With director Andrew Stanton’s highly anticipated sequel to Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, arriving in theaters June 17th, last month Disney invited us – along with a number of other reporters - to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Northern California to get an early look at the film and talk with the people responsible for bringing Pixar’s latest creation to life. And after watching about fifteen minutes of the film, I’m extremely confident Stanton and his team have created a worthy follow-up to one of Pixar’s best films.

If you’ve yet to see the trailer, the sequel finds Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) setting out on an adventure to discover answers about her past. Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (newcomer Hayden Rolence) are back along with Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray and Stanton himself as Crush the super-chill sea turtle. New additions include Dory’s fish parents, Charlie and Jenny (voiced by Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton); a beluga whale named Bailey (Ty Burrell); a whale shark called Destiny (Kaitlin Olson); and the curmudgeonly octopus, Hank (Ed O’Neill).

Over the next two months I’ll be posting a lot of cool stuff from the press day but for now check out some behind-the-scenes images from the making of Finding Dory along with some concept art.

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Here’s the official synopsis for Finding Dory:

Disney•Pixar’s “Finding Dory” reunites everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang, Dory, with her friends Nemo and Marlin on a search for answers about her past. What can she remember? Who are her parents? And where did she learn to speak Whale? Directed by Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E”) and produced by Lindsey Collins (co-producer “WALL•E”), the film features the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton. “Finding Dory” swims into theaters June 17, 2016.

 

For more on Finding Dory, be sure to check out some of our recent coverage below:

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