Finding Nemo Director Reveals Important Reasons Why Nemo’s Mom Had to Die

It's a given fact that most Disney movies from the past have parent figures that were killed off, either in the middle or the beginning of the movies, with The Lion King, Land Before Time, and Bambi being just a few of those movies. Well, we saw such scene again in 2003's Finding Nemo, and it turns out that one of the reasons for the death of Nemo's mom is just as we expect – the director needed to bring out a good amount of emotion in the movie right from the start. However, another important reason behind the death is to show the high stakes facing the characters in the film.

As reported by Cinema Blend, during an early press day for Finding Dory a few months back, director Andrew Stanton revealed how important it is to apply the "rules of the real world" into a movie. He said:

I like to try to tell a movie that works with the rules of the real world - which is everything is out there to get you, at least in nature, and can you do that? I think Bambi tried to do that a bit, and so I thought, ‘Let's really embrace that.' I really want you to feel about the ocean the way I feel about the ocean. It scares me and thrills me at the very same moment, and I'm never sure once things get past that mark whether they're going to come out in the end.

He further explained how that scene also helped put audiences in perspective of a parent, no matter what the viewer's age is. Stanton added:

The other thing is that not everybody is a parent, but I knew what I wanted was everybody to be empathetic to what it's like to be a parent. How can I make everybody feel what it's like in that moment?

A kid is born, and it's the most vulnerable thing on the planet, and you feel like my only job now is to make sure this thing survives and lives and it's the most isolating, lonely purposeful moment you can ever have. I had to somehow vicariously put you in that state, whether you are two or 82 and never had a kid, what that felt like. So those were the two things that drove me to do that, to get to that state. In my mind it was necessary to get into that state.

Fortunately in Finding Dory, no parent would have to die in order to put audiences at a level emotional playing field. It seems Dory's parents will not die as well since Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton's characters won't be appearing until the end, where they are supposed to be alive. Obviously, the dangers of the ocean had already been established in Finding Nemo. However, we're still expecting to see an equal amount of challenges facing Dory, Marlin, and Nemo in their new adventure.

Finding Nemo hits theaters on June 17.

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