Stanton takes the lead, starting with how the movie came about and his thoughts on Finding Nemo after revisiting it several years ago. The movie Blu-ray features a commentary track with Stanton, co-director Angus MacLane, and producer Lindsey Collins. Unfortunately, there isn’t a nice long making-of documentary that takes a look at the film from start to finish, but you’ll get glimpses into the stages of the process by the time you’re done with everything in this set.
This release has a smattering of bonus features spread across two Blu-ray discs, along with a DVD copy of the movie and a code for those who are building libraries in the cloud. (Fun fact: They gave him seven arms because it lightened the animation tasks a little and they figured no one would notice. One of the bonus features also digs exclusively into the octopus voiced by Ed O’Neill, noting that the many points of articulation in his arms created a stressful workload for the animators. As Stanton notes a couple times in the bonus features, Finding Dory showcases computer-generated feats that simply weren’t possible over a decade ago, such as shots that show a container of water in front of a tank, with multiple refractions happening simultaneously. Sure, it’s another quest movie, but it strikes different emotional notes, and it gives us a wider view into its world.Īnd, yes, the animation is simply stunning.
The search for Dory’s parents was an obvious choice, but director Andrew Stanton, who helmed Finding Nemo, and the rest of the Pixar crew made sure they didn’t simply retread the same story beats and give us more of the same. When I heard Finding Dory was in the works, I was skeptical, and I went into the movie this past summer ready to declare it suffering from sequel-itis.īut something funny happened: Finding Dory works as well as the original. Sure, it introduced a world that’s much bigger than its main characters, so there was more to explore, but I was content. The Finding Nemo story was so perfectly told, and wrapped up so well, that I couldn’t imagine a sequel. Unsurprisingly, was chosen for an end-of-year movie night at my son’s elementary school a few months ago. Its themes revolving around parenting and knowing when to trust your child’s ability to do things on their own, despite any limitations they may have, spoke to me. I had a couple young children when Finding Nemo came out, so the film hit me between the eyes as a parent (and still does, since my wife and I had another child a few years later). This set, which includes two Blu-rays and a DVD, has a nice smattering of bonus features, although a solid making-of documentary is conspicuously missing. Pixar continues its string of great animated movies with Finding Dory, which successfully continues the Finding Nemo story in a way that doesn’t feel like a cash grab.