Shark Tale Review
by Chris McGeachy (chrismcg AT shaw DOT ca)September 28th, 2004
Shark Tale
It's a big ocean out there - and obviously Dreamworks felt that there was room for two big fishes in a sea of riches when they decided to do a Finding Nemo of their own. Oscar (Will Smith) is a small and unimportant fish in a big ocean; that is until he inadvertently crosses paths with Don Lino (Robert DeNiro), Godfather of the Shark mob. Lino is looking for revenge when his favorite son is killed, and Oscar - seeing an opportunity to get out of the slums - takes credit for the kill and becomes a public hero. After getting tied up with Lino's self-conflicted son named Lenny (Jack Black), Oscar finds that fame isn't all that its cracked up to be - and that importance can't be judged and weighed with the almighty dollar sign.
Of course, this premise is interestingly ironic, considering all of the product placements that we endure throughout this movie. Where Finding Nemo featured subtle parodies of human society underwater, Dreamworks fashions Shark Tale by giving celebrities gills, animating its characters to the persona they're being voiced by. One has to wonder whether Dreamworks pitched a film like Finding Nemo to the big corporations, asking for money and then sold ad space by the dollar. There's a subtle art to placing products in a film, and while it can sometimes be a minor nuisance in some films, Shark Tale shoots a barrage of these products in our faces - and it doesn't sit well with me.
This also made it harder to swallow the moral pill that money and status doesn't solve all of life's problems, as the film pays due to all who invested heavily in this project (and we see everything from Coke to Krispy Kreme Donuts being). Certainly the deterring factor between good film and great film was the abundance of corporate influence on the script and the surroundings featured in the film. This is no Finding Nemo, as I have to ask where we draw the line between satire and brainwashing. And considering that Shark Tale was meant for kids, what the hell is the message here? Drink Coke and listen to shitty Christina Aguilera remakes of classic funk tunes? Absolutely not.
But here I am, delineating the film as a total piece of shit - when there are some good things thrown into the mix as well. Visually the film is pretty stunning - and Dreamworks definitely reaffirms its own sense of style of computer generated affairs; I suppose it's easier to sell these kinds of movies when they feature a familiar famous face (as I said, Dreamworks animated these characters well), and everything from the character design to the underwater world is done with detailed precision. I did like the message the story had to tell, despite the irony mentioned above - and there are some really good jokes when the film isn't busy parodying a product that we can buy.
If there's anything certain to be said about Shark Tale, it is that kids will eat this film up. At a packed theater I witnessed many youngsters filling the cinema with cries of laughter and awe - and it's certainly nice to see that Dreamworks Animation did something that is a lot of fun. Isn't it odd how times have changed, and how is it since the days of the exceptionally clever film Antz they've become a marketing powerhouse? These may be the inane ramblings of some hippie bastard who has nothing better to do than bitch about money (or the lack thereof), but frankly I don't feel comfortable telling you to bring your kids without warning you that they'll be getting a delicious spoonful dose of advertisement heroin. Either way, many people will get a kick out of seeing the likes of Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, Jack Black, Will Smith, Renee Zellweger and Angelina Jolie personified as sea creatures, and Shark Tale certainly will do what it set out to do in the first place - bank some serious coin.
(C) Chris McGeachy September 26 2004
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