Have you ever watched a movie and thought, “Hey this plot seems familiar?”  Well one not so obvious case of this is Finding Nemo. Think about it, Finding Nemo is just the story of the Wizard of Oz but told with fish. Finding Nemo is the story of a fish who gets swept up and taken to a different place where he has to figure out how to get away with the help of various friends and enemies he makes along the way. After completing a certain task he is able to be sent back to his home. Sound familiar? That’s because this is exactly the plot of the Wizard of Oz.

Nemo, the little fish that gets swept up by a boat, resembles Dorothy. In the Wizard of Oz Dorothy gets swept up by a tornado and taken to an imaginary land and has to go on a journey on the yellow brick road to meet the Wizard and get home. In Finding Nemo, Nemo gets taken by the boat and taken to a new tank which is like a new world than the one he was in, just like Dorothy. Then he has to spend a lot of time there until he can find a way to get out. Flashing back to the Wizard of Oz, in order for Dorothy to get home she had to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Shockingly, the Wicked Witch in Finding Nemo is Dory. Even though she doesn’t have a wicked personality or dies in the end, throughout the whole adventure of trying to find Nemo she distracts Marlin and slows down their travels like a wicked witch too. At the end once Nemo escapes the tank and meets back up with his dad and Dory, Dory gets captured in a net and in order for them to go home they have to save her. Even though it’s the opposite of the Wicked Witch of the West and they are saving instead of killing, it is the same jist.

“Dorothy is ditsy and a little dumb, and Nemo is naive,” said senior Zoe Sauvagnargues when asked to describe both characters.

Marlin, Nemo’s dad, resembles the good witch aka Glinda. In Finding Nemo Marlin swims through the sea to try and find his son and help Nemo return home, just like Glinda guides Dorothy throughout the movie and delivers her the commands she needs to follow. Marlin is also a very opposing character to Dory which is why they both fit the roles of good witch and bad witch so well. Marlin is very knowledgeable and determined to find his son and not give up, he tries very hard. Dory is a bit dumb and has short term memory loss and is a big distraction, like the opposite of Marlin. Going along with this, the big Wizard is Darla. Darla is the niece of the owner of the dentist office, and she is a little girl that is very loud and intimidating to the fish. She acts like she owns the place and does whatever she wants. When Nemo is brought to the tank, he is trying to get through to her to get out. In the Wizard of Oz the whole point of Dorothy’s traveling is to get to the Wizard to talk to him so she can go home. They are both the leaders of the places that the protagonist got swept away to.

Throughout Dorothy’s adventure along the yellow brick road, she meets 3 important friends who help her in her travels. In Finding Nemo, Nemo meets numerous fish in the tank he gets stuck in, but 3 very closely resemble the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man from Wizard of Oz. Gill is the oldest fish in the tank. He is naturally very wise and knowledgeable and knows his way around. This makes him the Scarecrow because even though the Scarecrow is said to have no brain in the end he turns out to be the wisest in all of Oz. The Lion in the Wizard of Oz is known to be a coward, and scared so Bloat is the perfect character to resemble this. Bloat is the pufferfish of the tank and naturally every time he gets scared he inflates, which is pretty often. Gurgle is one of the most caring fish in the tank, he always wants to make sure everything goes right and everyone is safe. He overlooks everyone’s plans and even though they don’t necessarily listen to him he has a big heart and cares about them. Just like the Tin Man, who even though he is said to have no heart in the end he has a huge heart.

“This is a very clever, reimagined thought process. I think it could very well work,” said history teacher Mario Marcozzi.

Of course there are also side characters that match as well such as all Nemo’s school friends in the beginning that are like the munchkins in the town. And Squirt who resembles Toto just because they are both cute little sidekicks. We also can’t forget about the Wicked Witch of the East who is a foil to Bruce. Bruce is a shark who believes that fish are friends and comes off very intimidating with his shark friends but won’t actually hurt the fish. It helps all the people living there be more calm similar to how the Wicked Witch of the East does this in the opposite way. When Dorothy’s house lands on her and she dies, it makes everyone happy and feel more calm. They are foils because the shark’s existence makes people happy while the Witch’s death makes them happy. As you can see all these characters and plot are very fitting for each other and so that is why Finding Nemo and the Wizard of Oz are the same story. As they say, don’t forget to “just keep swimming,” or “follow the yellow brick road.”