176 Fun Facts About Finding Nemo

What do Nemo's classmates call the boat they dare each other to swim up to?

A butt: Tad has only heard the word 'boat' second-hand and mangles it, so when Nemo swims out and slaps the hull he whispers, 'He touched the butt.'

What does Dory think the old naval mines around the sharks' sunken submarine are?

Balloons: Dory decides the minefield means a party, and Bruce warns her to keep her distance because 'those balloons can be a bit dodgy'; they go off later and end his chase.

What condition does Dory famously suffer from?

Dory has short-term memory loss and forgets conversations within moments. Despite that she turns out to be able to read, which is how the address on the diver's mask gets deciphered.

What does Nigel call the seagulls when he snaps at them to shut up?

Nigel snaps 'You're rats with wings!' at the gulls clamouring for his crab, then throws it to them the moment he overhears another pelican mention Nemo.

What is the address Dory keeps repeating from the diver's mask?

The mask reads 'P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney'. Dory repeats it obsessively, and it is how Marlin learns where his son has been taken.

In Finding Nemo's opening, which predator knocks Marlin out and takes Coral and all but one of the eggs?

A barracuda attacks the anemone; Marlin is knocked out and wakes to find Coral and all but one damaged egg gone, the loss that drives his overprotectiveness.

Which Toy Story character appears as a toy on the floor of the dentist's waiting room?

Buzz Lightyear lies on the waiting-room floor when Nemo first looks out of the tank, beside a toy chest holding the plane from Toy Story 2 and the studio's Luxo ball.

Which Cheers actor voices the school of moonfish that performs impressions for Dory?

John Ratzenberger, Cliff in Cheers and Hamm in Toy Story, leads the school; the moonfish form a swordfish and a lobster, then mock Marlin with an impression of him.

Which Pixar film followed Finding Nemo into cinemas?

The Incredibles came next; a boy in the dentist's waiting room is already reading a Mr. Incredible comic in Finding Nemo, more than a year before that film opened.

What kind of shark is Anchor, the support-group member who cannot stand dolphins?

A hammerhead: Anchor tacks 'except stinkin' dolphins' onto the sharks' pledge, and Chum, the mako of the trio, agrees that they think they are so cute.

What nickname does Crush give Marlin when he wakes up on the turtle's shell?

Crush dubs Marlin 'Jellyman' in admiration, telling him 'You got serious thrill issues, dude', and the young turtles keep the name for the rest of the ride.

Who voices Marlin in Finding Nemo?

Albert Brooks voices Marlin. Another actor had already recorded most of the part before the director recast it with Brooks, a change he said 'saved' the film.

Which Fargo actor recorded most of Marlin's dialogue for Finding Nemo before being replaced?

William H. Macy was the first Marlin and had recorded most of the dialogue before the director decided the character needed a lighter touch and recast the part.

Which Oscar-nominated actor voices Gill, the scarred leader of the Tank Gang?

Willem Dafoe voices Gill, and came back 13 years later for Finding Dory's post-credits scene, in which the gang finally reach California still sealed in their bags.

What species of fish is Gill?

The Moorish idol feeds largely on sponges in the wild and is notoriously difficult to keep in captivity, a fitting species for a fish desperate to escape a tank.

Which Australian actor voices Nigel the pelican?

Geoffrey Rush, Best Actor winner for Shine, voices Nigel. The film leans on Australian talent throughout: Barry Humphries and Eric Bana voice two of the three sharks.

Which member of the Tank Gang is a pufferfish?

Bloat is voiced by Brad Garrett of Everybody Loves Raymond and presides over the tank's 'ring of fire' initiation.

What kind of creature is Jacques, the French-accented member of the Tank Gang?

Jacques is a cleaner shrimp, voiced by Pixar story artist Joe Ranft. Fittingly, in Finding Dory's post-credits scene he is the only Tank Gang member not coated in algae.

What is Peach, the Tank Gang member who watches the dentist through the glass?

Peach is a sea star who clings to the glass and reports on the dentist's patients. She is voiced by Allison Janney, then starring in The West Wing.

What is the name of the dentist's niece, feared by every fish in the tank?

Darla, the dentist's niece, is the tank's nightmare: her last pet fish died after she shook its bag too hard, and Nemo is meant to be her birthday present.

What is Gill's plan for getting the fish out of the dentist's office?

Clog the filter so it must be cleaned: once the tank is filthy the dentist will have to bag the fish, and they can roll out of the window, across the street and into the harbour.

What is the mock volcano at the centre of the tank called during Nemo's initiation?

