Oscar - "I got just one little problem I have to take care of.. SHARKS ARE COMING TO GET ME"
Angie

   Despite a diverse and yet exceptional cast, Shark Tale remains to be a film that never breaks the surface of the water in its own attempt to breath. Dreamworks Animation had a stellar run with its Shrek series however this film remains quite simply.. mediocre. However, being devoured by Pixar classics and most recently 'The Incredibles', the future for mega company Dreamworks in terms of its animation studio may be a bit murky.

  The whole story (or lack of) revolves around the almost-eccentric fish character Oscar (Will Smith) and his claim to fame as being known as the 'Shark Slayer' when a boat anchor kills a predatory shark prowling the outer edges of the reef. Oscar still stuck in the vicinity of the area, cons and lies his way to fame by taken credit for the kill. Oscar is now designated as the protector of the reef and is associated with the high-class, rich and famous persona but eventually realizes his lies are hurting him and wishes he could go back to being the normal guy he used to be. His unrecognized love for Angie (Rene Zellweger) finally urges him to follow his heart. The biggest downfall of this film is after the first 15 minutes, everything becomes very predictable and the story has a hard time developing in any direction.

  The hardest part about reviewing an animated film is the character performances are really limited and most acclamation or criticism is due in part to the animators/story tellers. However, the performances and characters that save this film are Don Lino (Robert Dinero), Angie (Renee Zellweger), and surprisingly Lenny (Jack Black). Will Smith and Martin Scorsese's characters hold their own, but nothing more. Angelina Jolie (while with a body not meant for on screen animation), is displayed as a dull and uninteresting character and are unable to rate a performance dedicated to someone who was poorly scripted.

  There is a great amount of mostly not quite so funny references used from our pop culture. Perhaps all these parodies were crammed into the film to fill in the many holes of this boat in its cut short attempt not to sink. Perhaps the greatest of these to actually work is the mafia-esque theme around the sharks. Dinero is rock solid for what he was given to work with. The Ziggy Marley and Doug E. Doug additions are also welcome additions to this film. Don't get me wrong, there are times when this film does move in the right direction but seemingly gets nailed by a rogue wave each time. The ending of the film was quite dull itself and left you feeling as if something was missing (perhaps an hour and half of your live).

  When it gets down to it, the story just never goes anywhere and you are left felt anchored to the bottom of the sea. The path-to-fame-with its drawbacks and casualties has been played over and over in hollywood and this film brings a limited array of new material. Combined with sub-par animation it makes for a very average film meant primarily for young kids for simplistic entertainment.  This film is very appealing to the much younger audiences but after all, how many 10 year olds will be able to relate material to the God Father Trilogy?? Dreamworks 'Madagascar' slated for later 2005 may be the clutch film to save its animation department. Until then if you want to see the the best animated film since Toy Story 2, go check out 'The Incredibles'.

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