Close, but no cigar...

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2007)

Okay, first off, let me point this out to you - Shark Tale is not like Finding Nemo! The plots of the two films are completely different, as are the characters, the situations, and the settings. Finding Nemo encourages the idea of a wide open, empty yet interesting undersea world, whereas Shark Tale encourages the idea of a fish city with a Whale Wash and celebrity town. And unfortunately, it is probably this that ensured Shark Tale was not going to go down as well as Finding Nemo. The film was by no means a disaster (a $300 million box office gross is better than most), but it relied too much on gags, coolness and insanity rather than any real character and intelligence. Though it is very inspired and looks riveting on the big screen, it just doesn't have the ability to touch or grip as much as Finding Nemo. Though there's far more plot and a real dark side to this fish world (shark mafia, anyone?), Finding Nemo did better because it feels more like real life. And though neither of the two films are in the slightest bit realistic, Finding Nemo managed to turn a simple plot into a fun adventure, whereas Shark Tale turns several plots into an array of endless gags, jokes and stupidity. Though I found this far more hilarious than Finding Nemo and a really interesting depiction of an undersea world, Finding Nemo had more realistic animation and characters you could really care about - and not through endless jokes, gags or slapstick scenarios, just plain real life. Shark Tale seems more obsessed with being a cross between FN and The Godfather, and while it does pull off this job with hilarious results, everything is a bit too predictable and easily resolved. And at the end of the day, this really is just your standard animated flick. As James Bond would put it: "Close, but no cigar." Dreamworks - you're not quite in the same league as Pixar in animation yet... 7/10