''Finding Nemo'' is a

CGI animated Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images m ...

film series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. This article explains what film series are ...

and

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

media franchise that began with the 2003 film of the same name, produced by

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

and released by

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

. The original film was followed by a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

, ''

Finding Dory ''Finding Dory'' is a 2016 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton, produced by Lindsey Collins and written by Stanton and Vict ...

'', released in 2016. Both films were directed by

Andrew Stanton Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American filmmaker and voice actor based at Pixar, which he joined in 1990. His film work includes co-writing and co-directing Pixar's ''A Bug's Life'' (1998), directing '' Finding Nemo'' (2003) ...

. The film series received widespread critical acclaim from critics and audiences with two films released to-date, the series has grossed $1.9 billion worldwide.

Film series

''Finding Nemo'' (2003)

''Finding Nemo'' is the fifth

film. The film tells the story of a

clownfish Clownfish or anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. Thirty species of clownfish are recognized: one in the genus '' Premnas'', while the remaining are in the genus '' Amphiprion''. In the wild, t ...

named Nemo (voiced by

Alexander Gould Alexander Jerome Gould (born May 4, 1994) is an American actor. He is best known for voicing the title character of the Pixar animated film ''Finding Nemo''. He is also known for playing Shane Botwin on the Showtime drama series '' Weeds''. Pe ...

) who gets abducted from his home in the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and winds up in a dentist’s office aquarium. His over-protective father Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) who, along with an amnesiac regal tang named Dory (voiced by

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom ''Ellen'' from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for " The Puppy Episode". Sh ...

), searches for him all the way to Sydney Harbour. Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and let little Nemo take care of himself.

''Finding Dory'' (2016)

''Finding Dory'' is the seventeenth

film. The film focuses on the amnesiac character Dory, (voiced by

) who travels to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to find her long-lost parents, Jenny and Charlie, as well as exploring the idea of her being reunited with her family. It takes place one year after ''Finding Nemo'' and is set off the coast of

Morro Bay, California Morro Bay (''Morro'', Spanish for "Hill") is a seaside city in San Luis Obispo County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, the city population was 10,757 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,234 at the 2010 census. The town ...

Future films

Director

commented in June 2016 about the possibility of a third ''Finding Nemo'' film, stating:

Short films

''Exploring the Reef with Jean-Michel Cousteau'' (2003)

''Exploring the Reef'' is a short

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

. It features Jean-Michel Cousteau, exploring the

, but Marlin, Dory, and Nemo keep interrupting him. The short film is included on the ''Finding Nemo'' DVD.

''Marine Life Interviews'' (2016)

''Marine Life Interviews'' focuses on some of the supporting characters within ''

Dory A dory is a small, shallow-draft boat, about long. It is usually a lightweight boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. It is easy to build because of its simple lines. For centuries, the dory has been used as a traditional fishin ...

'' as they give brief interviews and thoughts on Dory herself. This is similar to the character interviews for '' Finding Nemo''.

''Dory Finding'' (2021)

''Dory Finding'' shows Dory finding items from the surface in the coral reef. This short is part of the ''Pixar Popcorn'' series on

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

Reception

Box office performance

''Finding Nemo'' is the second highest-grossing film of 2003, behind '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''. It was the highest-grossing Pixar film, up until 2010 when ''

Toy Story 3 ''Toy Story 3'' is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the third installment in the ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to '' Toy Story 2'' (1999). It wa ...

'' surpassed it. ''Finding Dory'' is the third-highest-grossing film of 2016, behind ''

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

'' and ''

Rogue One ''Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (or simply ''Rogue One'') is a 2016 American epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards. The screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy is from a story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta. It was produced by L ...

''. ''Finding Nemo'' is the 6th highest-grossing animated franchise and holds the third average box office gross per film among all animated franchises in box office history ($983.8million) .

Critical and public response

Accolades

Both films received universal acclaim, with the first film winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It was a financial blockbuster as it grossed over $921 million worldwide. It is the best-selling DVD of all time, with over 40 million copies sold as of 2006 and is the 2nd highest grossing G-rated movie of all time. In 2008, the American Film Institute named it the 10th greatest American Animated film ever made during their 10 Top 10. It also won the award for best Animated Film at the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards, the

National Board of Review Awards The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

, the

Online Film Critics Society Awards The Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) is an international professional association of online film journalists, historians and scholars who publish their work on the World Wide Web. The organization was founded in January 1997 by Harvey S. Karten ...