The volcano is Mount Wannahockaloogie, a pun on hocking a loogie. Nemo must swim through its bubbling 'ring of fire' to be accepted into the Tank Gang.

What nickname does the Tank Gang give Nemo?

Shark Bait is the name Gill gives Nemo at his initiation, once he has faced the 'ring of fire'; the rest of the gang seal it with a chant of 'Shark Bait, ooh ha ha!'

Marlin and Dory wake up riding which ocean current with Crush and his turtles?

The East Australian Current carries them. It is a real current that flows south from the Coral Sea along Australia's east coast, which is why the turtles ride it toward Sydney.

How old does Crush the sea turtle say he is?

Crush says he is 150 'and still young'; Marlin later uses the figure to settle Nemo's question about how long sea turtles live, insisting 'He was a hundred and fifty, not one hundred!'

Which Monsters, Inc. character snorkels across the screen during Finding Nemo's end credits?

Mike Wazowski swims past in the credits, wearing the diving gear he put on in Monsters, Inc. to protect himself from the child Boo.

What is the name of Crush's son?

Squirt is Crush's son, the baby turtle who briefs Marlin and Dory on 'proper exiting technique' for leaving the current, in surfer slang Marlin cannot follow.

What kind of animal swallows Marlin and Dory near the end of their journey?

It is a blue whale, the largest animal ever to live; the pair are carried in its mouth all the way to Sydney Harbour.

What single word do the harbour seagulls shout?

'Mine!' is all the seagulls ever say; after chasing Nigel across the harbour the whole flock ends up beak-first in a boat's sail.

What does Dory name the baby jellyfish she tries to befriend?

Dory names the baby jellyfish Squishy and declares him 'my Squishy', only to be stung; soon the two fish are racing through a whole forest of jellyfish.

How does Nemo finally get out of the dentist's office?

Gill flips him into the sink drain: shot out of the tank by the volcano, he lands on the niece's head, then uses a dental tool as a catapult to send Nemo down the spit sink.

In the climax, what do Nemo and Marlin tell the netted fish to do to escape the trawler?

Nemo tells the fish to swim down together and Marlin relays the order; their combined pull snaps the net away from the trawler, freeing Dory with the rest of the catch.

Which question ends the mid-credits scene, as the Tank Gang bob in the harbour inside their bags?

'Now what?' is the punchline of the scene: the fish have finally made it out of the office and into the harbour, but each is still sealed in a plastic bag.

Finding Nemo was the first Pixar film to win which Academy Award?

The Best Animated Feature category had only existed for two years; Pixar's Monsters, Inc. had lost the inaugural award to Shrek.

Which record does Finding Nemo hold in home video?

Finding Nemo is the best-selling DVD of all time. Eight million discs and tapes went on the first day, so fast that Disney warned shops they could run out within the week.

Who composed the score for Finding Nemo?

Thomas Newman scored it and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score; he returned to write the music for Finding Dory in 2016.

Which singer covers 'Beyond the Sea' over Finding Nemo's end credits?

Robbie Williams sings 'Beyond the Sea' over the end credits; he had recorded the big-band standard for his 2001 swing album Swing When You're Winning.

Which Will & Grace actress was dropped from Finding Nemo for refusing to use her character's voice?

Megan Mullally was dismissed after refusing to use the squeaky voice of her Will & Grace character Karen Walker, which producers had assumed was her natural speaking voice.

A French author sued Disney claiming Finding Nemo copied his children's book about which character?

Pierrot the Clownfish was Franck Le Calvez's 2002 children's book; a Paris judge refused to pull Nemo merchandise, remarking that 'Nemo is red, Pierrot the clownfish is more orange'.

Finding Nemo is dedicated to Glenn McQueen, who was what at Pixar?

Glenn McQueen was a Pixar animator who had worked on every feature from Toy Story on; he died of melanoma in October 2002, and Cars later named Lightning McQueen in his honour.

In 2016, Finding Nemo became only the second film dubbed into which Indigenous American language?

The language was Navajo: the dub premiered in March 2016 after auditions held on the Navajo Nation, and Star Wars (2013) had been the first Hollywood film dubbed into it.

Who co-directed Finding Nemo with Andrew Stanton?

Lee Unkrich co-directed; he said Finding Nemo began production with a finished screenplay, which he called 'very unusual for an animated film'.

In real anemonefish, what happens to the breeding male when the dominant breeder of his anemone dies?

He becomes female: anemonefish are protandrous hermaphrodites, so in real life Marlin himself would have changed sex after losing Coral.

What was the name of the fish the dentist's niece was given the year before Nemo?

