Finding Marlin

Finding Marlin, known in some territories as Finding Nemo 3, is an upcoming 2026 American 3D computer-animated comedy adventure drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, the screenplay was co-written by Victoria Strouse and Stanton. The film is a sequel to the 2016 Disney/Pixar film, Finding Dory, and the 3rd installment of the Finding Nemo franchise.

Finding Marlin will focus on the overprotective clownfish Marlin, who journeys to New Zealand to find his long-lost wife, Coral. But when he and a new piranha friend get captured, Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang try to rescue them. Meanwhile, at an aquarium, Marlin and the new piranha friend get help from a human named Oliver to find Coral.

There are 5 Finding Nemo shorts found in the DVD. 

Synopsis

Marlin, Nemo, and Dory go on a new adventure and head for New Zealand to find Marlin's long-lost wife, Coral. But when he and a new piranha friend get captured, Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang try to rescue them. Meanwhile, at an aquarium, Marlin and the new piranha friend get help from a human named Oliver to find Coral.

Plot

The film begins with Marlin having a nightmare about losing Coral and their eggs to the barracuda. He wakes up, screaming in fear, and he wakes up Nemo and Dory in the process. Nemo and Dory ask him what's wrong, and Marlin says nothing, telling them to go back to sleep. Marlin then sits on a rock, thinking about his wife Coral.

The following morning, Marlin sees that people have a wife, which reminds him of his wife Coral. Nemo then asks his father to come with him on a field trip, then Marlin responds, then they go to a field trip with Mr. Ray to learn about coral reefs. At the field trip, Nemo's classmates ask Marlin about ever having a wife, but Marlin, shocked, tells everybody that he lost Coral years ago. Marlin then also tells Nemo that the coral reefs remind him about Coral, then he finds clues that Coral used to leave him when she was alive on the sea bed - small broken pieces of coral - and tells Nemo and Dory about these clues.

When they go back home, Marlin keeps finding clues, and later that night, he goes out to follow them, while Nemo and Dory catch up and they all head to New Zealand. During their quest, Nemo falls asleep, and then the trio run into Bruce, Anchor, and Chum, who are now fully vegetarian. Marlin explains to the sharks about his quest to find Coral, so the sharks give Marlin, Nemo, and Dory a lift to New Zealand. A few hours later, the sharks drop off Marlin, Nemo, and Dory at a cave, where the trio sleeps for the night.

The next morning, the trio continues their quest, but they run into Gill and the Tank Gang, who escaped from the Marine Life Institute. Nemo is glad to see the Tank Gang again. Gill then sees a science research ship from NIWA, then he tells his plan to Marlin, Dory, Nemo, and the Tank Gang about a plan to get on the vessel, then they are fished up by the scientists, and are put in a tank. But then, a saltwater crocodile on the ship tries to attack the good guys, but they jump from tank to tank until the crocodile is recaptured by the scientists. Later, when they arrive at the port of Napier, New Zealand, the good guys tip their tanks over the side of the ship, then they land into the ocean, where Marlin runs into a genetically modified piranha named Spike, who escaped from a lab in Brazil. Spike joins him on his journey to find Coral. But then, Marlin and Spike both get caught in a fishing boat, but are rescued by the workers of an aquarium, then Marlin and Spike get put in a cooler in a truck, and it heads for the National Aquarium of New Zealand, in the city of Napier.

Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang make a plan to find Marlin and the piranha, then Gill explains that rivers also lead to the ocean, so the heroes start a new adventure to find Marlin and the piranha. They travel too far and end up on the east coast of the South Island. Eventually, they find the Waimakariri River, where a bunch of blue penguins guide them to their leader, Lincoln, a blue tang, whom Dory falls in love with. Nemo asks Lincoln to help him find Marlin, so he and his penguin flock decide to help Nemo and his friends find Marlin.

