User reviews

This CG animated feature can't boast a truly great story, but it does go far enough on the abilities of its very well chosen cast. It stars Will Smith as the voice of Oscar, a tongue scrubber at a "whale wash" in an undersea kingdom. Oscar talks big and dreams big, and is tired of being a "nobody". So when one of the sons of great white godfather Don Lino (voice of Robert De Niro) perishes, Oscar takes credit for killing the shark, and becomes the toast of the town. He also becomes friends with Lenny (voice of Jack Black), Don Linos' wimpy, vegetarian son.

"Shark Tale" is good entertainment overall, with plenty of amusing character design, and a respectable amount of energy. The filmmakers do come up with a lot of chuckle-inducing jokes, both verbal and visual. But the real hook is in hearing various actors play animated sharks as mobsters. On one level, the movie is okay viewing for younger viewers (although it might be somewhat intense for the youngest of them), and on another level, it's savvy comedy for grownups, with references to well known mob movies of the past.

Smith is a real live wire as the fast talking Oscar, De Niro is a pleasure, and Renee Zellweger is appealing as Angie, Oscars' co-worker who's really in love with him. Angelina Jolie is just right as the self-serving, seductive fish who only attaches herself to Oscar when she thinks he's going places. Various other familiar voices here, too: Peter Falk, Michael Imperioli, Vincent Pastore, and Ziggy Marley and Doug E. Doug as a pair of Rastafarian jellyfish. It's a particular treat to hear the master filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who lends his voice to Sykes, a frequently flustered puffer fish.

The hip, catchy soundtrack also helps to make this an agreeable 90 minute long outing.

Seven out of 10.

Shark Tale is doubtlessly going to be endlessly compared to Pixar's "Finding Nemo". It is unfortunate that Shark Tale comes out the lesser of the two movies, but truly comparing the two is generally a fruitless exercise.

Opening with a detailed dive into the city of the fish Shark Tale presents a world of sight gags and moderate puns. From the star fish walk of fame through the dolphin police, through to the shots of "the top of the reef", the sequence is a bustling hive of activity. At this point I would make one valid comparison with Nemo - the graphics. Shark Tale fails to really seem as if anything is happening underwater. Yes, there are fish in the shot and yes everything intellectually should be under the sea, but where Nemo oozed and flowed in a very fluid vista Shark Tale shows colour and spectacle, but without that organic ocean feeling. This is not to say Shark Tale's graphic work is bad, simply that it does not feel waterborne.

With that aside, the cartoon images in Shark Tale are well presented, with the anthropomorphic fish taking on the facial characteristics of their voice actors. Never has (or will) a fish ever look more like Wil Smith , or acted like him. This is Wil Smith in full Fresh Prince wise-cracking mode made piscine in Oscar. Renee Zellwegger is instantly recognisable in her fish counterpart Angie, as is the vampy Angela Jolie (Lola).

The story itself revolves around Oscar's passage from an unhappy, dreaming, nobody to a famous, unhappy, somebody to a happy nobody. It's a generic, oft-repeated tale, albeit set in a world full of mafioso sharks, vengeful shrimp, and whales with poor personal hygiene.

As such, the story itself is both predictable and can be safely ignored. You can feel each step of the way long before it hits the screen. It has no surprises, and so the movie resorts to banter and set pieces to amuse.

It doesn't often succeed with these. Of the set pieces the shark funeral is by far the best part of the movie. It is hilarious and somehow moving at the same time. Lenny (Jack Black) and Don Lino (Robert De Niro) make an amusing scene in a restaurant debating with the food. The remainder, including Oscar's big fight scene, are generally uninvolving unless you have an interest in keeping an ear and eye out for the multitude of pop references - many of which are simply thrown in for no reason other than that somebody thought they should be there. Oscar's non sequiturs at the end of the great shark fight are particularly pointless and unfunny.

Some in jokes and references do work - having Ziggy Marley solemnly tell Oscar (Smith) that he's singing reggae wrong is clever. Some gags also work - the pizza ordering Octopus is a gem.

But despite playing heavily on racial stereotypes the movie as a whole feels rather bland - as if it was designed by marketers and a committee rather than by people who had a funny tale they wanted to tell.