, and the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards.

Cast and characters

* Note: A grey cell indicates that the character didn't appear in the film.

Theme park attractions

* ''

Crush's Coaster Crush's Coaster is a spinning roller coaster at Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris. The attraction officially opened on June 9, 2007 as part of an expansion project in Toon Studio, an area within Walt Disney Studios Park formerly know ...

'' at

Walt Disney Studios Park Walt Disney Studios Park (French: ''Parc Walt Disney Studios'') is the second of two theme parks built at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France, which opened on 16 March 2002. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through i ...

Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, Seine-et-Marne, Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disney ...

. * ''

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is an attraction in the Tomorrowland area of Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. It opened on June 11, 2007. Based on the characters and settings of the 2003 Disney·Pixar film, ''Finding Nemo'', it is a re-them ...

'' at

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks (D ...

. * ''

Finding Nemo – The Musical ''Finding Nemo – The Musical'' is a live puppet and musical stage show based on Disney/Pixar's 2003 film ''Finding Nemo'', located at the Theater in the Wild in DinoLand U.S.A at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Flori ...

'' at

Disney's Animal Kingdom Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is a zoological theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division, it is the l ...

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

. * ''

The Seas with Nemo & Friends The Seas with Nemo & Friends (formerly The Living Seas) is a pavilion located in the World Nature section of Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. The pavilion is themed as an oceanic exploration base called ...

'' at

Epcot Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...

. * ''

Turtle Talk with Crush Turtle Talk with Crush is an interactive talk show type attraction that has appeared at several of the Disney theme parks. It first opened on November 16, 2004 at The Living Seas pavilion (later renamed The Seas with Nemo & Friends) at Epcot and ...

'' at

Disney California Adventure Disney California Adventure Park, commonly referred to as California Adventure or by its acronym DCA, is a theme park located at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Park ...

and

Tokyo DisneySea is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, just next to Tokyo. It opened on 4 September 2001, at a cost of 335 billion yen. The Oriental Land Company owns the park, and licenses intellectual prope ...

Tokyo Disney Resort The (local nickname ''TDR'') is a theme park and vacation resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, just east of Tokyo. The resort is fully owned and operated by The Oriental Land Company under a licence from The Walt Disney Company, who const ...

. * ''

Nemo & Friends SeaRider Nemo & Friends SeaRider is a simulator ride at Tokyo DisneySea at Tokyo Disney Resort. It is based on the Disney/Pixar film '' Finding Nemo'' and its sequel, ''Finding Dory ''Finding Dory'' is a 2016 American computer-animated comedy-dram ...

'' at

Other media

Video games

''Finding Nemo''

''Finding Nemo'' was released in 2003 by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...

. The goal in the game is to complete different levels under the roles of film protagonists Nemo, Marlin or Dory. It includes cutscenes from the movie and each clip is based on a level. For example, Marlin and Dory hopping through a batch of jellyfish. The game received mixed reviews. It received 2/5 stars on GameSpy, 6.2/10 points on

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

and

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave it 7.0/10 and 6.0/10 on its

PS2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia o ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

, and GameCube platforms, respectively.

''Disney Friends''

In 2007,

Disney Interactive Studios Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and interac ...

released ''Disney Friends''. It is a video game based on various

films. The game features characters Stitch from ''

Lilo & Stitch ''Lilo & Stitch'' is a 2002 American animated science fiction comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 42nd Disney animated feature film, it was written and directed by Chris Sande ...

'',

from ''Finding Nemo'',

Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character was the book ''Winn ...

from ''

Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...

'', and

Simba Simba is a fictional character and the protagonist of Disney's ''The Lion King'' franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film ''The Lion King'', Walt Disney Animation's 32nd animated feature, the character subsequently appears in '' The Lion King II: ...

from ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

''.