Meanwhile, Marlin and Spike are put in a tank in a room of the aquarium, where a group of Special Needs children are visiting. The two fish meet a teenager named Oliver who can communicate with animals. The fish are shocked that he can talk to animals, but Oliver explains the reason why he can communicate with them - he received a brain injury in a car crash, and can now understand and talk to animals, although he also has seizures, fits, and headaches. Oliver agrees to help Marlin on his quest to find Coral, but the human teenager explains to Marlin about the tag. He puts Marlin and Spike in a fish bowl, and holds the bowl during the quest.

Later, Marlin and Spike are separated from Oliver, and the two fish fall into an exhibit containing an injured common bottlenose dolphin named Flipper, who meets Marlin and Spike. Flipper has an friendly neighbor, an orca whale named Arnold, who meets Marlin and Spike. Marlin explains to Flipper and Arnold about his quest to find Coral, then the four go up to the surface of the water, where Oliver shows up, and Marlin tells Flipper and Arnold about the human who's helping him find Coral. He and Spike get in the bucket, and the trio continue their quest to find Coral. Among the way, Marlin keeps finding clues, leading one step closer to Coral.

Meanwhile, Fang the barracuda has to find his spy, Spike, at the aquarium, so he swims from the Tasman Sea to the East Coast of New Zealand. Back with Nemo, after travelling from the South Island back to near Napier, Lincoln introduces Nemo, Dory, and the Tank Gang to his companion, a kiwi named George. Nemo explains to George about his journey to find Marlin at the aquarium, so he puts Nemo, Dory, the Tank Gang, and Lincoln in a fish tank. Gill then notices the pipes, and he tells Nemo, Dory, and the rest of the gang to get in the pipes to get to the aquarium, so they travel through the stormwater pipes and fight against the current to get to the aquarium.

Marlin, Spike, and Oliver pass a lot of exhibits, and they eventually make to their destination, the Coral Reef exhibit, where Oliver gives Marlin something to remember him, and they part ways, and Oliver drops Marlin and Spike into a tank. Marlin, however, finds Coral, who is glad to see Marlin again. They have a tearful reunion. He tells Coral about his tales from the 2003 original film, and Coral reveals how she survived the barracuda incident: she survived by swimming out of the barracuda's mouth before it closed, but she was injured in the process, so she has a scar on one side and doesn't swim as well because her tail was injured as well. Spike sneaks away and sends Fang a message through phytoplankton.

While in the pipes, the heroes are still trying to get through the pipes, Dory keeps forgetting Lincoln's name, which makes him find it a little endearing. Everyone sees that they are almost outside of the NZ aquarium, but Gill and the Tank Gang get stuck in a drain, and the pelicans with George's help lift the drain grate and scoop the fish out of the stormwater drain and carry them in their beaks to the NZ Aquarium. Back at the Coral Reef exhibit, Marlin tells Coral about the tales from Finding Dory. Coral is impressed about the tales Marlin tells, and comments on how sweet those stories are. Marlin comments that Nemo and Dory would try to find him. Then, he tells Coral about his mollusk joke from the original film, which impresses her. But then, Nigel and the pelicans arrive with Nemo and his friends, and they rescue Marlin, Spike, and Coral from the aquarium. Then, a mean gang try to stop Nigel and the pelicans.

The heroes try to escape from the gang, but a member of the gang throws a rock at Nigel's left wing, injuring him. Oliver then rescues Marlin, Nemo, Dory, and the gang and puts them in a fish tank which is in a shopping cart, and runs away from the gang. He takes one of the gangs' cars and drives away, resulting in a car chase with the other gang members. The police join the chase and successfully stop and arrest half of the gang. Oliver has a seizure in the car, but presses the brake, so he crashes harmlessly into a wall near the river at low speed. As the police arrest the rest of the gang, Oliver releases the heroes to the ocean, and says farewell to Marlin and his friends. He is then taken to hospital by the police who know about his brain injury and seizure. Meanwhile, Nigel and the pelicans are rescued by humans.