The actors supplying the voices vary in effectiveness. Wil Smith is effectively Wil Smith, love it or hate it. Zellwegger gives a decent, if shallow, performance as the love interest, and Jolie's Lola is barely on screen long enough for her to make an impact. De Niro makes the movie as Don Lino, shark godfather, and without his presence it would be fair to say that the movie would simply be too weak to sustain interest.

The music is very MTV, and the end song sequence is atrocious - though kids will probably love it, parents should bring ear plugs for the time when Oscar releases "Missy and Christina" until you leave the cinema.

Shark Tale offers an amusing hour and a half for the children but a rather predictable and only occasionally amusing time for adults. It lacks the magic, sparkle, and dare I say bite, that was so desperately needed.

Six starfish out of a possible 10.

The star power in this movie really made the difference...u can see really see Robert De Niro in the way the shark moves and talks. Martin Scorcese as Skyes is pretty cool...and Will Smith isn't too bad either. The only part that I would be critical about is that the story isn't very original.At times its even predictable. But all in all the movie is funny...Jack black as Lenny is great. Those who liked Finding Nemo would probably like this movie too..(Although it isn't as good as Finding Nemo) Worth a watch...for kids as well as for adults.Angelie Jolie was a great choice to play the part of Lola.The animation in this film is brilliant...buts thats something v have come to expect of animated films..isn't it!!

I did like Shark Tale, but there is a lot wrong with it. I did think the animation was very nicely done, and I liked the references to Jaws and Godfather. But I do think that Finding Nemo was much better than this. Shark Tale could have been a great film, had it not been devoid of humour and heart. My first problem with the film was Will Smith. He tries to be funny, but as the film progresses, he gets tiresome, and at times you feel like you want to reach into the screen and put a hand over his mouth. There were times when the script was funny, and there were some nice ideas, but the pace of the whole film was uneven. The characters could have been developed a lot more, particularly Lenny(a nice surprise from Jack Black), and whereas there were a number of nice visual jokes, there is some very over-familiar material in the script. Kids may find the sharks a bit frightening, and adults won't find much to enjoy, with the exception of the talented voice cast, such as Angelina Jolie, whose Lola(a very beautiful fish) was one of the better characters, Rennee Zellwegger, who deserved better than she was given and Robert DeNiro, whose shark was just a caricature of the Godfather. Though it is Martin Scorsesse who gives the most entertaining vocal contribution. And I did like the music score. All in all, it is nice to look at, but there are some parts of the film that aren't as interesting as intended. I did like the film, but I was kind of confused at who it was aimed at. 6/10 Bethany Cox.

I'm a big fan of the new wave of animated movies that have hit the screen's in the past decade, from the groundbreaking Toy Story up until Shrek, Monsters Inc and last year's, um, incredible. The Incredibles, yet this is one film I had avoided, purely due to the poor reviews it had received. A poor mans Finding Nemo was the criticism levelled at it mostly, so after just viewing it what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be!

De Niro is superb as the mafioso Shark, as is Scourcese, who proves to be quite a good comic character actor. The animation is superb with an entire underwater New York-esquire city created with vehicles, taxi's, skyscrapers and shops beautifully recreated. There are plenty of gags with nods to such films as Jaws, The Godfather and Analyse This, and the film never loses pace throughout it's enjoyable 90 minutes.

My only slight criticism would be that Will Smiths character is basically him as a fish, all wise ass, shades,sneakers etc but I supposed this could be levelled at De Niro, but really this really doesn't detract from an enjoyable movie.

I have to admit going into this review that I didn't at all have the slightest hopes of liking "Shark Tale." From the previews last fall, it reminded me a little too much of Pixar's "Finding Nemo." Not so, as I would later find out. "Shark Tale" draws much of its inspirations, as noted by critic Roger Ebert, from "Casablanca," "Jaws," and "The Godfather" - all movies that are considered to be modern American classics.

"Shark Tale" plays out like an amalgam of all three classic films, and has a plot that shares uncanny parallels to the current events debate about morality and homosexuality in America. The film is set in and around a coral reef that is controlled by a "Godfather"-like mob family of great white sharks. Don Lino (Robert De Niro) is as ruthless as they come, and his two sons Frankie (Michael Imperioli) and Lenny (Jack Black) both have their eyes set on controlling the family and the reef when Lino retires.

