Year:
2004
Studio:
DreamWorks SKG/Pacific Data Images
Feature:
3/5
Shark Tale is an
animated movie about fish that live much like humans. Oscar (Will
Smith) is a fish that dreams of fame and glory, working at the Whale
Wash he is constantly involved in one get-rich scheme after another.
All the while friend and coworker Angie (Renée Zellwegger) is
not so secretly in love with Oscar but Oscar is too caught up with
himself to notice.
Meanwhile the big menage to Fish City are the sharks that appear to
live out of the hulk of the Titanic. Modeled after the Italian Mafia,
the sharks are led by the aging Don Lino (Robert De Niro). Lino is
planning to retire soon and wants his two sons to take over for him.
Unforunately, although he has a tough manly son in Frankie (Michael
Imperioli), Lino's other son is the effeminite vegetarian Lenny (Black
Jack).
Due to another wacky plan, Oscar gets into trouble and is tied up in
the middle of nowhere by the jellyfish thugs Ernie (Ziggy Marley) and
Bernie (Doug E Doug). Frankie and Lenny come up on the scene and
Frankie urges Lenny to show that he's a real shark. In the ensuing
chaos Frankie is killed and it seems to the jellyfish that Oscar killed
him.
Oscar grabs the opportunity and becomes The Shark Slayer. Fame,
fortune, and the beautiful goldigger Lola (Angelia Jolie) are all his.
Until the shark mafia find out about this shark slayer and Lino wants
his head for killing Frankie.
|
Oscar is in trouble but he bumps
into Lenny again. Lenny, who has been hiding in shame. Lenny, who wants
to run away and live peacefully with the fishes. Oscar and Lenny team
up: Lenny will help Oscar chase away the sharks and Oscar will help
Lenny live in town. But the sharks won't be so easily cowed and it'll
soon come down to a showdown between Oscar and Don Lino.
It's a very well done movie. The plot is generally uninspired since it
is a children's film. The dialogue though is quite funny. Will Smith
makes a good ghetto fish. Angie is a great lovelorn character. Lenny is
a cute and adorable shark. Really, that's what makes the movie: cute
talking sharks.
Oscar is the main protagonist though. He goes from being shallow to
realizing that fame and fortune are not what he really wanted after
all. He also discovers that his feelings for Angie are as strong as her
feelings for him.
What I liked: Lenny and Angie.
What I didn't like: Oscar is a bit too snarky at times.
|