Chuckles was last year's present, a goldfish who died because she would not stop shaking his bag, which is why the tank gang call her a fish killer.

Which honour named Dory's voice actress Best Supporting Actress, ahead of live-action rivals such as Keira Knightley?

A Saturn Award: the fantasy film academy picked the voice of Dory over live-action nominees including Keira Knightley, making her the first actress to win one for voice acting.

In Finding Dory, what is unusual about Hank the octopus?

He has only seven arms, which makes him a 'septopus': Pixar's own character note says he lost a tentacle, 'along with his sense of humor', somewhere along the way.

Which actors voice Dory's parents, Jenny and Charlie, in Finding Dory?

Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy voice Jenny and Charlie, who stayed close to home for years after losing their daughter, in the hope that she would find her way back.

Where does Dory believe her parents live in Finding Dory?

The Jewel of Morro Bay, California is the phrase Dory suddenly remembers as her parents' home, and it sends her, Marlin and Nemo across the Pacific to the Marine Life Institute.

In Finding Dory, which animals hold a 'cuddle party' on a bridge to stop traffic?

Otters do the job: Dory asks them to cuddle on the bridge, the traffic stops, and with it the quarantine truck carrying Marlin and Nemo away.

Why was Nemo recast for Finding Dory?

Alexander Gould's voice had deepened: a child when he recorded Finding Nemo, he was an adult by the sequel, so Hayden Rolence took over while Gould voiced a minor character.

Which actress voices herself as the recorded voice of the Marine Life Institute in Finding Dory?

Sigourney Weaver plays herself as the recorded voice on the institute's loudspeakers, a running gag big enough that one cue on the score is simply titled 'Sigourney Weaver'.

Which patient is in the chair when Nigel crashes into the dentist's window?

The Australian Prime Minister is the patient: the pelican's crash into the window startles the dentist into yanking a tooth, and he jokes, 'good thing I pulled the right one, eh, Prime Minister?'

What is the name of the self-cleaning filter the dentist fits to the tank overnight?

The Aqua Scum 2003 scans the tank every five minutes and promises to 'extend the life of your aquarium fish'; the gang wake to spotless water and Gurgle's cry of 'Curse you, AquaScum!'

Which of Nemo's classmates announces 'I'm H2O-intolerant' before sneezing?

Sheldon the seahorse delivers the line, a gag about a sea creature who is allergic to water, and promptly sneezes.

Where did Disney open the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride in 2007?

The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opened at Disneyland Park in Anaheim in June 2007, reusing the lagoon and refitted subs of the original 1959 Submarine Voyage.

The sharks' pledge begins 'I am a nice shark' and renounces being a mindless what?

Eating machine: the three recite 'I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine' to open their meeting, and Bruce proudly reports three weeks since his last fish.

Who co-wrote Finding Nemo with Andrew Stanton?

Bob Peterson and David Reynolds share the screenplay credit with Stanton. Peterson came to it by an odd road: he trained as a mechanical engineer, drawing a comic strip for his student paper on the side.

What physical trait of Nemo does Marlin warn the teacher about?

Nemo has an undersized right fin, which Marlin calls his 'lucky fin'; he tells the teacher to let Nemo rest if he tires, to his son's embarrassment.

What is the 'drop-off' that Nemo's class visits?

Where the reef meets the open sea is the drop-off, and Nemo swims out to a speedboat there to prove his independence.

What sets Bruce off on his rampage at the shark meeting?

The smell of Dory's blood sets him off: the diver's mask hits her in the face and her nosebleed triggers Bruce's feeding frenzy, which ends with old naval mines detonating.

What does the dentist's niece wear on her teeth?

Braces, complete with headgear: her uncle greets her with 'let's see those pearly whites', and she bares them, roaring that she is a piranha.

Which Tank Gang member is a striped damselfish?

Deb thinks her reflection is her sister, Flo.

What species is Gurgle, the germ-fearing member of the Tank Gang?

Gurgle is a royal gramma, a purple-and-yellow basslet; he is the tank's germophobe, horrified when Nemo arrives from the ocean. Bubbles, the yellow tang, is obsessed with the treasure chest's bubbles.

How do Marlin and Dory read the address after losing the mask in an abyss?

They read it by the anglerfish's light: its glowing lure illuminates the mask in the dark abyss long enough for Dory to read the address, and Marlin then traps the predator in the mask strap.

Marlin's one joke, finally landed in the last scene, is about a mollusk and which other creature?

A sea cucumber: Marlin fumbles the joke for the other dads and again for the sharks, then finally tells it properly in the last scene, to roars of laughter.

