Not much better than Shark Tale

Rating: 2/10 (9 May 2005)

Since virtually everyone agrees that SharkTale was an embarrassing mess, I'd like to report that Dreamworks has moved forward and created a film BETTER than that. But only by a little. The tired pop-culture references that mire the paper thin "screenplay" really do continue to get in the way of any real character development or audience connection. It's another example of Dreamworks not really knowing who their audience is. It's too smarmy for adults, and it's too vulgar for kids. And after all that, there's only half a movie here. It suffers from the same problem as that other dreamworks flop, Road to ElDorado, in that once the characters get to where they are going, there's not a whole lot for them to do.
Some of the designs are OK, but never do the characters feel as if they belong to the same universe as the settings, either in New York or in Madagascar. Design for design's sake makes this a bit of a mess--confusing to watch and often jarring. The animation is smooth, but with not much to say, who cares?
With Pixar continuing to raise the bar on both artistry and content (in particular, the very mature content of both "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles"), it's a real shame to see that Dreamworks settles for looking backwards and repeating itself with such juvenile fare.