The sharks, who run their business out of a spruced-up version of the sunken Titanic, have a reputation for routinely shaking down clients and otherwise being pretty hard on the reef, but Lenny doesn't have that killer instinct in him - he's a vegetarian - and at dinner one night, he sets a shrimp free. This comes as a shock for Don Lino, as Lenny's behavior suddenly becomes a huge embarrassment for him.

On the reef, a hustling fish named Oscar (Will Smith) is aspiring to rise out of his lowly existence working at a whale wash. He's thought up a number of schemes in the past that have all failed and his closest friend is his boss's secretary Angie (Renee Zellweger), who also has a crush on him.

Things become complicated for all the characters when Frankie is accidentally killed by a fisherman's anchor being dropped on his head while he was trying to convince Lenny to be a killer shark by feasting on Oscar, who's indebted to Don Lino for a failed horse-betting scheme. Oscar, who bore witness to the whole incident, seizes the opportunity and using his boss Sykes (Martin Scorsese) as a shameless fight promoter, becomes a hero around the reef as a shark slayer, and Lenny is forced to go into hiding as a result.

"Shark Tale" is entertaining to say the least, with enough in-jokes and gags to certainly reel in unsuspecting viewers. Even though this is a children's film, there is a lot of thematic material that is just too serious to not go at all unnoticed.

The animation is beautiful (though not as good as anything done by Pixar in the last 10 years) and it really gives the deep blue that admirable quality. The voice-acting is pretty impressive too, with all of the actors doing their best, including Angelina Jolie as the gold-digging Lola.

7/10

Round two of the Pixar/Dreamworks choose-a-theme competition scores once again for Pixar.

Remember when a few years ago there were two animated ant movies to choose from? I think they even came at the same time in the theaters in my country. One was AntZ, the other was A Bug's Life. The first one was rumoured to be more suited to adults, the other a kiddie movie. While that statement had some merit, at the end it turned out that A Bug's Life was a far better movie entertainment-wise, despite cuter characters and simpler story and all that kiddie-like appearance. AntZ were just plain dull.

Pixar seems to like choosing a simple story, one that a kid can understand, and than building upon it creating a wonderful movie for all ages. Dreamworks builds his scripts on pop-culture references and more adult themes, and while it works sometimes (Shrek was fantastic), at other times it just falls flat.

Some say it's unfair to compare Finding Nemo and Shark Tale, them being totally different movies with the only matching characteristic being antropomorphic fish, but it seems that the comparison is inevitable. It's the ants thing all over again. Finding Nemo was simply wonderful, great movie with a perfect sense of humour and memorable characters. Sure, they were cute and cuddly, but they had a soul.

Shark Tale, again, tries to appeal to the adults, but this time the results are even worse. The characters are not so important as the cast is, even so much that we are being sledgehammered on the head in who's playing who. A word to the wise - I don't care how big the names doing the voicework are, I want to immerse in the movie's story. When I saw Shrek, I didn't see Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy there, I saw Shrek and Donkey. Here I see De Niro, Smith, Scorsese and so on. At one point I even caught myself wondering why the other fish keep calling Will Smith "Oscar".

As for the story, it kind of drags along. I couldn't really sympathize with the lead character - he is at the same time stupid and so full of himself that I didn't care about his motivations or the messes he got himself into. Also, somehow the story didn't map so well in the underwater world. What is the Shark mafia exactly ? Are they supposed to be predators or criminals? Basically the mafia thing is here only to serve as a playground for mob-movie references, but it serves no purpose story-wise. Also, the entire world seems very unbelievable. Flahing electrical neon signs? Fire hydrants? It actually backfires, since instead of getting a kick out of fishes living like humans, mostly you feel like you're watching an alien movie, with the aliens resembling our world's fishes in some ways.

All in all, I did enjoy the movie, but only in the sense that I didn't feel cheated out of my money. A couple of the jokes worked, some pop-culture references were funny, the movie was not too boring. But when I remember that after Nemo or Incredibles I was smiling even a few hours after the movie, then I see that Shark Tale ain't what it possibly could be. It's just a popcorn movie, easily forgettable. And rightfully so.