''Kinect: Disneyland Adventures''

''Kinect: Disneyland Adventures'' is a video game released in 2011 by Frontier Developments. The game is based in various

attractions. It was released on Kinect for

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

. Characters from ''Finding Nemo'' appear as part of a minigame based on

''Nemo's Reef''

''Nemo's Reef'' was a mobile game available from December 20, 2012 to June 30, 2017 by Disney Mobile. The game is a casual reef building which features characters from ''Finding Nemo''. It was released on Android and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

devices.

''Disney Infinity''

''Disney Infinity'' was a video game series developed by

Avalanche Software Avalanche Software is an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It was founded in October 1995 by four programmers formerly of Sculptured Software, including John ...

that ran from 2013 to 2016. Elements from ''Finding Nemo'' appeared throughout all three games in the series, with power discs based on the film released for

the first game ''The First Game'' is a painting by Arnold Friberg, and was commissioned in 1968 by Chevrolet Motor Division as one of four paintings to commemorate the then-upcoming centennial celebration of college football in the United States. It depicts ...

, and a playset based on ''Finding Dory'' along with Dory and Nemo figures released for the console versions of ''Disney Infinity 3.0'' in June 2016. The aforementioned playset and figures were the last new content released for the series, which was cancelled by Disney in May 2016.

''Rush: A Disney•Pixar Adventure''

''Kinect Rush: A Disney•Pixar Adventure'' is a video game developed by

Asobo Studio Asobo Studio SAS is a French video game developer based in Bordeaux and founded in 2002. The studio is most known for developing video game adaptations of several Pixar movies, ''A Plague Tale: Innocence'', and the 2020 version of ''Microsoft Fli ...

originally released in 2012 for Xbox 360. On October 31, 2017, a remastered release without the Kinect branding titled ''Rush: A Disney•Pixar Adventure'' was released for

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

10. The remastered version adds a world based on ''Finding Dory'' alongside the original release's worlds.

''Disney Magic Kingdoms''

During a limited time Event focused on the franchise, under the name "''Finding Marlin''", the world builder game ''Disney Magic Kingdoms'' included Nemo, Marlin, Dory, Crush, Squirt, Bruce and Hank as playable characters, along with the attractions

, and

The Seas with Nemo and Friends The Seas with Nemo & Friends (formerly The Living Seas) is a pavilion located in the World Nature section of Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. The pavilion is themed as an oceanic exploration base called ...

. Bailey and Destiny were also included as playable characters in a later update of the game. In the game the characters are involved in new storylines that serve as a continuation of the events in the films.

Stage musical

''Finding Nemo – The Musical'' is a 40-minute show (performed five times daily), which opened on January 24, 2007 at the Theater in the Wild at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. It is a musical adaption of the film with new songs written by Tony Award-winning Avenue Q composer

Robert Lopez Robert Lopez (born February 23, 1975) is an American songwriter for musicals, best known for co-creating ''The Book of Mormon'' and ''Avenue Q'', and for co-writing the songs featured in the Disney computer-animated films '' Frozen'', its seque ...

and his wife,

Kristen Anderson-Lopez Kristen Anderson-Lopez (born March 21, 1972) is an American songwriter and lyricist known for co-writing the songs for the 2013 computer-animated musical film '' Frozen'' and its 2019 sequel '' Frozen II'' with her husband Robert Lopez. The coup ...

. It would "combine puppets, dancers, acrobats and animated backdrops".

Magazine

In August 2016,

Egmont Publishing The Egmont Group (formerly The Gutenberghus Group) is a Danish media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise mass me ...

launched a magazine, titled ''Finding Dory''.

Music

''Finding Nemo'' is the soundtrack album of the film of the same name. ''Finding Dory'' is the soundtrack album of the film of the same name. The soundtracks were scored by

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including '' The Player'' (1992); '' The Sh ...

. The score was nominated for the

76th Academy Awards The 76th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2003 and took place on February 29, 2004, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 ...

for Best Original Score but lost against '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''. It received 5/5 stars from the Film Score Reviews and 3.5/5 stars from Soundtrack.net.

Crew

References

{{portal bar, Film, Animation, Disney, United States Finding Nemo Pixar franchises Film series introduced in 2003 Animated film series Recurring events established in 2003 Computer-animated films Children's film series