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Shark Tale (2004)
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Thanks to the enormous success of Pixar movies such as Toy Story and Monsters, Inc, a computer-animated feature needs to be extra special to really make a mark. It's not good enough to be merely average, which is why this family comedy from DreamWorks — the company behind the Shrek phenomenon — disappoints a little. A thinly disguised morality lesson, it tells the tale of a celebrity-obsessed fish (voiced by Will Smith) who masquerades as a shark-killing hero with the aid of a vegetarian great white (Jack Black). Overall, the film is entirely serviceable, kept buoyant by its irreverent humour and some adult-friendly movie skits. However, unlike its closest companion, Finding Nemo, it gives the underwater world a humanised slant, ignoring its natural magic. Instead, the sea life looks rather charmless, but there is a certain “wow” factor in the cleverness of the “car wash” scenes. Luckily, the voice casting shows more imagination, with Robert De Niro's Mafioso shark and Martin Scorsese's crooked puffer fish both delightfully memorable. SF
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Tell us what you think
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Running time
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86min
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Country of origin
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US
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Genre
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Animated Comedy Adventure
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Alternate title
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Sharkslayer
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Original language
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English
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Screenplay
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Michael J Wilson, Rob Letterman
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Theatrical distributor
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UIP
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UK cinema certificate
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U
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UK cinema release date
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October 2004
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Film certification logos reproduced by kind permission of BBFC |
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