DreamWorks Jumps the Shark

Rating: Null/10 (5 October 2004)

SHARK TALE (2004) ** (VOICES OF: Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Jack Black, Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Martin Scorsese, Michael Imperioli, Vincent Pastore, Peter Falk, Doug E. Doug, Ziggy Marley, Katie Couric) (Dirs: Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson, Rob Letterman) SHARK TALE (2004) ** (VOICES OF: Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Jack Black, Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Martin Scorsese, Michael Imperioli, Vincent Pastore, Peter Falk, Doug E. Doug, Ziggy Marley, Katie Couric) (Dirs: Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson, Rob Letterman) DreamWorks Jumps The Shark in this so-so pun sprinkled pop culture riffing aquatic CGI tale about a loud-mouthed fish named Oscar (a truly annoying and over-the-top Smith) who becomes an over-night sensation when he is credited for slaying a shark and opens a whole can of worms with the underwater/world's chief gangster Don Lido (De Niro) who has his own problems with his decidedly black sheep son Lenny (Black) whose vegen beliefs clash with the great white's modus operandi. Although the film is a colorful and nicely animated piece of work the hybrid of 'JAWS', 'THE GODFATHER' and 'CAR WASH' doesn't translate as well as the well-meaning intentions were set out in the atypical hero learns to be somebody only has to be himself and love conquers all parable that has been done to death. The vocal talent however acquits itself nicely and the caricatures of the Zellweger and Jolie characterizations are quite uncanny.