The Stingrays are characters featured in the 2016 Disney/Pixar animated film Finding Dory. They are a large group of stingrays that pass through a migration spot, where one must be careful upon seeing the stingrays pass by.
Background[]
Whenever Mr. Ray takes his students to see a stingray migration, he gives them a few things to be careful whenever they see one, to which the students explain that it is the undertow they must be careful with. Anyone who is not careful while staring at the stingrays passing by may be caught in the undertow.
Development[]
In the deleted scene "Losing Nemo", the scene with the stingray migration was to be dramatized with Dory's short-term memory loss being a problem, which was originally devised with Dory herself feeling confident that she could chaperone Nemo to see the migration, much to Marlin denying that he should keep his immunity strong by returning to the anemone until Marlin finally agrees but also tells her to make sure Nemo is safe by being aware of her surroundings whenever there are other fish or marine animals passing by. After the migration ends, Dory does not notice that Nemo is not arround with her, to which Marlin worries that he lost Nemo, believing that he was caught in the migration. However, it is found out that Nemo was safe after all. Additionally, it is to note that the words the stingrays sing in this deleted scene are the same ones in the final version of the film, though the scene was reworked. In the final version of the film, Dory had a point of view about herself that was flawed about her tragic flashback.[1]
Role in the film[]
The stingrays only appear in the beginning of the film where Mr. Ray takes his students on the spot where the stingray migration would be at, followed by Nemo, Marlin, and Dory joining in. Mr. Ray explains that whenever they see the stingrays pass by, students must be careful of the undertow caused by a large group of traveling stingrays. As the migration passes by, a large group of stingrays arrives and sings "O, We're Going Home" as they swim behind Mr. Ray and his students. Dory, who was staring at them, ends up getting caught in the stingrays' path to which during this moment, Dory finds herself unconscious as it is then known that Dory is looking for her missing parents, Charlie and Jenny. Later at the end of the film, it is then known that Mr. Ray has joined the stingray migration as Hank, Destiny, and Bailey substitute Mr. Ray during class time.
During the credits, the scene with the stingrays appears in one of the scenes with Hank camouflaged in the scene, though it may only apply for the credits.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The English Audio Description for Finding Dory identifies the stingrays as "eagle rays" (curiously the same species of Mr. Ray). It is unknown if the stingrays passing by are eagle rays or not. Additionally, eagle rays and stingrays are two different species in real life, though both are cartilaginous fish.
- Stingrays have been occasionally featured in some promotions for Finding Dory, despite appearing briefly during the stingray migration scene.
- According to the audio commentary, the stingray migration scene was one of the challenging scenes to animate, due to the stingrays swimming by and the seagrass affected by the stingrays' current. To get the scene to look right, it required a lot of technical crowd work, simulation work, and set work to get the scene right.[2]
References[]