How does news of Marlin's journey reach Nemo in the tank?

Nigel the pelican tells him: having heard the story from other birds, he relays Marlin's journey through the window, and the news gives Nemo the nerve to try the escape plan again.

How does the whale finally release Marlin and Dory?

The whale expels them through its blowhole into the harbour, after Dory persuades a terrified Marlin to trust it.

What is Nemo doing when Marlin finally sees him through the dentist's window?

Playing dead in his bag, Nemo hopes to be flushed to freedom, but Marlin takes the act for real and leaves believing his son has died.

Along with Dory, what kind of fish does the trawler net at the end?

Groupers fill the net alongside Dory, a whole school hauled up by the trawler until Nemo swims in to organise their escape.

What does Marlin tell Nemo as he drops him off at school at the end?

Marlin tells him 'Go have an adventure!', a full reversal from the clownfish who began the film terrified of the drop-off; Dory then turns up at the school, escorted by the sharks.

A 1992 family trip to which attraction convinced Stanton the undersea setting could be animated beautifully?

It was Marine World in Vallejo, California (later Six Flags Discovery Kingdom): the shark tube and other exhibits convinced Stanton the underwater world could be done beautifully in computer animation.

The idea for Marlin and Nemo came from a photograph of two clownfish doing what?

The photo showed two clownfish peeking out of an anemone; Stanton said he couldn't take his eyes off them and loved that they seemed to be playing peekaboo.

Stanton began writing Finding Nemo during post-production on which Pixar film?

A Bug's Life was still in post-production when Stanton started the script, which is why Finding Nemo could go into production with its screenplay already finished.

What did the Pixar artists do to study the coral reef?

The artists took scuba diving lessons to watch reef fish move in the wild, studied aquariums, and sat through in-house lectures from an ichthyologist so the fish would move believably.

Stanton originally planned to reveal Coral's death how?

In flashbacks was the first plan: Coral's fate would have emerged piece by piece, but it was moved to the opening scene, which now sets up Marlin's fear in the first minutes.

In a deleted scene, Gill claims to be from a place called what?

Gill claims to come from Bad Luck Bay, a tall tale; in the deleted scene Nemo catches the lie when a patient's storybook turns out to contain the same details.

What kind of outtakes did Marlin's voice actor record for Finding Nemo?

Telling very bad jokes: he liked the idea of a clownfish who is not funny and recorded outtakes of hopeless gags, the trait behind Marlin's fumbled mollusk joke.

Where did the idea for the tank initiation sequence come from?

A story conference while driving produced it: Stanton and a co-writer worked out the initiation in the car on their way to record the actors.

Dory was originally envisioned as what?

Dory was written as a male character until Stanton, with Ellen DeGeneres in mind for the voice, rewrote the part as a female fish.

What is the name of the pelican who swallows and chokes on Marlin and Dory?

Gerald is the pelican who scoops them up at dawn and chokes when Marlin lodges in his throat; in early drafts he had a far bigger part.

Where did the director record all of Crush's dialogue for Finding Nemo?

On an office sofa: he recorded the turtle's lines lying down in his co-director's office, having meant his voice only as a stand-in until test audiences loved it.

The voice of Crush's son belonged to the young son of which Pixar director?

Brad Bird's young son Nicholas got the part after his father played a tape of him around the studio and Stanton heard 'this generation's Thumper'.

Which Toy Story vehicle drives past in the street as Gill describes how the fish will escape?

The Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story rattles past as Gill pictures the fish rolling to the harbour in their bags, one of the film's hidden nods to earlier Pixar films.

Bruce the shark's name honours Bruce Ramer, who was whose lawyer?

Bruce Ramer was Steven Spielberg's lawyer; the Jaws crew nicknamed their malfunctioning animatronic shark 'Bruce' after him, and Pixar borrowed the name for its great white.

Bruce's line 'Here's Brucey!' references a famous line from which film?

It is The Shining (1980): Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance shouts 'Here's Johnny!' through a splintered door, and Bruce's 'Here's Brucey!' copies the moment as he breaks into the submarine.

The dentist's niece gets theme music from Bernard Herrmann's score for which Hitchcock film?

It is Psycho (1960): Bernard Herrmann's shrieking violins from the shower scene play whenever she appears, since to the fish in the tank she is a killer.

The seagulls were modelled on Feathers McGraw from which short film?

Feathers McGraw is the silent penguin villain of The Wrong Trousers (1993), the second Wallace & Gromit film, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

Which Fall Out Boy member sang 'Beyond the Sea' for Finding Nemo's 2016 Indigenous-language dub?

