Editor in Chief

More details on The Good Dinosaur and Finding Dory

Finding Dory John Lasseter News The Good Dinosaur

After the rapturous reception Inside Out received at Cannes, John Lasseter was on hand to discuss Pixar’s upcoming films. This report comes via Variety, which also mentions new clips along with further details on the films. Lasseter also confirmed both Disney and Pixar’s commitment to diverse characters; more people of color and women. Inside Out takes place inside a young girl’s mind, and its two leading protagonists are female. Pixar’s other 2015 film The Good Dinosaur got an updated plot synopsis earlier this month, and Lasseter has more to share about it. good dino 4

The early clips from this movie played like a cross between “Tarzan” and “Lilo & Stitch.” The story centers on Arlo (Lucas Neff), an Apatosaurus, who after losing his father in a tragic accident, falls into a river, gets knocked out by a rock and finds himself in a land far away. As he makes the trek back home to the Clawed-Tooth Mountains, he befriends a human cave-boy named Spot.
“This is a boy and a dog story, but the roles are reversed,” Lassetersaid. “Arlo, the dinosaur, is the boy in the story and Spot is the dog” — meaning Arlo stands upright and speaks, while Spot travels on his hands and feet and grunts.
There will be a supporting cast of dinosaurs straight out of “Jurassic Park” (only friendlier). “We’re putting our own unique Pixar spin on the dinosaur world,” Lasseter said, as he showed images of a trio of T-Rexes, a Pterodactyl and a shaggy Velociraptor. “The feathers on the Veliraptor look like the haircuts of famous football players,” Lasseter joked.

For any dino connoisseurs out there, the feathered velociraptors should be a welcome addition since they did look like that!
Below is the story for Finding Dory. Finding Dory logo

Even though it’s been 12 years since the original “Finding Nemo,” the sequel takes place just six months later. Dory and Nemo re-team, this time on an adventure to find the title heroine’s family (Ellen DeGeneres, of course, returns as her voice). Dory’s parents, who Lasseter unveiled images of at the presentation, will be played by Diane Keaton (“Neither of us remember a thing?” she says, channeling an aquatic version of Annie Hall) and Eugene Levy.
Among the adventures in store this time: a dip through the Pacific Ocean where shipping containers have fallen off boats; a frightening encounter with a giant squid; wading past a kelp forest on California’s northern coastline; and new friends in the form of an octopus and a whale-shark named Destiny. “She thinks she’s a whale, but she’s actually a shark,” Lasseter said. But will it be better than “Cars 2?”

Lasseter didn’t have anything new to share about Toy Story 4 besides what we know already, but he did say that he’s excited to be back in the director’s chair.
What do you think of these new developments?

Last modified: May 20, 2015

Simoa (Elliefredricksen) is Editor in Chief of Upcoming Pixar and an aspiring Pixar heroine. She joined Upcoming Pixar in 2014 and is always excited to see how her favorite animation studio changes and grows.