I just don't understand why you people hated this film. I mean, the plot was pretty good, and it teaches an important lesson: lying brings nothing but trouble. This is a kids' movie, they wouldn't just go out screaming 'homosexuality is good!". Are you trying to stereotype against vegetarians of something? Cause that's what it sounds like to me! I am putting this post up because I liked the movie and I don't like hearing all this hating! You just have to search for flaws, don't you? If a movie's good, it's good, and if it's bad, it's terrible, but you just have to find every single fault. I just don't get how you can hate a good movie like Shark Tale but love bad movies. Whatever, you're lost. X-(

I can't explain why I didn't like Shark Tale too much. Visually there is a creative backdrop which is absolutely beautiful. I wonder if they just took pictures of New York, doused it underwater and worked around the scenery. Because with the exception of that imagery, Shark Tale has a very loud, very brash, in-your-face mentality that takes away from the movie. Other features like The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo invite you to the paradise of being under the sea. Shark Tale throws you in the middle of the loudest club and tells you to get down on it. I don't buy it and with the exception of some visual gags, nobody else could neither. This is also another movie where Will Smith can get back into his Fresh Prince gear and get away with it and Jack Black could play a gender confused shark and be accepted for it as well. I wanted to enjoy the scenery and the sight of an underground New York. Shark Tale offered it but instead beat us silly with all the hoopla we see everyday on the television set. What a disappointment. Enjoy the humor and expect nothing more.

I liked 'Shark Tale'. It is funny and has quite some original elements I will not spoil for you. But while I was watching I realized how many jokes were there intended for adults and how little for children. Since I guess you have to label this as a family film I was wondering if that was really the intention of the filmmakers. I mean, the main inspiration comes from R-rated films 'The Godfather' and 'Jaws'. Other little jokes and one-liners find their origin in films like 'Scarface', 'Gladiator' and 'Apocalypse Now', again R-rated.All those great laughs, for me at least, will not be funny or even remotely understood by children.

That said, let's approach this film as a comedy mainly made for adults. Again, adults will probably find this very funny, even funnier when you have seen quite some films. The story tells about Lenny (voice by Jack Black), a shark who happens to be a vegetarian, a disgrace for his father Don Lino (Robert De Niro). This shark makes a deal with a small fish named Oscar (Will Smith). On the reef where Oscar lives they think Oscar killed another shark, Lenny's brother, so Lenny and Oscar try to keep the rumor that way. Subplots involve Oscar's longtime friend Angie (Renée Zellweger) who is secretly in love with him, a new fish Lola (Angelina Jolie) who likes Oscar now he is famous, and Sykes (Martin Scorsese), a fish who used to be Don Lino's partner but now teams up with Oscar. Sykes has two helpers, the funny sidekicks any Disney-film would be proud of.

What can I say more about this film? The animation is good, although I liked the approach with 'Finding Nemo' better. On the other hand, this is the kind of film where realistic animation probably would be out of place. Now I have mentioned 'Finding Nemo' I could compare it a little more. 'Nemo' is the better film since it is equally funny for adults and close to the perfect film for children. 'Nemo' was simple in its story but very inventive as well in the little things. Think about the fish with short term memory loss. Things like that you will not find in 'Shark Tale' but you will have many laughs and smiles. Especially the one-liners taken from other films were hilarious but I have to say again; you must have seen the other film to really like it. I did, I laughed.

Had "Shark Tale" had even an iota of the wit and charm that seems to have little trouble finding its way into Pixar's creations, the movie might have been more enjoyable. At the least the filmmakers could have snuck in some funny social commentary through the veil of animation.

What we have instead is an urban, glib, lifeless product that is market-tested and ready for consumption. An empty ghetto-fabulous morality tale loaded with pop culture references and plenty of bling-bling but no heart.

Under the ocean, Oscar (voice of Will Smith) is a tongue-scrubber at a "whale-wash" and part-time hustler. He wishes for a better life, hoping to swim his way to the top of the fish social ladder, though his coworker Angie (voice of Renee Zellweger) thinks he should be happy with who he is, and tries to subtly drop hints that she's quite taken with him.