Patrick Stump, the band's lead singer, recorded the standard in the dub's own language for the end credits, in place of the English cover heard in the original release.

Which composer scored every Pixar feature before Finding Nemo?

Randy Newman had scored all four earlier Pixar features, from Toy Story to Monsters, Inc.; Finding Nemo broke the run by going to another composer.

Before his own film came out, Nemo appeared as a toy in which animated movie?

Monsters, Inc. hid the sneak peek: Boo hands Sulley a toy Nemo before he leaves her room, two years before Finding Nemo reached cinemas.

Which fast-food chain offered eight Finding Nemo toys with its kids' meals?

McDonald's put eight Finding Nemo toys in its Happy Meals under a decade-long partnership with Disney, which ended when the contract ran out three years later.

In Finding Nemo, what must each shark bring to the meeting for step 5 of their self-help programme?

A fish friend: that is why Bruce invites Marlin and Dory along, while Chum admits he has 'misplaced' his and is told to help himself to one of Bruce's.

The model number A113 on the diver's camera in Finding Nemo is a Pixar in-joke about what?

A CalArts classroom: A113 was the room where John Lasseter and other future Pixar animators studied, and they have hidden the number in almost every Pixar film since.

Finding Nemo was Pixar's first summer release; in which month had its four earlier features all opened?

November had launched all four of them; after Finding Nemo's summer run, every Pixar feature from 2006 to 2013 opened in May or June.

Finding Nemo opened in US theatres on the same day as which heist film?

The Italian Job, the remake with Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron, opened third that weekend with under a third of Finding Nemo's takings, yet went on to pass $100 million in the US.

Which short film played with Finding Nemo in theatres?

Knick Knack was 14 years old by then: Pixar remastered John Lasseter's 1989 tale of a snow-globe snowman who keeps trying to break out of his globe.

What three words does Nemo mutter at Marlin just before swimming out to the boat?

I hate you: Marlin has just told him in front of his class that he can't do things, and it is the last thing Nemo says to him before the divers appear.

As Dory bounces across the jellyfish, what does Marlin realise about them?

Their tops don't sting, so Marlin turns the way out into a game: whoever hops across the jellyfish fastest wins.

Where does Marlin suggest Nemo should play instead of joining the other children at school?

On the sponge beds, where the smallest babies bounce beside their mothers: 'That's where I would play,' Marlin insists, to Nemo's disgust.

Finding Nemo was the second-highest-grossing film of its year, behind which movie?

The Return of the King arrived that December and passed $1 billion worldwide; until then Finding Nemo had been the year's biggest hit, ahead of The Matrix Reloaded.

Which Jim Carrey comedy did Finding Nemo knock off the top of the US box office on its opening weekend?

Bruce Almighty had itself dethroned The Matrix Reloaded a week earlier, then slipped to second as Finding Nemo opened with about $70 million.

Which film took Finding Nemo's record for the biggest animated opening weekend a year later?

Shrek 2 opened to $108 million in May 2004 and did not stop at the opening record: by the end of that run it had also replaced Finding Nemo as the highest-grossing animated film yet released.

Which superhero film knocked Finding Nemo off the top of the US box office in its fourth weekend?

Hulk opened to $62 million that June, pushing Finding Nemo to second in its fourth weekend; Nemo had already lost the top spot once, to 2 Fast 2 Furious, and won it back.

Which animated film did Finding Nemo pass to become the top animated earner in North America?

The Lion King's first-run total fell to Finding Nemo after nine weeks, though an Imax reissue the year before had lifted the lion's overall tally just out of reach for a little longer.

Trying to part ways with Dory, what kind of fish does Marlin tell her she is?

One that causes delays: Marlin even invents a category for her, 'delay fish', and her tears are what bring a passing school of fish over to tell him off.

Which film first beat Finding Nemo as the top foreign animated film in Japan?

Frozen led Japan's box office for 16 straight weeks in 2014 and gained a sing-along version partway through, ending Finding Nemo's decade as the country's top foreign animated film.

Which film ended Finding Nemo's three-year run as Disney's highest-grossing release?

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest passed Finding Nemo's total within weeks of opening; Disney had shot it back to back with a third Pirates film, released the following year.

What does Pearl, Nemo's classmate, do by accident when the others startle her at the drop-off?

She inks: 'Aw, you guys made me ink,' complains the little octopus, after Tad yanks her back from the edge and announces that he saved her life.

In what form was Finding Nemo re-released in cinemas in 2012?

A 3D conversion: Disney announced 3D reissues of four of its animated hits, Finding Nemo among them, weeks after another film's 3D return became a box-office hit.

