Shark Tale (2004) review

(4/10)

This is one of DreamWorks' flops that reassures me that Pixar's tons better.

PLOT:Oscar (Will Smith) has been a nobody his whole life: broke, ridiculed, and working at a "Whale Wash", the fish paralell to a car wash. One day, when Oscar's boss, Sykes (Martin Scorsese), tells Oscar he needs five grand that he borrowed within 24-hours, Oscar must get it. With the help of his friend, Angie (Renee Zellweger), he gets it and squanders it, leaving Sykes and his jellyfish minions (Doug E. Doug and  Ziggy Marley) to take drastic measures. Meanwhile, the sharks are at the top of the food chain and rulers of the ocean. The lead shark, Don Lino (Robert De Niro) tells Sykes that he's retiring and leaving his rule to his two sons Frankie and Lenny (Jack Black). The flaw in this is that Lenny is a vegitarian shark that can't kill a fish. Lino then tells Frankie to go out and show Lenny the ropes. Well, these two storylines meet when a fatal mistake klls Frankie and Oscar is blamed. Due to a white lie, he is now known as the shark-slaying savior of the reef. This, of course, can't last with the sharks after him, Lenny on the loose, and the fact that it's all a lie. It's a cleverly-thought plot executed pretty badly.



VOICES:The voice cast is mainly all-star, inlcuding the voices I've listed above along with Angelina Jolie, Michael Imperioli, Peter Falk, Katie Couric, and Bobb'e J. Thompson. However, this experienced cast is squandered; even the most expert voice talents, such as Jack Black, fail and become annoying. The only voices that actually did a pretty great job with their roles were Robert De Niro as Don Lino, Martin Scorsese as Sykes, and Doug E. Doug as Bernie with an honorable mention to Katie Couric as Katie Current (a clever play on words). Renee Zellweger did okay, in my eyes, but she still was pretty annoying, as the others were.

SCORE:The soundtrack is actually pretty upbeat and fun. It includes songs by artists such as Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliot, Ziggy Marley, Sean Paul, Justin Timberlake, Mary J. Blige, India.Arie, Pussycat Dolls, D12, and way more. Not to mention, this has one of the most memorable compositions by DreamWorks beloved Hanz Zimmer.

ANIMATION:This is the highlight of the entire movie. If it weren't for the colorful and detailed animation, this movie would have been even more of a drag.



OTHER CONTENT:This is definitely one of the worst DreamWorks movies. It's generic, unfunny, and at times, boring. This does have a few good things, however. There were times when it was clever and a lot of fun, and some jokes actually did inspire a chuckle or two. Still, it's pretty bad.

OVERALL,a not-bad-but-not-good DreamWorks movie with a pretty badly executed plot, squandered voice talents, fun soundtrack, detailed animation, generic style, unfunny jokes, and boring moments, but it can be clever and a lot of fun with its moments.