Daily Dialogue — January 29, 2014
DORY: Whoa. We goin’ in there?
MARLIN: Yup.
DORY: P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney?
MARLIN: Yup. We’re gonna just swim straight.
DORY: [singing] Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.
MARLIN: Dory? Boy, this is taking a while.
DORY: Hey, how about we play a game?
MARLIN: Okay.
DORY: Uh, okay. I’m thinking of something, uh, orange. And it’s small..
MARLIN: It’s me.
DORY: Right. Okay… orange, and uh, small..
MARLIN: It’s me.
DORY:All righty, Mr. Smarty Pants… orange and small, and white stripes..
MARLIN: Me. And the next one’s just a guess: me.
DORY: Okay, that’s just scary.
MARLIN: W-w-wait, I have definitely seen this floating speck before. That means we’ve passed it
before and that means we’re going in circles and that means we’re not going straight!
DORY: Hey. Hey!
MARLIN: We gotta get to the surface, come on! Let’s figure it out up there. Let’s go! Follow me!
Wha — ?
DORY: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey! Relax. Take a deep breath. Now, let’s ask somebody for directions.
MARLIN: Oh, fine. Who do you wanna ask, the speck? There’s nobody here!
DORY: Well, there has to be someone. It’s the ocean, silly, we’re not the only two in here.
Let’s see…okay, no one there. Uhh, nope. Nada. [gasps] There’s somebody. Hey! Excuse —
MARLIN: Dory! Dory! Dory! Okay, now it’s my turn. I’m thinking of something dark and mysterious.
It’s a fish we don’t know. And if we ask it directions, it could ingest us and spit out
our bones!
DORY: What is it with men and asking for directions?
MARLIN: Look, I don’t wanna play the gender card right now. You wanna play a card? Let’s play the
‘Let’s Not Die’ card.
DORY: You wanna get outta here, don’t you?
MARLIN: Of course, I do.
DORY: Well then, how are we gonna do that unless we give it a shot and hope for the best? Hmmm?
Hmmmm!? Come on, trust me on this.
MARLIN: All right.
DORY: Excuse me! Woohoo! Little fella? Hello. Don’t be rude, say ‘hi’.
MARLIN: Ha..hello.
DORY: His son Bingo..
MARLIN: Nemo.
DORY: …Nemo, was taken to, uh..
MARLIN: Sydney.
DORY: Sydney. Yes. And it’s really, really important that we get there as fast as we can. So can
you help us out? Come on, little fella. Come on.
MARLIN: Dory, I’m a little fella. I don’t think that’s a little fella.
DORY: Oh. Oh, oh, big fella. Big fe — whale. Okay. Maybe he only speaks whale.
MOOOOO-WEEEEEEE-NEEEEED…
MARLIN: Uh, Dory..what’re you doing?
DORY: TOOOOOOO-FIIIIIIND…=
MARLIN: What’re you doing?
DORY: HIS-SOOOOOOOOOOOON…
MARLIN: Are you sure you speak whale?
DORY: CAN-YOOOOOOOUUU-GIIIIIIIIIVE-USSSS-DIRECTIOOOOOOOONS-TOOOOOOOOO…
MARLIN: Dory! Heaven knows what you’re saying! See, he’s swimming away.
DORY: COOOME-BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
MARLIN: He’s not coming back. You offended him.
DORY: Maybe a different dialect. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MOOOOOAAAAAAAAAA..!
MARLIN: Dory. Dory, this is not whale. You’re speaking like..upset stomach.
DORY: Maybe I should try humpback.
MARLIN: No, don’t try humpback.
DORY: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOO!!! WAAAAAAAAAOOOOOO!!!
MARLIN: Okay, you actually sound sick.
DORY: Maybe louder, huh? RAAAH!!! RAAAAH!!!
MARLIN: Don’t do that!=
DORY: Too much orca. Didn’t it sound a little orca-ish?
MARLIN: It doesn’t sound orca! It sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard!
DORY: MOOOO..MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
MARLIN: It’s just as well, he might be hungry.
DORY: Don’t worry. Whales don’t eat clownfish, they eat krill.
KRILL: Swim away!
DORY: Oh, look. Krill.
— Finding Nemo (2003), screenplay by Andrew Stanton and Bob Peterson and David Reynolds, story by Andrew Stanton
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is directions, suggested by Bretton Zinger. Today’s suggestion by Alejandro.
Trivia: Pixar’s characters are often planned years in advance. Nemo first appeared as a stuffed toy on a couch in Boo’s room in Monsters, Inc. (2001). This movie introduces the main characters of post-2003 Pixar films. A boy in the dentist’s office is reading a “Mr. Incredible” comic book, anticipating The Incredibles (2004). Luigi the car is driving by the dentist’s office, anticipating Cars (2006).
Dialogue On Dialogue: Giving or getting directions is essentially about exposition — information, facts — and that can be deadly dull. The masters at Pixar use at least three things to make this scene interesting. (1) They use humor, primarily deriving from Dory’s character. (2) They make the scene not about getting directions. (3) They build to a big scene-ending event.
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