Shark Tale

"Shark Tale is such an atrocious movie and I don’t understand how people like it. With that said, I love this movie. I am obsessed with it."

- Schaffrillas Productions

"After the string of decent to amazing films prior, this is a major step down for DreamWorks Animation. Let's just hope the next film I'll be looking at will be better."

- JacobHessReviews

Shark Tale is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation, directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron and Rob Letterman. It stars Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, and Martin Scorsese.

The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 10, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 1.

Plot
Underachiever Oscar is a pint-sized fish with grand aspirations. When mob-connected great white shark Frankie is accidentally killed, Oscar concocts a story with Frankie's peace-loving brother Lenny that it was he who murdered the shark. Suddenly hailed "Sharkslayer" by his aquatic brethren, Oscar has bigger fish to fry when Frankie's father, mob boss Don Lino, dispatches his henchmen to track down his son's killer.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some of the characters either have mediocre characterization or follow cliché and racial stereotypes:
 * 2) *Oscar, while fairly likable and sympathetic, is somewhat generic, as he is presented as an immature narcissist who has a shallow dream of being rich and famous and does not fully appreciate the things that matter in life.
 * 3) *Lenny is nothing more than what comes across as pandering to what is the equivalent to LGBTQ+ people than an actual character; he is a shark who is a vegetarian and his father is ashamed of him for being different.
 * 4) *Ernie and Bernie, Skye's two jellyfish henchmen, are very annoying comic reliefs and are portrayed as Jamaican stereotypes.
 * 5) Not very good attempts at humor which consist of mediocre fish-related puns and a brief scene where a fish is shown trying to run a sushi business, the latter of which would be considered cannibalism if a fish citizen were to eat said sushi. They also made puns on several product placements, especially in a DreamWorks film, such as McDonald’s as McBubble’s, Gap as Gup, Samsung as Seasung, and Starbucks as Seabucks.
 * 6) Sub-par computer animation, considering how this was DreamWorks' first fully computer-animated feature without Pacific Data Images (PDI).
 * 7) *The visuals, themselves, are also washed-out and appear to be of rather low quality.
 * 8) Rather uncanny designs for the characters, with Oscar outright resembling his voice actor, Will Smith; the fact that the facial designs of the characters resemble their voice actors is rather distressing, and it is even considered somewhat grotesque.
 * 9) The story is very predictable, mainly since it follows the "liar revealed" cliché, and even after Oscar confesses in the end, everyone easily forgives him.
 * 10) *The film also ends with the overused and clichéd "everyone dances" ending.
 * 11) Pacing issues, with several scenes dragging on like the characters talking way too much.
 * 12) The Big Plot Hole: How does literally everyone instantly believe Oscar's lie that he killed Frankie, and begin to take him seriously, to the point where he becomes a celebrity and appears in various advertisements and magazine covers? He was literally in the middle of nowhere with Frankie's corpse and he had no proof or evidence that he had killed the former all by himself, alongside how it would be impossible for a fish like Oscar to kill a great white shark as the latter is physically larger than a regular fish. Nobody asks for proof, nobody doubts it, even though his story sounds way too fictional/fanciful. In real life, no one would've believed him right away (or even believed him at all), he would have to prove what he said by killing more sharks, he pretends that later with Lenny but it's long after he's become famous for "doing it".
 * 13) *It is also unclear as to why no one is upset at Oscar for manipulating everyone when he does confess.
 * 14) The film's target audience is unclear, as it constantly vacillates between juvenile humor and references to popular culture; in particular, the ending tries to have a moral about tolerance, but gets bogged down by the constant juvenile humor, therefore not treating the issue with any measure of dignity or seriousness.
 * 15) The "best buddies"-like friendship between Oscar and Lenny also feels rather rushed.
 * 16) *Lola working for the shark mafia also pretty much comes out of nowhere and feels rushed.
 * 17) Excessive out-of-place and pointless references to popular culture, including references to The Godfather trilogy and another DreamWorks-distributed movie The Ring (the latter as a horror film titled The Hook). For comparison, it worked in mh:greatestmovies:Shrek and its sequel because while they are funny if the viewer gets the references, they still fit within the context of specific scenes, even if the viewer doesn't get the reference. On the other hand, Shark Tale just uses random quotes from other films, some of which are either rated PG-13 or R in the United States, which would be difficult for younger viewers to understand and would lead them to question as to why, for example, Oscar is stating random sentences with a lack of context or meaning.
 * 18) Sub-par voice acting; the use of celebrity voices was also pointless and seemed to be merely a way to draw in audiences so they could get money.
 * 19) In one scene Oscar describes how nobody "loved [him] as a nobody," which is undermined by how there are people who clearly like him, as shown earlier in the film.
 * 20) Major lack of heart or charm.
 * 21) In a few instances, the film lacks subtlety:
 * 22) *The aforementioned LGBTQ+ symbolism angle has all of the subtlety of a cannonball being shot at your face.
 * 23) *In a few instances, Angie says the kind of things the audience would be thinking during those specific moments, notably in one scene where she states to Oscar, "What did you expect? You just take credit for killing a shark and then everything would be fine and dandy for the rest of your life?"
 * 24) *Lola literally tells Oscar that, "Deep down, I'm really superficial."
 * 25) The underwater setting is almost completely pointless and was probably just shoehorned in to cash in on Finding Nemo.