When the heroes go back to the ocean, they travel from Hawkes Bay up to the Bay of Plenty, where Spike, feeling remorse for betraying Marlin's trust, confesses his plans and his role as a spy to Marlin, which angers the clownfish. Marlin and Spike end up in an argument, but Dory stops them from arguing. Spike has a change of heart, and agrees to help Marlin escape from the barracuda.

Leading the barracuda away from Marlin, whom he intended to ambush, Dory swims away with Coral; Meanwhile, Marlin, Nemo, and the others head back to the New Zealand aquarium to get help from Flipper and Arnold, who escape their tanks, breaking a wall to help the heroes. Dory and Coral, however, catch up with Marlin and his friends, but Fang shows up and corners everyone, and he asks Spike to help him bring the heroes down. Spike refuses and sides with Marlin, making Fang furious, and the heroes fight Fang. During their fight, Fang knocks a sea column on Spike's head, hurting him. The barracuda then corners Marlin, intending to attack him alone, but Marlin and Nemo decide to swim away from him. Then, they spot an underwater volcanic crater, part of the White Island volcano, then Nemo remembers the 'Ring of Fire' from the first film and swims in the bubbles safely with Marlin while trying to escape. Fang runs into the bubbles and gets burned. Angry and in pain, he blindly crosses the crater just as the eruption starts. Nemo and Marlin yell at him to look out and get out of the crater, but he continues chasing them and nearly devours them before he gets caught by the full blast of the eruption. Nemo and Marlin then have to escape the underwater lava flows, steam and landslides.

Marlin and Nemo make it out of the volcano alive, and then they check on Spike. Everyone is safe, except for Spike, who is badly injured, and tells Marlin his last words before he dies. Nemo then cries because Spike died, and everyone mourns the death of Spike. Marlin and everyone then head back home to the Great Barrier Reef.

Marlin and the others go back to the reef by riding the current, and they tell Crush and the sea turtles about their adventures. Marlin is still sad about Spike's death, but Crush cheers him up, and then everyone exits the current and they return to the reef. Back at the reef, Marlin, Nemo, Coral, and Dory make a little memorial in the sand for Spike. The next day, Nemo comes back to school and Mr. Ray tells him off for not being at school and that he was supposed to have a report on predators. However, Nemo is able to come up with a report on barracudas and piranhas on the spot, so Mr. Ray gives him an A+. All the other kids then think he is very cool.

That night, Marlin and Coral are in the anemone, and they talk about being together and Marlin talks about how much he missed Coral, but that somehow he knew that she wasn't dead because he didn't turn into a female. They share a loving hug because they're happy to be together again. The next day everybody celebrates with Dory and Nemo and all their friends, including characters from the previous 2 films. Then, Dory and Lincoln sing the Just Keep Swimming song. Nemo says he's glad that everybody has a family now, and then the film ends happily.

In a post-credits scene, it shows Hank the septopus from Finding Dory getting on a plane which flies to Cleveland, Ohio, then he camouflages just as the plane starts flying to Cleveland, Ohio.

