Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:54 pm
Cute, but not a classic.
Why is it that cartoon movies seem to gain the "classic" title so easily?
Anyway, this film portrays Will Smith as Oscar a fish that isn't exactly at the top of the food chain. Oscar works at a whale wash (think car wash) as a tongue cleaner and he gets on the bad side of the wash's owner, Martin Scorcese. This leads Oscar into a situation where he is seen killing a shark. (that line is written as a non-spoiler.)
Oscar becomes a huge celebrity in his reef and attracts the attention of man eater Angelina Jolie and Don of sharks Robert DeNiro. Unfortunately, for Oscar, it also alienates him from the one person who loved him for who he was, Renee Zellweger. This all occurs while Oscar tries to deal with a vegetarian shark played by Jack Black.
The film is cute like I said, and gets its moral across well. The problem is its just not great. The characters aren't really developed that well, particularly DeNiro, Zellweger, Jolie, and Black. They exist, therefore, you're expected to accept them. The biggest problem is that Oscar is written soooo over the top that he gets annoying.
The humor is typical farting for the kids, subtle stuff for the adults, but there's not a lot of it. This film tries to rely on "cute" just too much.
On a sidenote, one joke involved the Benny Hill show and went right over the heads of the adults in the theater except me. That was sad. Benny Hill was hilarious.
Overall, Shark Tale is worth taking your kids or a first date to, just don't expect to be as entertained as Shrek or as into the story as The Iron Giant.
6 out of 10.
Why is it that cartoon movies seem to gain the "classic" title so easily?
Anyway, this film portrays Will Smith as Oscar a fish that isn't exactly at the top of the food chain. Oscar works at a whale wash (think car wash) as a tongue cleaner and he gets on the bad side of the wash's owner, Martin Scorcese. This leads Oscar into a situation where he is seen killing a shark. (that line is written as a non-spoiler.)
Oscar becomes a huge celebrity in his reef and attracts the attention of man eater Angelina Jolie and Don of sharks Robert DeNiro. Unfortunately, for Oscar, it also alienates him from the one person who loved him for who he was, Renee Zellweger. This all occurs while Oscar tries to deal with a vegetarian shark played by Jack Black.
The film is cute like I said, and gets its moral across well. The problem is its just not great. The characters aren't really developed that well, particularly DeNiro, Zellweger, Jolie, and Black. They exist, therefore, you're expected to accept them. The biggest problem is that Oscar is written soooo over the top that he gets annoying.
The humor is typical farting for the kids, subtle stuff for the adults, but there's not a lot of it. This film tries to rely on "cute" just too much.
On a sidenote, one joke involved the Benny Hill show and went right over the heads of the adults in the theater except me. That was sad. Benny Hill was hilarious.
Overall, Shark Tale is worth taking your kids or a first date to, just don't expect to be as entertained as Shrek or as into the story as The Iron Giant.
6 out of 10.