Good Qualities

 * 1) The original soundtrack composed by Hans Zimmer is great and is a combination of rock, hip-hop and real pop performed by talented artists such as Will Smith (the main protagonist), Mary J. Blige, Ziggy Marley (who played one of the jellyfish brothers), Sean Paul, Missy Elliott, India.Arie, Ludcaris, Hans Zimmer, The Pussycat Dolls, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Agiluera.
 * 2) Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Ziggy Marley, Doug E. Doug, and Jack Black do a pretty good job as voice actors.
 * 3) *Will Smith as Oscar is pretty good as a singer.
 * 4) The concept of an underwater city is somewhat interesting, despite being almost pointless.
 * 5) Some hilarious moments here and there, with some of them being caused by the deliveries of several of thecast members.
 * 6) *Oscar is a fairly likable protagonist and gets a tremendous amount of character growth in the movie by becoming more truly heroic and humble, though he gets more hatedom than he deserves.
 * 7) *Particularly, Lenny is actually a likable character and can be pretty funny.
 * 8) *Skyes is also the most likable character in the movie.
 * 9) *Several of the side characters can be also seen as likable to some, Luca The Octopus for example.
 * 10) Don Lino (Robert De Niro's character) is an entertaining and sympathetic antagonist, as he wants what it is best for his family and his anger towards Oscar claiming to kill his son Frankie is justified.
 * 11) The film provides a powerful message about the downsides of fame, the meaning of friendship and the importance of self-acceptance.
 * 12) It has its share of heartwarming moments.
 * 13) *The shrimp that Don Lino attempted to force Lenny to eat tells his stories about struggling to take care of his family and working full time provides a sympathetic tone.
 * 14) * The scene where Frankie dies was very touching.
 * 15) * Oscar gives Angie her grandmother's pearl to her after he got famous, showing how much he appreciates her and their friendship.
 * 16) *Oscar opens up to Lenny's vegetarianism and tries to help him get over Frankie's death.
 * 17) The fact that Oscar, the protagonist, is shown in a more negative light and Don Lino, the antagonist, is shown in a more positive light highlights the fact that the line between heroism and villainy is quite thin, which can be reflected in real life, as there is no good or evil, but just people.
 * 18) This film is considered to be the closest thing to a hood film without humans in it, as it depicts certain aspects of urban life from the perspective of marine animals.
 * 19) “You LIED!! Everybody thinks you slayed the shark!!”

Reception
Shark Tale has received mostly mixed-to-negative reviews from moviegoers and critics alike, with criticism aimed at its story, lack of originality, amount of pop culture references, racial stereotypes, and unsettling character designs, though the humor and some of the performances (particularly Black and Scorsese) were praised, and has even gone down as one of, if not, the weakest films produced by mh:greatestmovies:DreamWorks Animation (until Spirit Untamed.)

On mh:Rottenwebsites:Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 36% based on 183 reviews, with an average rating of 5.15/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Derivative and full of pop culture in-jokes." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Trivia

 * Jack Black and Angelina Jolie both later starred together in the mh:greatestmovies:Kung Fu Panda films as Po and Tigress, respectively.
 * The film was originally titled Sharkslayer, but it was retitled to Shark Tale to make the title sound less violent and more kid-friendly.
 * This is a first computer-animated film by DreamWorks Animation to be produced at their Glendale studio.
 * This also marks the only computer-animated film by DreamWorks Animation to be produced at their Glendale studio that was theatrically released by DreamWorks Pictures, Beginning with Over The Hedge, their films will be distributed by Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, or Universal Studios.

Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XITR7Nq0EAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDVsiM3RDCg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSGI6xIvBng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMy4sgkaD-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GASoFrUIqDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAopMpn74xw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-5M9oZC9vE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TfDK_3BD20