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 I got what I expected. There are very few times, in a movie review, that I feel I can write this. At times I will have a very bad feeling about a movie going in, and it doesn't suck nearly as much as I thought it would because my expectations were so low. Other times I have outstanding expectations and I'm disappointed because my expectations were too high. Rarely do I make my snap judgement on a movie and have it meet my expectations exactly. Shark Tale did just that. I assumed that it would be derivative, saccharine, and hurried. I assumed it would be shallow and weak... a watered down version of Finding Nemo. I received just that. For voice talent we have Will Smith playing Oscar. Ok, how many more times are we going to have to see Will Smith play Will Smith? Don't get me wrong, I love seeing him act the "playa" part, but can we please get a change-up here? It's getting to the point where we can recite his lines as they're coming out of his mouth (or out of the mouth of his animated character) even though we're seeing the film for the first time! C'mon, Will... show some diversity! Then we have DeNiro playing Don Lino, a Mafia/shark. So I will say the same for DeNiro that I did for Smith... show some $%^&* diversity!!! I mean, really! All you do is play wiseguys and godfathers! Even when you play comedies, it's as a Mafia parody! Do I have to mention Angelina Jolie? *ahem* Show...some... DIVERSITY! Jebus, I sound like a broken record. Did they fit the parts? I suppose so, but there just isn't any freshness to their schtick anymore and it seeps into the film. On the bright side of the voice talent, we have Jack Black. Now HERE is diversity. I had no idea that it was Jack Black until the credits rolled. I mean, I knew he was supposed to be in the movie, but I could never pick him out. Black didn't play anything like you would expect him to play. Whether it was just in contrast to the phoned in performances of everyone else or because he was actually great, he gets my applause. I'd say something about the animation, but really, there's nothing to write about. It could have been done with cell painting and pen & ink artists and come off with more creativity... instead it was some weak characters with average animation, and little in the way of textures. It looked animated... and it wasn't an interesting style. Now I have to discuss the writing of the film or the lack of it. I mean, I'd rather not, it's worse than a car wreck. At least in an auto accident people slow down to check out the carnage, in Shark Tale you just want to skip over it and move on with your life. Point by point, line by line, joke by pathetic joke, the movie is predictable as you could possibly make it. I bet focus groups loved this garbage. No surprises. Most of the jokes were pun after pun after pun. Granted, I did laugh a couple times, but for the life of me I can't remember why. That's how memorable it was. That's how original the jokes were. Then, of course, there's the moral of the story... It's better to be a nobody and be loved for who you are instead of a somebody who is loved for who you appear to be. Can we get a hanky? Nah, don't need one. Did it get anyone choked up? Did it really impress on anyone some valuable morals? I don't think so. I don't think it left an indelible mark of any kind on anyone. We're talking about a movie that will disappear into the annuls of movie history and take it's place next to "Anastasia", "Ice Age", and "Little Mermaid II". Overall, Shark Tale just didn't do it for me. It had it's moments, but they were soon forgotten. If I had a six-year-old, I might consider getting it, because they might appreciate it, but on the heels of animated greats like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Shrek 2... I expect more out of my feature length animations. One thumb up.   Jim's Review: Nemo, it ain't. Still, that's not to say that "Shark Tale", Dreamworks Animation's star-studded, nice-looking animated film, isn't worth checking out. Just that a standard has already been set for undersea animated adventures, and "Shark Tale" does little to challenge it. Don't get me wrong...It's a perfectly funny, well-done, and charming film. And, perhaps the argument can be made that comparisons to Pixar/Disney's movie are unfair and have hurt the film unneccesarily...At least in a critical sense. But ignoring the shadow of "Finding Nemo", especially when "Shark Tale" could not, is equal folly. One thing that can be said about "Shark Tale" is that it features a pretty impressive roster of stars providing voice to the characters. Oscar (Will Smith) is a streetwise, hip little fish with big