Cast

Main Cast

• Albert Brooks as Marlin, an overprotective clownfish, Nemo's father, and Coral's husband.
• Neel Sethi as Nemo, a young optimistic clownfish, Marlin and Coral's son, and Dory's friend. He was voiced by Hayden Rolence in the previous film. He was also voiced by Alexander Gould in the first movie.
• Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, a Pacific regal blue tang who suffers from "short-term memory loss", and Lincoln's girlfriend.
• Elizabeth Perkins as Coral, a female clownfish, Marlin's wife and Nemo's mother.
• Chris Wedge as Lincoln, a blue tang and Dory's boyfriend.
• Hayden Rolence as Oliver, a human teenager who can communicate with animals. He helps Marlin on his adventure to find Coral.
• Williem Dafoe as Gill, the leader of the Tank Gang.
• Brad Garrett as Bloat, a pufferfish.
• Allison Janney as Peach, a pink starfish.
• Austin Pendleton as Gurgle, a royal gramma.
• Stephen Root as Bubbles, a yellow tang.
• Vicki Lewis as Deb/Flo, a four-striped damselfish.
• Jerome Ranft as Jacques, a cleaner shrimp. He was voiced by Joe Ranft, Jerome's late brother, in the first film.
• Idris Elba as Bruce, a vegetarian great white shark. He was voiced by Barry Humphries in the first film.
• Eric Bana as Anchor, a hammerhead shark friends with Bruce.
• Bruce Spence as Chum, mako shark friends with Bruce and Anchor.
• Denis Leary as Spike, a genetically modified piranha and the barracuda's spy. He is a friend of Marlin.
• David L. Lander as Fang, the barracuda. He is the main villain, unlike his first appearance in Finding Nemo.
• James S. Baker as Flipper, a common bottlenose dolphin.
• Chris Parnell as Arnold, a good but funny orca whale.
• Torbin Xan Bullock as George, a kiwi.
• Andrew Stanton as Crush, a 150-year old green sea turtle.
• Victoria Strouse as Shelly, a green sea turtle and Crush's mate.
• Anton Starkman as Squirt, a green sea turtle and Crush's son. He was voiced by Bennett Dammann in the previous film. He was also voiced by Nick Bird in the first film.
• Geoffrey Rush as Nigel, a pelican.
• Kaitlin Olson as Destiny, a near-sighted whale shark and Dory's childhood friend.
• Ty Burrell as Bailey, a beluga whale.
• Diane Keaton as Jenny, Dory's mother.
• Eugene Levy as Charlie, Dory's father.
• Bob Peterson as Mr. Ray, Nemo's schoolteacher.
• John Ratzenberger as the Moonfish. They return from the first film.
• Ed O'Neill as Hank, a cranky East Pacific red octopus who previously lost a tentacle. He only appears in a post credits scene.

Additional Voices

• Grant Palmer as Sheldon, a sea horse.
• Grey DeLisle-Griffin as Pearl, a flapjack octopus.
• Caleel Harris as Tad, a long-nosed butterfly fish.
• Katherine Ringgold as Kathy, a chickenfish.
• Carlos Alazraqui as Bill
• Phil Proctor as Bob
• Jim Ward as Ted
• Mona Marshall as Pearl's mother
• Alexander Gould as one of the gang members who chase Oliver. Gould voiced Nemo in the original 2003 film, and he also voiced Passengers Carl and Tommy in the previous film.
• Frank Welker as the saltwater crocodile who chases the fish at the ship.
• Bill Hader as one of the scientists at the National Aquarium of New Zealand. He also voices one of the gang members who chase Oliver.

more coming soon...

Soundtrack

Track Listing

(All tracks composed by Thomas Newman unless specified otherwise)

#	Title	Length
1	Nightmare	3:05
2	Finding Marlin (Main Title)
3	A New Day
4	Field Trip
5	Coral Reef Song
6	Clues
7	The Quest Begins
8	Fully Vegan Sharks
9	The Cave
10	The Tank Gang
11	Crocodile Chase
12	Napier, New Zealand
13	Marlin Gets Captured/We've Gone Too Far!
14	Meet Lincoln
15	Aquarium NZ
16	Oliver's Theme
17	Oliver's Flashback
18	Dropped In/Meet Flipper & Arnold
19	Clues (Reprise)
20	Fang
21	Meet George
22	Pipes
23	Finding Coral
24	Spike Sneaks Away
25	Return of the Pelicans
26	Gang
27	Car Chase/Seizure
28	Farewell to Oliver
29	Back where they belong
30	Spike Confesses
31	Dory Swims Away With Coral
32	Versus Fang
33	Crater Climax	6:37
34	Spike's Death	0:44
35	Back to the Reef	3:45
36	Marlin and Coral	2:04
37	Fish Families	3:19
38	Just Keep Swimming (Dory and Lincoln duet)	1:56
39	Finding Marlin Credits Suite	6:15
40	Just Keep Swimming (Sung by everyone)	Songs

Songs

1. Send Me On My Way - Rusted Root

2. Just Keep Swimming (1st time) - Ellen DeGeneres, Elizabeth Perkins

3. Just Keep Swimming (2nd time) - Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Wedge

Reception

Box Office

Finding Marlin earned $1,324,411,567 at the worldwide box office.

