Shark Tale

Voice cast: Will Smith, Renee Zellweger, Robert De Niro, Jack Black, Martin Scorsese, Angelina Jolie
Directors: Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson, Rob Letterman
Synopsis: Oscar (Will Smith) is a fast-talking little fish who dreams big. But his big dreams land him in hot water when a great white lie turns him into an unlikely hero. At first, his fellow fish swallow Oscar's story hook, line and sinker and he is showered with fame and fortune. It's all going along swimmingly, until it starts to become clear that Oscar's tale about being the defender of the Reef is all wet. Oscar is finding out that being a hero comes at a Market Price when his lie threatens to make him the Catch of the Day. Now he has to tread water until he can get the scales to tip back in his favor again. (taken from movies.yahoo.com)

Mini Review:
Brief introduction: today's animation film market are dominated by only two company: Pixar and Dreamworks Animation. Since 1998, they have been consistently putting their product(s) annually to the public with mostly spectacular box office returns as well as some critical acclaims (you can hardly find a negative reviews for these movies) . Ever since Pixar hit big with Toy Story in 1996 and Dreamworks with Shrek in 2001, they have been constantly fighting for their share of pies in the market (i.e trying to break B.O records). The kind of movies that they produce tend to be very high quality - 3D - animated family friendly movies that appeal to all ages: they are kids friendly while at the same time, sometimes contains some in-jokes and themes that would not bore the adults. This formula is not likely to change until the box office dies down.

To be honest, aside from the high quality animation (which improves amazingly every year), I have not been really greatly impressed by any movies by both companies. The last Pixar movie that I loved was Toy Story 2 (which i gave full 5 stars) and I thought that both Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo was overrated ; they are good movies but they are just quite predictable and formulaic to me. I also could say the same thing about the 2 Shrek movies that Dreamworks have produced (although I really enjoyed the 2nd one). With that in mind, I am not really always enthusiastic anymore whenever another Pixar / Dreamworks movie opens, usually with many great hype. I approach this latest Dreamworks offering, Shark Tale, with the same thought, and came out with what I expected. I was entertained, but the whole show is pretty forgettable.

Once again, Dreamworks have not changed their "winning" formula at all for this movie. Cast famous voice stars, create a family friendly story while at the same time inject some popular in-jokes and references (Godfather refs) that might entertained the adults. Apart from these, the film does not really give anything new. Being formulaic is not really a big problem for me, as long as the movie executes the formula well. For example, Shrek 2 feels like a remake of the 1st Shrek, but it won me over with its really greatly effective post-modern take and jokes on the fairy-tale genre. On the other handThe Godfather, Titanic, Scarface in-jokes in Shark Tale are funny but they are pretty routine already by now (especially the Godfather). In terms of the voice cast, Will Smith brings some energy to Oscar, but it wasn't really as cool as when he was in "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". Renee Zellweger, Jack Black gave a good support although Black's shark character is way too hard to be believable (vegetarian , dolphin-dressing shark?). The most pleasant surprise is legendary director Martin Scorsese's Sykes, there is hardly any scene without funny moments whenever he's around. On the other hand, Robert De Niro gave his usual mafia boss rendition, nothing new and Angelina Jolie is not around so much; they probably did this for a paycheck. The animation is good but it definitely suffers in comparison with the other fish movie that came out last year ;) .

All in all, Shark Tale, feels like another generic family entertainment film. It's definitely fun and worth a look but it's not really great. One hopes that Dreamworks (and also personally, Pixar) would offer something more daring or fresh in the future. I think the preview of Dreamworks' next, Madagascar, is quite promising. But until than, I still don't buy the hype of the popular 3D animation movies produced today.

(review for The Incredibles and The Polar Express should be up soon for comparison)

Rating: 3 out of 5


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