Finding Nemo vs. The Dolphin

This post attempts to map The Dolphin (available on Netflix!) onto its painfully obvious analog, Finding Nemo. The similarities are at once more deep and more baffling than I could have imagined. But if Daniel Alexander Dolphin can find it in him to imagine a really big wave, then I guess I can believe that this movie was animated, voiced, and paid for and that I watched the whole damn thing.

In all cases, interpret the arrow to mean "translates to."

• Marlin-->Daniel Alexander Dolphin
• Nemo-->the villain of the film and scavenger of dreams
• Coral-->a giant sting ray imbued with the powers of flight, precognition, and underwater hugging
• The barracuda that kills Coral-->lack of faith(?)
• Touching the boat-->jumping over a small rock wall twice with no repercussions
• Dory-->a child dolphin who farts into his own mouth for oxygen
• Short-term memory loss-->unsettling narcolepsy
• Bruce the shark-->the exact same shark with the exact same conundrum regarding his carnivorism; he later ingests a tiny fish in front of its mother and chews madly, remarking on the tenderness of the meat, before revealing his rapacious bone-crunching as a total ruse--no one faults him; everyone laughs
• Jacques the tank cleaner-->THE SUPPORTING STAR OF THE FILM, only stereotypically Jewish (HE EATS MONEY)
• Deep sea angler fish-->an angry dolphin transformed by his hatred into a barracuda (actually much scarier)
• "Just keep swimming"-->"Fly, Daniel Dolphin, fly"
• The dentist's office-->an octopus running an underwater slavery ring
• Wall of jellyfish-->a steaming pool alleged to be jellyfish poop
• jamming the filter-->rushing headlong into a surfing-related death
• a father's fear-->surfing
• a gimpy fin-->surfing
• surfing the EAC-->the (thrice-gratified) drive to find a really big wave
• any sense of resolution or accomplishment-->a random encounter with a girl dolphin
• heart-->surfing
• plot-->Daniel Dolphin's slick, erect dorsal fin
• stakes-->various characters making terrifyingly violent threats and then saying "Just joking!"
• message-->if I can't surf I'll just swim out with the current and die alone