Meanwhile, great white shark and local crime boss Don Lino (voice of Robert De Niro) is planning to turn his family business over to his two sons, Frankie and Lenny. But Lenny (voice of Jack Black) is harboring some serious issues concerning eating other fish, and the godfather is worried his weak son with reflect poorly on him.

Oscar has problems. In debt to his boss Sykes (voice of Martin Scorsese), he soon ends up in hot water. However, fate runs him smack into Frankie and Lenny. During the scuffle, an anchor accidentally kills Frankie and Oscar is mistakenly given credit for the kill. Now a media celebrity for being a "shark slayer," Oscar rides his status all the way to the top, with Sykes managing his interests and the sharks fuming that their top spot in the food chain is quickly losing its power.

Situations soon escalate and Oscar and Lenny reach an agreement: if they fake a battle and Oscar emerges triumphant, he can keep his credibility as a shark slayer and Lenny can start a new life.

"Shark Tale" openly references "The Godfather" and "Jaws" at every opportunity, which in and of itself isn't too bad except that so little is made of the main plot itself that the whole move feels like a patchwork of other, better movies, just with a meaningless hip-hop attitude. The special effects are up to par but there's nothing really special about them. The audience needs a story and characters, not just choreographed dance sequences and goofy product placements.

All this might have been negligible had the movie actually been funny. This, sadly, is not the case. I only recorded one good laugh during the screening I attended, and that involved a shark voiced by Peter Falk whose flatulence had the expected effect on a henchmen. When a fart joke is the best you have to offer, then you've got serious problems.

The story also steals shamelessly from the 1942 Disney cartoon "The Reluctant Dragon," which featured a fixed battle between a loudmouth braggart knight and a pacifist dragon to keep the locals off both their backs. That story was at least short and cute, neither of which can be said about this debacle.

Along with the plot, voice acting is pretty lifeless as well. Smith gets to indulge his ego, playing his own persona on screen once again, this time in fish form. De Niro and Scorsese seem to be having fun spoofing their own tough guy roles, but that's about it from them. The biggest surprise is how much of a laid-back performance Black gives. His trademark manic desperation is nowhere to be seen, playing instead a shockingly normal character. Had he cut loose, the scenes he's in might have been more enjoyable. What's stranger is his hiding of his vegetarian leanings from his dad is handled like an allegory for a gay person coming out to his parents.

When is Hollywood going to realize it doesn't matter how many famous actors you get to do voices for your characters; if the story sucks, then no amount of acting talent is going to save it? There are three Academy Award winners in this cast, just don't use that as a benchmark for excellence.

This all amounts to another animated project from DreamWorks high on energy and low on inspiration. After "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmarron," "Road to El Dorado" and "Sinbad" all tanked, it's clear that the "Shrek" series is the only good thing the studio has going for it right now.

Of course, there's no escaping comparison to that other computer animated fish movie, either, and that's when this film looks most wanting. Where Pixar's "Finding Nemo" swam the full depths of the ocean, "Shark Tale" seems content to just tread water in the wading pool.

4 out of 10 stars. Pretty to look at, but any movie that tries to push this much "coolness" down your throat is just asking to be despised.

After seeing the opening today I have to admit...Shark's Tale was one of the corniest movie I've seen in my life...CORNY to the bone. The plot was awesome, and I had laughs, but the writers really tried too hard to make this movie too funny, and they're going to lose international credibility for it...a whole lot.

Let me give you a Jamaican perspective. I'm not taking anything from Ziggy Marley (Ernie) & Doug E. Doug (Bernie); they both couldn't have done the 'Jellyfish Rastas Duo' roles better. But seriously now, both roles were controversially laced with cuss words taken from the Jamaican dialect (thankfully that most Americans don't understand). And so, I felt quite embarrassed listening to the context in how it was done. I'm proud of my Jamaican culture and dialect and that many people would love to learn & experience it. But the writers just can't incorporate cuss words into a kid's movie like that.

It might be funny to some, but it also sends a negative message to the younger audience about different cultures. I wouldn't be surprised if, people walk out on this one when this comes out in the Caribbean.