How do Mr. Ray's pupils travel when he takes them out to explore the reef?

Riding on his back: he arrives singing about the zones of the open sea, finds his class hiding beneath him and calls 'Climb aboard, explorers.'

What does Marlin answer each time Dory begins 'I'm thinking of something orange and small'?

It's me, he says twice in a row; after Dory's 'Mr. Smarty Pants' he answers a third time and guesses the next round before it starts, which she calls scary.

At the 2004 Oscars, Finding Nemo beat The Triplets of Belleville and which Disney film?

Brother Bear, a hand-drawn tale of a hunter turned into a bear, was the last film made at Disney's Florida studio, which shut within weeks of the ceremony.

Which film beat Finding Nemo for the Original Screenplay Oscar?

Lost in Translation won Sofia Coppola the Original Screenplay Oscar on a night when she lost Best Director, the first American woman nominated for it.

Which Disney classic topped the AFI's 2008 list of the ten greatest animated films, where Finding Nemo placed tenth?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the oldest film on the list and came first; Finding Nemo was the newest and came last.

The feared rush on pet clownfish after Pixar's reef adventure was nicknamed what?

It was dubbed 'the Nemo effect': reports of a rush on pet clownfish after the film, though a later Australian study found little evidence that sales actually jumped.

Which Australian state used Finding Nemo to promote itself to tourists?

Queensland's tourism body struck a deal with the film's distributor to use Nemo in its adverts, while a rival state's tourism officials never even asked.

When the dentist heads for the toilet in Finding Nemo, which magazine does Peach see him grab?

Reader's Digest: Peach, on lookout at the glass, reckons it buys the gang exactly 4.2 minutes, and Gill tells Nemo that is his cue.

Where did Turtle Talk with Crush first open in 2004?

Epcot got the show first, in late 2004: Crush is animated in real time and voiced live from backstage, so he can banter with children in the audience.

Crush's Coaster, a spinning roller coaster in the dark, opened in 2007 at the Disney resort near which city?

Paris: the ride opened in June 2007 at Disneyland Paris's second park, where guests climbed aboard turtle shells for a spin through scenes from the film.

Which duo wrote Finding Nemo – The Musical's songs?

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez wrote the songs when he was best known for the adult puppet musical Avenue Q, seven years before the couple's 'Let It Go'.

Which pop star covered Nat King Cole's 'Unforgettable' for Finding Dory?

Sia's cover was a knowing choice for a heroine who can't remember anything; the film's tagline promised 'an unforgettable journey she probably won't remember'.

The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage revived a ride that had sat closed since 1998 in which themed land?

Tomorrowland's Submarine Voyage opened in 1959 as a glimpse of the future; after it shut, its lagoon sat idle for nine years until Nemo's version reopened it.

The original Submarine Voyage, which the Finding Nemo ride replaced, was styled on which real submarine?

USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, crossed under the North Pole in 1958, and the ride that opened a year later re-enacted the trip beneath a fake ice cap.

What was Disney's Nemo aquarium pavilion in Florida called before its 2006 re-theme?

The Living Seas opened in 1986 as a sober showcase of ocean research around a 5.7-million-gallon tank; twenty years on, Disney handed it to Nemo and friends.

The main tank at Disney's Nemo aquarium in Florida was the world's largest until which aquarium opened in 2005?

Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta took the record with a tank of more than six million gallons, big enough to house whale sharks.

Which Finding Dory character is a nearsighted whale shark and Dory's childhood friend?

Destiny grew up next door to Dory, and ends the film breaking out of her own exhibit to help rescue her old friend's companions.

Which Modern Family star voices Bailey in Finding Dory?

Ty Burrell plays Bailey opposite Ed O'Neill's Hank, so Modern Family's Phil and his father-in-law Jay are reunited underwater.

Disney planned a Finding Nemo sequel without Pixar in 2005; what ended that plan a year later?

Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006 and shut Circle Seven, the studio it had set up to make Pixar sequels alone, before it released a single film.

Which Office Space actor voices Bubbles, the Tank Gang's bubble-obsessed fish?

Stephen Root, the stapler-hoarding Milton of Office Space, voices Bubbles and came back to the part 13 years later for Finding Dory.

What protects real clownfish from the stinging tentacles of the anemone they live in?

A coat of mucus does it: the slime seems to mimic the anemone's own, so the stinging cells never fire at the fish sheltering among them.

In Finding Dory, which ocean current do Marlin, Nemo and Dory ride with Crush's help?

The California Current is a real cold flow running south along North America's Pacific coast, the opposite number of the warm current Crush surfed in the first film.

