Pixar Alters ‘Finding Dory’ Ending Because ‘Blackfish’ Is Horrifying

By  · Published on August 12th, 2013

Finding Nemo 3D

Well, I guess it’s really true that Dory the fish really does speak whale, because an insider at Pixar has revealed that the animation studio has decided to alter the ending to the script for 2015’s Finding Dory after viewing the documentary Blackfish.

Blackfish focuses on the plight of orca whales kept in captivity, and skewers SeaWorld for keeping the majestic sea creatures in bathtub-like habitats. Though the overall plot line of Finding Dory, starring the voice talents of Ellen Degeneres and Albert Brooks, is still for the most part a mystery, early reports stated that the ending had the characters wind up at a marine park, happy as can be.

Naturally, with the Blackfish controversy and the ongoing publicity battle the real-life SeaWorld is currently waging, Pixar decided to do some recon and restructure the ending so that the characters do travel to the marine park, but like any totally normal situation that would definitely happen, they have the option of leaving and going back out to the ocean if they choose. When you wish upon a star, etc. Granted, Pixar movie scripts change all the time while in production; this is nothing new. But in this case, the studio is making alterations in direct response to the documentary’s message ‐ good for director Gabriela Cowperthwaite and writer Eli B. Despres.

Though, if the Finding Dory team truly wanted to make a huge splash (I know, I know), couldn’t they have scrapped the whole “ending up in whale prison” premise altogether? Since this is a Disney film, it’s probably going to be a very sanitized, idyllic version of a true aquatic park where the gang probably all chooses to stick around anyway.

Not familiar with Blackfish? Check out its trailer below. The film is currrently in limited release.

Finding Dory is scheduled for release in theaters on November 25, 2015. [NY Times]