Nemoid

Rating: Null/10 (15 October 2004)

Congratulations are due to Hollywood: in the past, studio spies found out about rival productions and rushed to make films with identical synopses in order to undercut the competition. [See Volcano, Dante's Peak - Kundun, Seven Years In Tibet - The Sopranos, Analyze This]. It's remarkably easy to do - you approach studios with a completed spec script, get rejected at x, get accepted at y, and then x has still got your old screenplay when it's finally put into production at y.
In this case Dreemwerks simply copied Pixar. So for people with a whetted appetite for CGI fish movies, 'Shark Tale' has all the right stuff to succeed; strong writers, animators, a big budget. And it still fails.
-Fish moving through water encounter resistance and must use muscle power to move forward. Shark Tale's fish drift in whichever direction they choose, without wagging their fins, in a seemingly friction-less environment. They don't look like fish.
-Constant screaming. Can we have some introverts sprinkled among the extroverts? I suppose anything worth saying is equally worth blasting at full volume.
-Blatant hypocrisy. Oscar's initial elation with his celebrity is dampened by the commercialization and media saturation of his image. This doesn't stop the producers from shoving a box of Krispy Kreme donuts in our face [twice].
I'll give ST a couple points for converging Oscar's story with Lenny's skillfully, great overall story structure, and some funny jokes [not including the Jerry Maguire reference].
5/10