What creature does Dory awaken in a sunken container ship?

A giant squid, woken by Dory in the wreck, chases them and nearly devours Nemo; Marlin's anger at Dory afterward is what sends her off alone to the Marine Life Institute.

Dory's tag marks her for transfer to an aquarium in which city?

Her tag marks her for the Cleveland aquarium; Hank wants it so he can be shipped there to a quiet tank instead of being released into the ocean.

What kind of animal is Bailey in Finding Dory?

Bailey is a beluga whale convinced that a bump on the head broke his echolocation, until he is talked into trying it and it works perfectly.

How was young Dory separated from her parents?

Pulled by an undertow into the pipes, young Dory was swept out to the open ocean, where she wandered for years before bumping into Marlin.

What is the name of the common loon who helps Marlin and Nemo in Finding Dory?

Becky flies Marlin and Nemo into the institute once the sea lions summon her and Marlin, to his own embarrassment, coos her call back at her.

What did Dory's parents lay down for years to guide her home?

They laid trails of shells radiating out from their home so Dory could follow one back; she finally follows a trail to a tire where they are waiting.

How does Finding Dory's climactic truck hijacking end?

They crash the truck into the sea: Dory talks Hank into hijacking it, and every fish that was being shipped away in the back swims free.

Which real aquarium was one of the models for the Marine Life Institute in Finding Dory?

Monterey Bay Aquarium shaped the institute's look after Pixar's research visits, and its own animals served as models for the film's characters.

Which 2013 documentary led Pixar to revise Finding Dory's ending?

After Blackfish (2013) exposed orca captivity at SeaWorld, Pixar reworked an ending in which characters ended up in a SeaWorld-like marine park, giving them the option to leave.

Which Pixar veteran co-directed Finding Dory with Andrew Stanton?

Angus MacLane was one of the first people Stanton told about the sequel; they brainstormed where Dory might go, and the touch-pool scene came out of those talks.

What advice about a dark trench do the moonfish give Dory as she and Marlin leave?

Swim through it, not over it: Dory forgets why, Marlin decides the trench looks like death and tricks her into going over the top, which proves far worse.

Which film took Finding Dory's original November 2015 release slot?

The Good Dinosaur took the November 25, 2015 date after its own delays, and Finding Dory moved to June 17, 2016.

Which short film accompanied Finding Dory in theatres?

Piper grew out of director Alan Barillaro's runs along the shore near Pixar, where he watched sandpipers flee each wave and dash back to feed; it won the Oscar for animated short.

Which Louis Armstrong song plays in slow motion over the chaotic climax of Finding Dory?

What a Wonderful World drifts serenely over the film's most destructive moment, and the gap between the gentle song and the mayhem is the whole joke.

In Finding Dory, Dory scolds grumpy Hank that he isn't very nice for a guy with three what?

Hearts: real octopuses have three, one to pump blood around the body and two to push it through the gills, a fact Dory throws at Hank in mid-argument.

Which actress voices Destiny in Finding Dory?

Kaitlin Olson, Dee in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, voices Destiny, who breaks out of her exhibit with Bailey at the climax to help Dory's rescue.

Which sitcom made Hank's voice actor Ed O'Neill famous as Al Bundy?

Married... with Children made Ed O'Neill a star as shoe salesman Al Bundy; by his own account he was well into recording Hank before he realised the part was a lead.

Which Finding Dory character does Idris Elba voice?

Fluke the sea lion lounges beside Rudder, voiced by Dominic West: the director paired the two stars of The Wire because, he said, he wanted to witness a reunion.

Which Pixar filmmaker voices Mr. Ray, Nemo's teacher?

Bob Peterson gives Mr. Ray his sing-song patter, and returned to the part in Finding Dory, where one of the teacher's field trips jolts loose Dory's first memory of her parents.

One of Nemo's classmates is a seahorse; among real seahorses, which parent carries the eggs until they hatch?

The father: a female seahorse places her eggs in the male's pouch and he carries them until he gives birth, a fitting classmate's dad in a film about a devoted father.

When Dory first explains her condition to Marlin, where does she say it comes from?

It runs in her family, she says, then trails off wondering where they are; thirteen years later that throwaway line became the whole plot of Finding Dory.

Begging Marlin not to leave, Dory says that when she looks at him she is what?

Home: Dory tells him nobody has ever stuck with her so long and that she remembers things better with him, yet Marlin, heartbroken, swims away regardless.

Which 2012 live-action film, Andrew Stanton's first, became one of Disney's costliest flops?

John Carter forced Disney into a $200 million writedown; Stanton went back to animation and to the reef, directing Finding Dory four years later.

