It’s something that would happen only in the world of Pixar: A tiny orange clownfish named Nemo goes missing; his father sets out to find him; and a movie about their adventure rakes in nearly $1 billion worldwide.
Everyone knows the story of “Finding Nemo,” the 2003 animated smash that led to the highly anticipated sequel, “Finding Dory,” which hits theaters Friday. Box office experts predict the flick could gross $120 million this weekend, as moviegoers flock to the film that fills in the gaps about Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), the cheerful blue tang fish with short-term memory loss who accompanied Nemo’s father, Marlin (Albert Brooks), on his journey.
From the moment “Dory” was announced, there was massive excitement — so much that it was hard not to remember the enormous impact of the first film, beloved by not only children but also teenagers and adults. What was it about “Finding Nemo” that connected so deeply with people of all ages?
“I think I’ll never really know,” admitted Andrew Stanton, who directed “Nemo” and “Dory” and helped write Pixar’s “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2” and “Wall-E.” Given the massive DVD sales after the movie, however, he offers one theory about younger viewers: “It’s a lot like my generation, where ‘Wizard of Oz’ was played every year on TV — you just know that movie whether you like it or not. So there’s basically a generation of people now that they feel like ‘Nemo’ is their movie. It’s just part of the zeitgeist of them in their formative years, so that’s just the luck of the draw.”