Is Marlin even Nemo’s real dad? Check it out by CLICKING HERE!

Finding Nemo is one of those fun, colorful, kid movies that adults also get to enjoy. Adult humor with bright colors that the kids will stare at long enough that parents can get a break? Ohhh, yes, instant classic for sure. The children can watch it over and over, and the parents applaud! Disney, we love you. We hope you know that. You got what we need – every time.

Anyway, so of course as you know, this movie’s awesome. And what happens when a movie is awesome?! We want to dive in further. We want to cherish those moments. We want to come up with cool theories to make it even more entertaining. And therefore, there are quite a few fan fiction theories based on this cool family flick. Is Squirt the same turtle Moana helps to get back to the ocean? Why does Dory’s family continue on without her? Is Nemo actually alive? And finally, is that really the Nemo Marlin thinks he is? Something’s fishy around here! *cue comic rim shot.*

So for starters, Squirt is the same turtle that Moana helps keep away from the seagulls. Think about what Crush says, “Leave ‘em on the beach to hatch and then coo coo kachoo, they find their way back to the big ol’ blue.” [Mov. 55:05-55:12] Of course the over-protective Marlin can’t believe it! But Crush is so relaxed about it and Squirt is such a good kid – could it be?

Could maybe this Crush guy have a point to this whole parenting thing that Marlin could learn from? Maybe being laid back has its benefits that Marlin could embrace. Anyway, back to the theory, how can we be sure that this turtle is the same as Squirt? Well first off, location. Did you know that the island of Motunui is set near the North Island of New Zealand in the South Pacific? Well, yeah that’s a thing. Also the EAC, East Australian Current – so excited to learn about this oh my gosh, tell the kids — is a real place!! And guess where it’s located? You guessed it – the South Pacific. So the EAC is the largest ocean current in this area and actually does transport turtles between habitats in the S.P. So it’s highly probable that Squirt was on Motunui struggling his newborn self back into the South Pacific Ocean, while the charming hero Moana helped shoo off seagulls so he can walk safely back on the island of Motunui.

Secondly, come on how adorably memorable is Squirt’s little face? And the Motunui turtle – just as adorable, only smaller, certainly they’re the same. And why is he smaller? Because he’s the same turtle, only younger of course! Last bit of proof: Disney does this sort of thing all the time. Rapunzel was arriving at Elsa’s Coronation, for example. Another example is how the Beast from Beauty and the Beast is in the Sultan’s tower of character trinkets right before Prince Ali storms in. Fun stuff right? We certainly think so! So if you didn’t know already, they’re called Easter eggs and they’re a Disney specialty! Maybe we’ll get more into that in another video, but for now, let’s get back to Finding Nemo. You rock, Disney!

Fun stuff, but sometimes life has some darker moments too. It’d only be fair for movies to do the same. Let’s talk about the accidentally unheroic family who loses their beloved daughter in the ocean. Dory has short term memory loss and probably sees something shiny and walks away without thinking much about it until after. Makes sense. However, what about her family? There’s no way they just let her be lost! How could they? Probably something came up and it wasn’t on purpose. It would suck to judge them unfairly, so, let’s think on it.

Okay so, most families don’t allow this kind of thing to happen. Therefore, what could have happened? What if they have short term memory loss too?! Maybe they forgot her just as quickly as she lost them. And then by the time they realized it, she was already far gone about to crash into Marlin and they really didn’t have a choice but to move on, or they forgot again. Short term memory loss is no joke. Alright, lets digest this idea.

Does she simply just continue forgetting for that many years because there is no new direction until [Mov. 16:37-16:39]? Why wouldn’t her family have found her or tried harder to look for her after all these years? The ocean is pretty big, but there’s got to be some common ground when you’re both the same kind of fish. And you’re family. And her long term memory is intact. So wouldn’t she have just gone home? But maybe they were travelling between homes and that was when she was lost, and her family who also has short term memory loss forgot that she was on the trip with them. Maybe they assumed for whatever reason that she was supposed to meet them there. Maybe.

Next — and this one is a little gruesome for small ears so please be careful – is Nemo alive? So let’s dive in. There is a distinct possibility that Marlin has PTSD from losing his ENTIRE family all in one giant chomp. PTSD is a condition that presents itself as stress that occurs when a person has suffered an intense trauma. Marlin’s entire family was swallowed up by a giant fish. Who wouldn’t have some sort of post-traumatic stress after something like that? So with this very unfortunate condition, sometimes people can hallucinate, basically a more intense version of daydreaming. Especially things related to the trauma or close to their heart, such as in this instance, a son. He was so excited about having children with his wife, and she said Nemo was her favorite name, so why not manifest a son named Nemo to circumvent the pain?

What if Marlin actually just imagined Nemo to be there the entire time but he wasn’t actually alive? Nemo isn’t with Marlin for a majority of the movie. The beginning, we start off with Marlin asleep, so maybe he dreamed Nemo being alive and waking him up for school. Maybe Marlin made Nemo get taken by divers instead of brutally murdered by the larger fish because it would have been easier for Marlin to swallow this kind of information as fact. If he’s just taken, Marlin can spend his life looking for Nemo. Whereas if he was killed, Marlin would just have to face the fact that his family’s all dead. Which would also leave him with nothing to do or think about minus the pain. Absolutely tragic, but also probable. Well this begs the question, then who is the Nemo that yells “Dad!” when he sees him in the Dentist’s office? Which brings us to…

Our final theory. Is that really Nemo’s father? If the scenes where Nemo’s excited for school were dreamed or hallucinated by Marlin, then they aren’t real. So, who does Nemo say [Mov. 1:20:22-1:20:24] about? Why would he be so excited to see this guy he’s never met?

Maybe if he doesn’t actually have a father of his own. Nemo could be an orphan who has dreamed of having a father his entire life. So when they talk about how he took on three sharks, and how much he wants to find his son, Nemo is so thrilled about this guy. He sounds like the perfect candidate for a father! Plus, it just so happens that he has the same name as the father Nemo’s heard about that he was born from. So of course, Nemo imagines and wants this heroic Marlin to be his dad. Then he goes looking for him and when he finally sees him, they both are mutually just so happy that they can’t deny: they’re the ones they’ve been looking for! So the joy commences! Everyone is happy, even Dory who could hardly remember Nemo’s name for a majority of the movie. Everyone got what they needed, a family. Mind blown.

Seriously, it’s a dark little theory, especially for a family movie, but hey, it’s totally probable.

So that’s all fo– just kidding. But those are some pretty intense theories to chew on. We should really take a minute to think about them. Nemo being an orphan, Marlin having post-traumatic stress, Dory’s family also having short term memory loss, and finally, the sweet one: [Mov. 54:31-54:38] Squirt being Moana’s turtle in distress. Theories are always fun, whether they’re sweet and adorable or a little more grim. We hope you enjoyed as much as we did!