Here are ten classic quotes from Finding Nemo.
"I forget things almost instantly. It runs in my family. At least I think it does"
When Dory has trouble remembering things, she admits it and it’s said of her that she only knows two addresses; and quoting from the movie, “your own and this one. Dory just barely knows this one, but still, it’s progress.”
Sharks: “I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must change myself. Fish are friends, not food”
Just as Jesus once said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). If you see your friends as Jesus sees them, you’ll see them differently from the way the world looks at them.
“Wow, I wish I could speak whale.”
Dory really did speak whale because Marlin and Dory did communicate with the whale. In our communication with others, we must be humble so that we’ll take time to listen to them and as the Apostle Paul writes, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Eph 4:29).
“I shall call him squishy and…he shall be my squishy.”
This line is very endearing for many reasons. There is acceptance and identification of “squishy” and it doesn’t matter how squishy he is. As far as God is concerned, “there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Col 3:11), squishy or not.
Marlin: “The water is half empty!”
Dory: “Hmmm. Really? I’d say it’s half full.”
This conversation was like the old question; is the glass half empty or half full. How about this: Let’s be glad we have a glass in the first place! It’s not half empty or half full, it’s enough. It just depends on how you think about it just as Solomon wrote, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Prov 23:7, NASB).
Marlin says, “and the sea cucumber turns to the mollusk and says, “With fronds like these, who needs anemones?”
What a great line by Marlin and one that most of us can identify with. This movie has great, clean jokes and pun filled humor that sometimes imitates those of us who live on the land. Finding Nemo is hilarious, but clean fun, and the proverb is true, there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccl 3:4) and it’s time to laugh watching this movie.
“Is this some kind of practical joke, it’s not funny, and I know funny. I’m a clownfish.”
When someone pulls a practical joke on someone, someone can get hurt or embarrassed, and so the fun’s on everyone but the one who the prank is pulled off on. If we hurt others by making fun of or ridiculing them, then it’s not really funny anymore. Think like God thinks; that person who is the butt of a joke is made in the image of God (Gen 1:27) and deserves to be treated as such.
Marlin says “It’s because I like you, I don’t want to be with you. It’s a complicated emotion.”
This line seems to be contradicting but isn’t that what love is like. We may take someone we love for granted and our distance from them might look like apathy but as Marlin says, “it’s a complicated emotion” but nothing’s complicated about love in the Bible as love is expressed in 1st Corinthians 13:13 where Paul writes, “now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” and even “if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1st Cor 13:2b).
Dory says “Uhhh…the sea monkeys have my money.”
What a humorous line but notice the way Dory responds; rather calmly and having it under control. How would we react in such a situation in life? Would we have reserve calm and try to work it out or take matters into our own hands? Clearly the Bible teaches, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom 12:19) but God expects we go above and beyond that, and even “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head” (Rom 12:20).
[As the whale groans], Dora says, Okay, he either said, “move to the back of the throat,” or “he wants a root beer float.”
We know the obvious answer but Dora is so trusting at times that there is no alarm in her voice. Again, referring to love, Paul writes, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1st Cor 13:7) or love gives others the benefit of the doubt. Love thinks the best, hopes the best, and assumes the best.
Conclusion
When Marlin and his wife Coral are attacked and Marlin is knocked unconscious and wakes to find that only one egg left; one he named Nemo and so when Marlin accidently runs into Dory in searching for Nemo, who had just been taken captive by divers. Dory seems to be the best of the combination of comedy and inspiration as she is both, even if it appears it’s unintentional and that’s what makes her so adorable. This G-rated movie is obviously suitable for the entire family.
Article by Pastor Jack Wellman
