Release Date:
10/01/2004
Ever since Pixar piggybacked Disney all the way to world domination, animated films have been counted on as cash cows aimed at more than just toddlers and potheads. Unfortunately, Shark Tale keeps its floaties on too long to keep pace with its cartoon contemporaries and drowns under a commitment to kiddie bits. Guppy-sized, whale-mouthed Oscar (Will Smith) just wants to be "somebody." And when he takes credit for a shark slaying, we see what depths a fish will sink to achieve fame, fortune, and a new place away from his auntie and uncle in Bel-Air. With the whole shark-fearing town floating on his shoulders, his former best friend (Renée Zellweger) is kicked to the coral, his former boss (Martin Scorsese) becomes his agent, and his former foe (Jack Black) becomes a pawn in his shark-slaying charade. The rest of the fishy flick is an exercise in funny voices, bad underwater puns, and the most ebonified overacting from Will Smith since "Parents Just Don't Understand." Mob movies are the obvious target here, but there are so many other references that flat punch lines get lost in flashy colors and second-tier computer animation.