Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, Albert Brooks as Marlin, Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, and Andrew Stanton (the director of both "Finding Nemo" and "Finding Dory") as Crush. However, both Nemo and Squirt will both be voiced by new voice cast members. Nemo, originally voiced by Alexander Gould, will be voiced by Hayden Rolence, and Squirt, originally voiced by Nicholas Bird, will be voiced by Bennett Dammann.
In the new movie, the forgetful Dory that we know and love suddenly recollects past memories with her mother and father and something having to do with the “jewel of Morro Bay, California.” Determined to reunite with her parents, Nemo and Marlin accompany their forgetful fish friend in her long journey.
Although it’s great to see familiar characters in the new movie, we meet some new memorable sea creatures throughout Dory’s quest. Destiny, a whale shark voiced by Kaitlin Olson, is Dory’s childhood friend. They reunite when Dory mistakenly falls into Destiny’s pool at the Marine Life Institute, where Destiny resides. Dory is delighted to discover that her old friend Destiny can speak whale, too. Bailey, a white beluga whale voiced by Ty Burrell, is another resident of the Marine Life Institute. He struggles with his biological sonar skills and believes that they have ceased working properly altogether. Hank, an octopus voiced by Ed O’Neill, also meets Dory at the Marine Life Institute and agrees to be her guide in the mission to find her parents. Hank is most likely the least friendly character, but agrees to help Dory in order to advance in his travels to a facility in Cleveland, where he plans to spend the rest of his life alone in peace. If you enjoy Burrell and O’Neill’s relationship in the hit TV show "Modern Family" as Phil Dumphey and Jay Pritchett, you’ll love their relationship as Bailey and Hank.
When Disney officially announced that there would be a sequel to "Finding Nemo," DeGeneres spoke about her satisfaction of a sequel on her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She said:
“I have waited for this day for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. I'm not mad it took this long. I know the people at Pixar were busy creating Toy Story 16. But the time they took was worth it. The script is fantastic. And it has everything I loved about the first one: It's got a lot of heart, it's really funny, and the best part is—it's got a lot more Dory.”
So make sure to “Just Keep Swimming” to theaters everywhere on June 17th.
