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Pixar Popcorn, a new series of Pixar shorts on Disney+, includes a Finding Nemo short titled “Dory Finding” that has a dark message beneath its playful whimsy. Since the days of “Knick Knack,” “Gerry’s Game,” and “For The Birds,” Pixar has perfected the art of visual storytelling in their short films, as well as feature films like Up and Wall-E. That expertise shines through Pixar Popcorn. The collection of short films features characters from beloved Pixar films like Finding Nemo. There’s little dialogue throughout the series because the shorts were made during Covid-19 lockdowns when recording new dialogue was difficult, if not impossible. Yet, even without any dialogue, “Dory Finding” unwittingly sends a harmful message.
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While it might seem easy to write off the 3-minute Finding Nemo spinoff short, the Pixar brand attracts a lot of viewers. Disney+ has 74 million subscribers, most of whom are always eager for high quality, family-friendly content. So, even if it lacks the prestige of a theatrical short or the timestamp of a feature film, Pixar Popcorn will still be seen by millions of people, which makes it all the more strange that Pixar went in the direction that they chose for “Dory Finding.”
In “Dory Finding,” Dory (known for her short-term memory loss) discovers several items at the bottom of the ocean including a whistle, a pair of glasses, a mirror, and several glass bottles. With each object, there’s a visual gag (Dory blowing bubbles, Dory discovering her reflection, etc.) that’s meant to be funny and cute, but the dark underlying message is that the ocean is full of trash. In the span of three-and-a-half minutes, Dory stumbles upon four different objects that were made, used, and discarded in the ocean by humans. What’s even worse is that the short romanticizes ocean debris.
According to the latest UN data on marine pollution, “every year, more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals are killed by plastic debris” [via United Nations]. It’s odd, then, that ”Dory Finding” pretends plastic isn’t dangerous to marine life, especially since Finding Nemo has already had a negative impact on clownfish. The message of “Dory Finding” is likewise damaging to efforts aimed at healing and preserving our oceans. Furthermore, it’s a marked departure from the first films in the franchise.
Of the previous installments in the Finding Nemo franchise, Finding Nemo is probably the most critical of harmful human activity in the ocean. The naval mines are clearly a danger to the surrounding marine life, the fish and other sea creatures are constantly rallying against humans, and the central plot involves a human who separates a fish family. In the sequel, Finding Dory, Dory, Marlin, and Nemo become entangled in the plastic rings from a six-pack of canned beverages — which are notorious for killing fish and birds. But unlike Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, “Dory Finding” paints plastic ocean debris in a very flattering light.
17 years after Finding Nemo was released — when the ocean is in crisis because of human-caused pollution — “Dory Finding” wants its audience to ignore the ugly reality of plastic waste because it looks cute when it’s animated in vibrant, glowing hues. This seems like a huge misstep on the part of Disney and Pixar, because “Dory Finding” undercuts the harm pollution is causing to the real-world clownfish and royal blue tangs that inspired our favorite clownfish family and their forgetful friend, Dory.
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