Fails to really hook you.

Rating: 1/10 (23 September 2004)

Oscar (voiced by Will Smith) is a lowly fish in a big reef. He works at the local whale-wash (car-wash on land) as tongue-washer, but dreams of bigger and better things. He's in a 5,000 clam debt to his boss, Sykes (Scorsese) and is in the mindset that 'nobody loves a nobody'; hence, he wishes to become a 'somebody'. What he doesn't realize is that his best friend, Angie (Zellweger) already loves him, just as he is. One day Oscar gets his lucky break. A shark is killed by an anchor to the head, and by being in the right place at the right time, everyone assumes Oscar was heroically responsible and dub him as the 'shark slayer' and defender of the reef. Fame, fortune and a hot little lady fish named Lola (Jolie) finally come his way... but there's a catch. The shark he has boasted about killing was the son to mob-boss, Don Lino (De Niro) and along with his vegetarian brother Lenny (Black), was going to inherit the family business. Now Lino is out for revenge. It's only with the help of Lenny that he can hope to keep up the charade. Lenny isn't your typical shark you see, he disappoints his father by rejecting meat and when his brother is killed, he runs away, hoping to neglect his position to the family business. Now Oscar has to try and keep his big lie from being exposed so that he can continue living the High Life.
I didn't expect much going in to this film, and luckily this mind-set kept me from being disappointed.
Obviously this movie has lost much possible luster as it is released in the shadow of the hugely-successful Pixar film 'Finding Nemo'.
Comparing the two films is really pointless because really, Shark tale ain't got nothing on Nemo. But if Dream Works were going to try and compete against the ultimate in animated film, Pixar, I thought at least they'd put a little more effort into their attempt. Honestly, this is one of the worst animated films i've seen in a long time. I thought the bar had been raised over the past few years with films like 'Toy Story', 'Shrek', 'The Emperors new Groove', 'Monsters Inc' & 'Ice Age' setting new standards. Apparently not. Oscar is annoying and loses his appeal after the first ten minutes in which he's already made a dozen wise-cracks. Lenny is your typical dopey character and a pretty boring one at that; you never really care two hoots about him. The other characters are all pretty dull and forgettable. Though i must say that Angelina Jolie makes a hot fish. The story is damn ordinary and quite boring as it is propelled by a lousy script with fall-flat jokes that don't live up to the more high-brow humour designed to amuse parents as well as kids in Finding Nemo.
Its all a big yawn to be perfectly honest.