Critical Response

Finding Marlin received positive reviews from critics, with a 8/10 rating on IMDB, a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 95/100 rating on Metacritic. Critics typically praised the animation quality, the characters, and a plot inspired by Finding Dory and Ice Age, while some did criticize the dark nature of the film, and some of the realistic scenes. Finding Marlin won several Annie Awards, and was nominated for the Best Animated Feature OSCAR.

LEGO Finding Nemo

In summer 2022, LEGO released a Finding Nemo theme, with a couple sets each from the first two movies. The range became very highly popular, prompting an expansion of the range of sets. Then, in spring 2024, a video game called "LEGO Finding Nemo: The Video Game" came out, and it has the same gameplay as other LEGO video games.

Here are a list of sets:

Finding Nemo

• Jellyfish Forest (Includes Marlin, Dory, and 16x Jellyfish)
• The Drop-Off (Includes Marlin, Nemo, Pearl, Sheldon, Tad, Mr. Ray, Kathy, 3x Fish, and a Diver)
• Mount Wannahockaloogie (Includes Nemo, Gill, Bloat, Peach, Deb, Bubbles, Jacques, and Gurgle)
• Anglerfish Chase (Includes Marlin, Dory, and an Anglerfish)
• Sydney Harbour (Includes Marlin, Dory, Nigel, Gerald, and 20x Seagull)
• East Australian Current (Includes Marlin, Dory, Crush, Squirt, and 3x Sea turtles)
• Shark Chase (Includes Marlin, Dory, Bruce, Anchor, and Chum)

Finding Dory

• The Midnight Zone (Includes Dory, Marlin, Nemo, 16x crabs, and the Giant Squid)
• The Open Ocean Exhibit (Includes Dory, 2x crabs, 16x fish)
• Touch Pool (Includes Dory, Hank, and 16x fish)
• The Truck (Includes Dory, Jenny, Charlie, Destiny, Bailey, Hank, Marlin, Nemo, 16x fish, and Becky the loon)
• Stingray Migration (Includes Dory, Nemo, Mr. Ray, Pearl, Sheldon, Tad, 5x stingray, Kathy, and 3x fish)

Finding Marlin

• NIWA Research Ship (Includes Nemo, Marlin, Dory, Gill, the Tank Gang, a Crocodile, 3 Scientists, and 3 other fish)
• Oliver at the Aquarium
• Fish in the Pipes
• Gang Car Chase
• Volcano Final Battle (Includes Marlin, Nemo, and Fang)
• The Great Party
• Flipper's Exhibit (Includes Marlin, Spike, Flipper, and Arnold)
• Reunion with Coral
• Waimakariri River (Includes Nemo, Dory, the Tank Gang, Lincoln, George, and 6x Blue Penguins)

Transcript

Finding Marlin/Transcript

Trivia

• The plot of Finding Marlin was inspired by Finding Dory and Ice Age.
• According to an interview with directors Andrew Stanton and Chris Wedge, it is revealed that Fang is the very same barracuda at the beginning of Finding Nemo.
• This is the first Pixar film to be co-directed by Chris Wedge.
• Barry Humphries didn't reprise his role as Bruce because he died in the late 2010s. He is replaced by Idris Elba.
• Unlike Finding Nemo, Coral has a large role in the film.
• Unlike Finding Dory, the Tank Gang have a large role in the film.

Disney Store Merchandise

On April 2022, Disney Store kicks off its 35th anniversary by unveiling Finding Marlin merchandise which includes:

• Tsum Tsums
• Deluxe Figurine Set
• Action Figures
• T-Shirts
• Plush animals
• LEGO sets