dreams...He wants to 'be somebody'. Much like small-time hustlers on land, he's forever looking for a get-rich-quick scheme that will take him out of the "Whale Wash" where he works as a tongue scraper (just like his father before him), and up to that blingy penthouse atop the reef. As such, he's forever borrowing "cash advances" from his boss, a puffer fish named Sykes (a fun Martin Scorcese). As above the surface, these ideas rarely, if ever, actually pan out. So, he's left dreaming. The receptionist at the Whale Wash, Angie (A very pouty Renée Zellweger) secretly crushes on Oscar, and doodles mash notes to him when she's not busy rolling her eyes at his antics. Naturally, Oscar has no idea of Angie's designs on him, and continually frustrates her with his obliviousness. Meanwhile, across the reef, there are sharks. Big, mean ones. Occasionally, the sharks wander into Oscar's 'hood, and the whole place shuts nervously down until they leave. "Shark Tale" imagines its sharks as sharp-toothed bottle-nosed wiseguys; a de facto Mob responsible for all of the crime, but also possessed of all of the social morés and forced respect of their land-based counterparts. Their head, Don Lino (Robert DeNiro) has two sons. Frankie (Michael Imperioli) is a brutal, vicious killer. Daddy is proud of him, and is grooming him for the "family." Lenny (Jack Black), is a different story. Underneath his tough exterior, he's got a gentle soul. Killing is not his speed. In fact, he's a vegetarian! This sits about as well as you'd expect with Da Don, so he entrusts Frankie with teaching Lenny a thing or two about being a shark. It is on a hunting expedition with Frankie that Lenny comes upon Oscar, bound and gagged and being roughed up by Sykes' two Rasta jellyfish henchmen (a very funny Doug E. Doug and Ziggy Marley) for unpaid debt. Oscar is more or less a sitting duck, and Frankie figures he'd be an easy target...So he instructs Lenny to eat him. When Lenny refuses, Frankie angrily elects to eat Oscar instead. Unfortunately, he is squashed by an ill-timed anchor in the attempt. When the dust settles, Frankie is no more. The jellyfish see Oscar atop a dead shark, and Lenny fleeing. Naturally, conclusions are drawn, and Oscar is immediately hailed as a "Sharkslayer" upon his return to the reef. Naturally, at least at first, Oscar does nothing to set them straight, enjoying his new celebrity and the perks it provides, including romantic attention from an oddly voluptuous, gold-digging fish named Lola (Angelina Jolie). What transpires from that point forward can easily be guessed at. Nevertheless, even though the storyline of "Shark Tale" is formulaic and predictable, actually watching the film is still fun. The visuals are bright, colorful, and well put-together, although the lengths to which the character modelers go to make the animated fish look like their celebrity counterparts is as unnerving as it is amusing. Don Lino matches DeNiro sneer for sneer, and shares his distinctive mole. Sykes' unruly eyebrows and nervous grin are familiar to any Scorcese fan. And Lola naturally has the bee-stung lips and sultry eyes that have made Angelina Jolie famous. It's obvious that a camera was running during the recording of the dialogue. To my eye, the character design actually seems to work better when an obvious, distinctive celebrity's mannerisms are not as evident. Take Ernie and Bernie, the jellyfish. Their Rasta-riffic style is as inspired a character design as I've seen anywhere...So much so that I'm surprised it hasn't to the best of my knowledge been done before. And Crazy Joe the Hermit Crab (David P. Smith) is a consistent provider of genuine chuckles. Also of note are the films many peripheral "throwaway" gags. Unlike "Nemo", the fish in this film aren't simply pesonified and sentient...They are fully anthromorphic, and exist in a society that mirrors that of humans. They have buildings, props, and culture. And naturally, this provides many opportunities for fun spoofing. Like Dreamworks' "Shrek" franchise, the subtle gags and fun pop-culture riffage provide some of the heartiest laughs in the film. So, the bottom line...Chris and I held off on checking out "Shark Tale" until it was literally the last film at the multiplex niether of us had seen yet...but after actually having seen it, it doesn't seem to me to have fully deserved most of the critical drubbing it recieved. Sure, it's derivative, formulaic, and predictable. But it's also stylish, good-looking and fun. In a "Nemo"-less vacuum, "Shark Tale" is definitely worth a rental. Five thumbs up. BackHome - Info - Reviews - Map - Message Board - Photo Album |
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