Shark Tale Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)October 1st, 2004
SHARK TALE
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Oscar's (Will Smith, "Ali") dreams involve so much more than his job at the Whale Wash, where his 'best friend' Angie (Renee Zellweger, "Cold Mountain"), the front office girl, dreams of more than friendship. The little bright yellow fish ends up in the wrong place at the right time when he becomes the bait Great White mob son Frankie (Michael Imperioli, HBO's "The Sopranos") uses to get his brother Lennie (Jack Black, "The School of Rock") to drop his vegetarian act just before getting offed by a well timed anchor drop. Oscar uses the dead shark for his own fame and fortune as the Sharkslayer, a whopper of a fish story the media spins as a "Shark Tale."
Dreamworks animation gives "Finding Nemo" a hip hop makeover that fizzles when it should sizzle. "Shark Tale" has a couple of cute gags, but its unlikable hero and dull storyline sink it.
The film's most imaginative moment is it's very first few moments, when the Dreamworks logo boy casts a line from his crescent moon and the worm tied to his hook becomes "Shark Tale's" first talking character. The cute little buy is let free by Lenny, the misunderstood shark (who looks a little toothless after Nemo's bad boy trying to go good). Back at Reef City, Oscar owes 5,000 clams to his boss Sykes (director Martin Scorcese) for a string of money making ideas gone bad. Sykes, who is tired of forking over payola to mob boss Don Lino (Robert DeNiro), jumps at the chance to turn Oscar's shark-slaying tale into a money making legend that also keeps the sharks at bay. Oscar, who finally gets his penthouse and bling, also gets a tiresome entourage, a gold-digging femme fatale (Angelina Jolie), an inconvenient new bud in Lennie the shark and the loss of Angie's respect.
While it's great to finally get a performance from Jack Black as something other than loud and hyperactive, Will Smith does nothing to make Oscar engaging. None of the vocal talents particularly stand out with the exception of the unmistakable Peter Falk as old shark Don Feinberg. Vincent Pastore's (Big Pussy from "The Sopranos") Luca, a calamari consigliare, has some amusing lines and DeNiro does fine by the don, but the distinctive voice of Scorcese as an excitable pufferfish isn't as funny in execution as must have been in casting. Katie Couric's presence as news anchor Katie Current has achieved the goal of incessant plugging on The Today Show (Dreamworks animation is taking product placement to new levels as the Gap, among others, makes its second punny appearance in a Dreamworks toon this year.)
Screenwriter Michael J. Wilson ("Ice Age") trots out unfunny film references ("Jerry Maguire") and rehashed plot lines ("Trading Places," "Nemo") with deadening results. Wilson's world is one of those half realized fantastical places where for every one thing rejiggered for its imagined environs, like the car wash/cleaning station, something else, like a fire hydrant, is a lazy bit of nonsensical background. The best reinvention in "Shark Tale" is inspired - a pair of Rastaffarian jellyfish with day-glo hats and electrical dreads. A shrimp cocktail with a sob story is another cute touch, but the good ideas stop flowing pretty quickly. Well integrated 1970s musical selections can make a film pop, but "Shark Tale's" use of the theme from "The Godfather," "Car Wash" and "Movin' On Up" merely make it feel dated.
C
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