After the wild critical and commercial success of 2003’s Finding Nemo, Disney and Pixar are at it again. Nemo director Andrew Stanton will be returning for the sequel Finding Dory and has recently announced some new cast members for the film. At Disney’s D23 Expo today, Stanton announced that the film will feature the voices of Eugene Levy (Over the Hedge, American Pie franchise), Ty Burrell (The Incredible Hulk, TV’s Modern Family) and Diane Keaton (Something’s Gotta Give, Morning Glory).
While Finding Nemo chronicled the story of the clown fish Marlin’s quest to find his lost son, Finding Dory will focus on his loopy travelling companion’s search for her own family. While Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres will reprise their roles as Marlin and Dory, Levy and Keaton will play Dory’s parents Charlie and Jenny, and Burrell will be the voice of a beluga whale named Bailey. Pixar veteran John Ratzenberger (Toy Story, Finding Nemo) will also have an undisclosed role in the film.
Aside from the obvious (the film will focus on Dory and the search for her family) not much has been disclosed about the film’s plot. We do know, however, [possible spoiler alert] that the ending has been tweaked due to the harsh documentary Blackfish, which sparked criticism of Sea World. The original version incorporated a marine park in some way, but in response to the documentary Pixar has rewritten that part of the film which now gives the fish the option to leave said park.
With the November 25, 2015 release date still in the distant future there is plenty of room for even more changes to be made to the film. It will be exciting to discover what new surprises Stanton and co-writer Victoria Strouse have in store.