It is a lot of fun to hear the voices of great actors come out from animated characters. You can always see full in your mind's eyes how each actor looked when they delivered their lines. This film is no exception. The actors must have had great time doing the voices. My children and I enjoyed the film very much. Shark tales also brings into light the good positive message that children must learn. It is a story about accepting oneself and living up to your potentials. It is about pride and true love. Those lessons are well integrated in the tapestry of the story. The animation was very good as well as the sound track.

After the amount of criticism this movie received by critics/film fans alike I was pretty reluctant to sit down and watch this movie which is pretty unlike me seeing as I generally don't go on other peoples opinion. However I'm glad I stuck to my guns as this film really took me on a ride of laughs and emotions.

To start with looking at a cast which includes Will Smith, Robert De Nero and Jack Black you would have to be a really bad scriptwriter to make these guys mess up. The animation is superb and the hidden story lines/jokes make a truly intriguing story.

This film cant be compared to Finding Nemo due to the fact the films are totally different aside from the fact they are both underwater (it has more in common with spongebob than it does Nemo!) A sign of a good movie is when time flies and the film is in the closing credits before you know it, and thats what this film delivered to me, i felt good at the end of it and I would without a doubt watch it again.

'Oscar' is a character a lot of people may relate to, he is in a dead end job, wants to be a character and make people laugh and dreams of living in a far off land getting everything he wants, the film takes us on the ride of what it is like to get it all, and shows its not all we imagine it to be, the rich can be upset to, and again be dreamers, this time of the life they had left behind.

Totally worthy of a 'worth see' movie.

This movie was another on of those movies that at any age if you watch it you will ove it. It will definitely make you smile and have a good chuckle out if it. It was more enoyable for kids I admit, but it was just so amusing you gotta love it. The story plot is simply and fun and I guess does teach you a bit or two about moral friends and being honest and truthful.. But it was all fun and games. it was a cute movie that anyone will like. So go out there and watch it because it is worth it to watch it. Shark tale is better than Fidning Nemo, but both had there strengths and weakneses. Shark Tale is a great lesson for small kids and maybe even a few adults.

This movie is terrible, bad lighting, bad acting, Martin Scorsese randomly being in it for some reason and it being god awful. Christ, this movie had pop culture references that were outdated before it came out. This movie's biggest sin though, is the main character, played by a perfectly good actor - Will Smith. Seriously, this gut lies to everyone, cares about no-one but himself, takes a family air loom from a friend that was given to him out of the kindness of her heart so he could pay of his debt but then he bets it on a horse race because he over hears some random person say that the race is rigged. You don't want to watch the film because you don't care. Also, this movie cost £75 million dollars and it looks ugly as all hell and they didn't properly light some of the shots. It is a massive skid mark on the trousers of Dreamworks.

I have to confess my shock at seeing the 5.9/10 average rating for this movie and overall mediocre reviews. This movie is great! And I'm not a kid, either...I'm 26 years old and thoroughly enjoyed this movie at the age of 25. The soundtrack is unbelievable and fits in seamlessly with the action and comedy of the movie. You really have to hear Mary J. Blige's rendition of Cheryl Lynn's classic disco anthem, "Got to Be Real." Anyway, besides the fantastic soundtrack, every character in this movie matches beautifully with his or her celebrity voice. I particularly enjoyed Will Smith's and Martin Scorcese's characters; brilliantly done. Really, if you're looking for a fun, enjoyable movie that you can laugh and even dance along to, this is the movie for you. Young and old alike should enjoy this. I've seen it 3 times, and always have a good time watching it. Watch it!

We had high hopes of this movie (My wife our four year old girl and I) but sadly it did not grip any of us. Technically brilliant animation but the leaden script badly let the movie down. The sharks had the best lines but one "Jaws" gag was enough. The likes of Toy Story or even Finding Nemo have much wittier scripts and more interesting stories. Even my daughter was bored during the middle reels when nothing much was happening. Somehow the fishes having humanesque faces was slightly disturbing and a little unpleasant. I longed for Dory or Nemo; not just because of how they looked but because of their comparative naivety. Still, I'm sure someone will now use the colour techniques developed for this film to make something better.

3/10