With the upcoming release of Finding Dory, the much-anticipated sequel to Disney Pixar’s Finding Nemo, I decided I should refresh my memory and watch the 2003 Oscar winner again this weekend. I’ve always loved this movie, but watching it 13 years later was a completely different experience. I was surprised at how many amazing life lessons there were scattered throughout the 90 minute animated film. Here are a few of my favorites:
“Fish are friends, not food.”
Remember the scene when Marlin and Dory meet Bruce, the great white shark? They immediately think he’s going to eat them. Turns out Bruce is the leader of the Fish-Friendly Sharks support group and becomes an ally. Moral of the story – don’t judge a book by its cover.
“Just keep swimming.”
Life is going to hand you lemons. You can either pout about it, or make lemonade. From a professional standpoint, if PR pros accepted “no thanks” as a final answer for every pitch we sent, our clients would never be in the news and we’d have no job. Persistence is key. Just keep swimming, and eventually you’ll get to your goal.
“Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.”
Nobody likes a greedy person (or in this case, seagull). Remember how annoying those squawking birds were every time they chanted “mine”? Same rule applies to people. Greediness is annoying.
“Yes, trust. It’s what friends do.”
If this doesn’t sum up friendship, I don’t know what does. There’s no way that Marlin would have made it to P. Sherman’s address at 42 Wallaby Lane in Sydney without Dory’s help. Though the path was sometimes dizzying, his trust in her – and her crazy antics – is what lead to him finding Nemo.
“We call it his lucky fin.”
One of my favorite scenes is when Nemo meets his other classmates for the first time. They immediately notice that one fin is smaller than the other, and Marlin’s reply is that it’s Nemo’s lucky fin. Instead of making fun of him, the classmates all call out their differences. The octopus admits she has a short tentacle, the seahorse is H2O intolerant and the angelfish declares that he’s obnoxious (A for honesty). The lesson? Everyone is different, and that’s more than OK.
