After thirteen years, the much-anticipated Finding Dory has finally hit theaters and has already smashed box office records and viewers’ hearts with the help of some nostalgia from its beloved predecessor, Finding Nemo. The ties between the two reeled old Nemo fans back to the theater for more rescuing adventures, which Pixar anticipated and catered to. Here are five parallels between the original and the sequel that only the most avid Nemo fans will notice.
1. The Gerald’s
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Both films feature characters named Gerald who are seemingly supplemental characters but are actually instrumental to both rescue adventures. In Finding Nemo, Gerald is the hungry pelican who attempts to eat Marlin and Dory for breakfast and forces Nigel to come help him, ultimately uniting Marlin and Nigel for the first time so they can work together to find Nemo. The Gerald in Finding Dory, however, is a frazzled sea lion with a pail and a unibrow. Marlin and Nemo end up using Gerald’s pail as their chariot to fly to Dory’s rescue.
2. Marlin’s Insults
We really have Marlin to thank for both movies, since his not-so-nice words made him lose both Nemo and Dory. In Finding Nemo, upon finding Nemo and his new friends playing at the dropoff, Marlin yells at Nemo for being so reckless, saying that Nemo thinks he can do all these things that he actually can’t. Nemo, in a fit of childhood rebellion, then decides to go touch the nearby boat, perhaps to prove his father wrong, but is nevertheless captured by the scuba divers from Sydney, Australia. In Finding Dory, Marlin, Nemo and Dory are en route to Dory’s parents when one of Dory’s ideas causes Nemo to get hurt. Marlin begins yelling at Dory, blaming her for hurting Nemo and saying that she’s only good for forgetting everything. Dory, desperate to amend the problem, swims to the surface to look for help for Nemo but is instead captured by humans from the Marine Life Institute.
3. Losing the Rescuer
In both movies, the rescuing party manages to make a successful rescue only to get lost themselves. In Nemo, Marlin, Dory and Nemo are finally reunited in Sydney, with Nemo having popped out of a sewage pipe and Dory having led him to Marlin. Soon after, though, Dory gets caught in a fishing net along with a big school of fish, who all have to work together to not end up in the market. In Finding Dory, Marlin and Nemo temporarily reunited with Dory in the Marine Life Institute but were split again when Hank managed to save only Dory from being shipped off to Cleveland. Dory ends up having to save Marlin and Nemo from the shipping truck, leading to another wild rescue involving Hank driving the truck and a roadblock made of otters.
4. Dory Sleep Talking
Dory’s knack for sleep talking remains consistent through both films. In Finding Nemo, Marlin wakes after the shark party/almost-feast, only to find him and Dory face-planted in the diver’s mask hanging on the dangerously teetering sunken ship. In a panic, Marlin tries to wake Dory so they can escape but only manages to prompt more of Dory’s sleep-mutterings about sea monkeys having her money and being, why yes, a natural blue. Finding Dory opens with Dory sleep talking about her parents and her old home. Nemo wakes and overhears Dory, later helping her remember the location of her home, the Jewel of Morro Bay, California.
5. Running from the Light
On both journeys, Marlin finds himself fleeing light-up sea monsters. In Finding Nemo, he and Dory delve into the deep sea to look for the diver’s mask. At the bottom, they encounter a single ball of light in the darkness, which turns out to be not their squishy, but a giant angler fish that tries to eat them. In Dory, Marlin, Dory and Nemo are in unfamiliar territory where, despite Marlin’s bad feelings, Dory has another revelation about her past. Unfortunately, Dory’s excitement leads them straight to a giant squid, which ominously lights up before trying to eat them.
Finding Dory is now playing in theaters.
