More importantly, the aquarium setting provides a lot of unique opportunities for the film, both in terms of plotting and wry humor. The scenes inside of the Jewel of Morro Bay certainly are not as visually resplendent as the deep blue world of the original, but it’s still stunning (as always, I’m looking forward to picking up The Art of Finding Dory). This seems like a huge risk given that the chance to explore the more beautifully-rendered wonders of the ocean is, failing all else, the “safety net” that would preclude Finding Dory from drawing comparisons to Cars 2.Īrguably, this risk paid off, as the setting is one of the big distinctions that separates Finding Dory from the original. It was thus surprising (and puzzling) when the vibrant open-ocean action was truncated to move the story forward to the tighter confines of the ‘Jewel of Morro Bay’ rescue, rehabilitation, and release facility (a fictional location set in real-life Morro Bay, CA and based upon real-life Monterrey Bay Aquarium–sidebar: contrary to some reports, I don’t think aquariums are presented in a negative light in Finding Dory). Based upon what we’ve heard about Finding Dory leading up to its release, it seemed the sequel would offer its own twist on that same formula. While there’s no formulaic “recipe” to Pixar’s success (if there were, every studio would’ve copied it by now), I think it’s safe to say that Finding Nemo was so popular because of its mesmerizing ‘big blue world’ and the way it took a fairly standard plot mechanism and gave it a ton of heart and humor. This spoiler-free review takes a look at whether Finding Dory lives up to the high bar set by Finding Nemo or if it’s a blatant cash grab that simply swaps title characters.

Finding Dory is Pixar’s latest film, a sequel that many of us (myself included) questioned as unnecessary when it was originally announced.

Finding Dory download the new version