But the action very quickly moves from the briny depths to a marine life rehabilitation center off the northern California coast. It’s real cute! PixarĪt the start, Finding Dory seems like a straight-up Finding Nemo reboot all signs point to a cross-ocean trek as led by the blue tang fish instead of the clownfish. A new underwater(ish) setting infuses Finding Dory with a new kind of life Destiny (Kaitlin Olson) reunites with Dory. It actually digs into Dory’s past to find out why this journey would be particularly important to her, which makes the movie resonate in a different - but no less poignant - way. It transports us to a new aquatic-adjacent setting outside the Great Barrier Reef - where much of Finding Nemo took place, as Marlin raced to find his son - to make Dory’s quest to find her parents more specifically her own.Īnd most importantly, Finding Dory doesn’t just throw its title character into old Finding Nemo plot points. It reminds us why we first fell in love with Nemo, his neurotic father Marlin ( Albert Brooks), their forgetful friend Dory ( Ellen DeGeneres), and the variety of endearingly weird creatures they encounter along their travels.

The best thing I can say about Finding Dory - written and co-directed by Finding Nemo writer Andrew Stanton - is that it spends the entirety of its 110-minute running time justifying its existence.

Instal the new Finding Dory