Dory assures Marlin that whales don't eat clownfish; what does she say they eat?

Krill: at that very moment a swarm of them shoots past shouting 'Swim away!', and the whale's mouth closes around Marlin and Dory along with its lunch.

How does Dory make a stubborn crab reveal which way Marlin went?

She holds him up to the gulls: the crab has just bragged that nothing could make him talk, and one look at the hungry flock has him shouting that Marlin went to the fishing grounds.

What does Dory sing to cheer Marlin up after he loses the diver's mask?

Just keep swimming is what you do when life gets you down, Dory tells 'Mr. Grumpy Gills', and she sings it all the way down into the dark.

Besides reading human writing, what unusual language skill does Dory have?

Speaking whale sounds like more of Dory's nonsense to Marlin, who tells her she's insane, but the whale she calls to does deliver them to the harbour.

Which singer's swinging hit version made 'Beyond the Sea', heard over Finding Nemo's end credits, famous?

Bobby Darin broke through with the rock'n'roll novelty 'Splish Splash', then swerved into swing: 'Beyond the Sea' followed 'Mack the Knife' as his next big-band hit.

'Beyond the Sea' is the English version of which French song?

It is Charles Trenet's 'La Mer' (1946), an ode to the sea itself; Jack Lawrence's English lyric turned it into a love song about a lover waiting across the water.

The real regal blue tang, Dory's species, belongs to which fish family?

It is a surgeonfish (family Acanthuridae), named for the scalpel-like spines at the base of the tail, and the only member of the genus Paracanthurus.

Crush is a green sea turtle, a species named for the colour of its what?

Fat: green turtles are named for the greenish fat under the shell, not the shell itself, a colour long put down to their diet of seagrass and algae.

Real clownfish mostly feed on what?

Plankton drifting past the anemone makes up most of the diet, tiny copepods and algae snatched without straying far, plus whatever scraps the host leaves behind.

What record does the real Australian pelican, the pelican of Nigel's home waters, hold?

The Australian pelican has the longest bill of any living bird, close to half a metre; it is sensitive enough to find fish in murky water, and a hook at the tip probably helps grip them.

In real sea turtles like Crush, what decides whether an egg hatches male or female?

The temperature of the nest decides it: warmer sand hatches more females and cooler sand more males, which is why heating beaches worry turtle scientists.

In the film's final scene, what wrong name does Dory call Nemo as she waves him off to school?

Elmo: after an ocean crossing spent calling him Chico and Fabio, Dory fumbles the name once more at the school run and Marlin patiently corrects her.

Real jellyfish, like the swarm that stings Marlin and Dory, manage without which body part?

A brain: a jellyfish has only a loose net of nerves, no heart and no blood, yet its kind has drifted the seas for at least 500 million years.

The real Great Barrier Reef stretches for roughly how many kilometres?

About 2,300 km: the largest structure on Earth built by living things is the work of billions of tiny coral polyps, soft-bodied relatives of the jellyfish.

What does the name Nemo mean in Latin?

No one: Jules Verne gave the name to his submarine captain, an echo of Odysseus, who told the Cyclops that his name was Nobody.

After Chum grumbles that humans 'think they own everything', what does Anchor guess about the divers?

They're probably American, deadpans the Australian-voiced shark, a joke the film's American makers aimed squarely at their own home audience.

Captain Nemo, whose name Pixar's lost fish shares, appears in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and which other Verne novel?

The Mysterious Island unmasks Captain Nemo as the castaways' secret benefactor and finally tells his story: he was an Indian prince before he took to the sea.

Andrew Stanton cast Ellen DeGeneres as Dory after watching her do what on the sitcom Ellen?

Keep changing the subject: Stanton watched her do it five times before finishing one sentence and knew he had found his forgetful fish.

Besides visiting aquariums and hearing lectures from a fish scientist, where did Pixar's animators travel to study fish for Finding Nemo?

Hawaii gave them real reefs to watch; back at the studio, the in-house lectures grew into what one report called a virtual graduate course in oceanography.

Which everyday outing with his young son showed Andrew Stanton he was overprotective, seeding Finding Nemo?

A walk in the park became a missed father-son moment, and that lost opportunity became the emotional core of Marlin's story.

What makes Bruce burst into tears when Marlin describes his search for his son?

He never knew his father: the great white wails it out, the other two pile in for a hug, and they shout the same excuse for him when he later loses control.

Where did Gill land when his first escape attempt from the tank went wrong?

On the dentist's tools, he tells Nemo; asked how many times he has tried to get out since, he admits he has lost count.