Some Funny Mobster Jokes Can't Keep Shark Tale From Going Belly-Up

Rating: 2/10 (13 April 2005)

Plot: 8/20: Oscar (Smith) feels like a little fish in a big pond. Literally. In the world of the fishes, he is a simple tongue scrubber at the Whale Wash (a car wash for whales). Oscar also happens to be a rapper wannabe, and his best friend Angie (Zellweger) is secretly in love with home, for a reason that remains a mystery to me. Oscar is sick of living at the bottom and wants to live at the top of the reef, where all the 'somebodys' live.
The sharks, whom all the other fish are afraid of, are essentially the mafia. The current godfather, Don Lino (deNiro) is soon retiring and leaving control of the reef to his two sons, Frankie (Imperioli) and Lenny (Black). Frankie has the brawn for the job, but Lenny, on the other hand, is afraid to eat anything alive, and has become a vegetarian.
Also, Don Lino is cracking down on pufferfish Sykes (Scorsese), who owns the Whale Wash, to pay up for protection. To come up with the money, Sykes cracks down on Oscar to pay the $5000 he owes. Angie lends him the money, but he blows it all on a horse race. When Syke's bodyguards Ernie (Marley) and Bernie (Doug) are torturing Oscar, Frankie is attempting to train Lenny. When he sees Oscar, he tells Lenny to attack. Ernie and Bernie run, but Oscar is tied down. Just so happens that Lenny sets Oscar free instead. When Frankie sees this, he chases Oscar himself, only to be hit by an anchor and killed during the chase. Lenny runs away, and Oscar takes credit for Frankie's death. In doing so, he becomes a phenomenon, the legendary Shark Slayer, and finally lives at the top of the reef.
However, when Don Lino finds out about this, he is going to get very angry
Technically, the plot works. It doesn't come with any clever twists or anything really original. It is a nice send-up of mobster movies, though the rap influence is cringe worthy at time. And by 'at times', I mean through 90% of the movie.
Not to mention the whole "Be yourself" message is pretty worn out by now.
Comedy: 12/20: Surprisingly, this movie manages to have some funny bits. However, they only occur when it attempts to satire the mobster movies. Aside from the opening sequence and one or two jokes here and there, all of the comedy is derived from the mobster spoofs. Some are subtle, some are more obvious, but this movie does manange to be a rather clever mobster spoof. Most of this may go over the heads of the younger crowd, but it manages to keep the older crowd interested, at least for those parts.
However, when it tries to put on its pimp face and do the normal silly crap we despise in animated movies, it falls flat on its ass. There is nothing I hated more than seeing a Martin Scorsese voiced pufferfish wearing a pimp hat and touching his butt and saying "I'm hott!" It just isn't necessary. It just isn't humane.
Animation: 7/20: DreamWorks made Shrek, and Shrek looked pretty good. Then they made this, and while it holds up to old standards, it isn't all that pleasing to look at. The sharks looks good, but some of the fish, namely Oscar, look pretty bad. They manage to make the characters look like the actors playing them, which works well with people, but bringing the concept over to fish doesn't work as well. A mild taint of the actor is fine, but do not try to recreate the actor. Sykes is probably the only fish who looks good, and the technical crew had better luck with the sharks than the fish.
There were also some major inconsistencies. Oscar's size grows and shrinks multiple times. Sometimes, he's small enough to fit in anywhere. Sometimes, he's big enough to logically fake taking down a shark. They really needed to fix that problem there.
Voice Acting: 13/20: The voice cast has some bright spots. Robert deNiro (Goodfellas) is the obvious choice to spoof many of his old roles, and he does it pretty well. Granted, how hard could it really be? Its voice acting, it doesn't take much talent.
Jack Black (Orange County) is the only real standout. He does a great voice for Lenny, and is the only one who doesn't sound like just his real self.
The rest are mediocre. Scorsese just embarrasses himself with stupid pimp lines. Smith spews out enough bull that he gets on my nerves. No one else really deserves mentioning.
Entertainment: 8/20: If you are in the mood for a gangster spoof, you will find parts of this hilariously entertaining. However, if you are one of these types, chances are the rap influence will just annoy you. Those who enjoy rapper slang will likely not catch the gangster references. It's a vicious cycle.
Bonus
-.3 for the advertising: We get pumped full of ads for Gap and Coke and, hell, we even get ads for Preparation H. Will it never end! At least it doesn't try to hide it at all and just comes out and says "These people paid us!" -.3 for rap influence -.5 for the end scene: Just to show that this movie is riding off of Shrek's success, there is a dance sequence at the end. Kill me now.
TOTAL: 36%: I could tell that Shark Tale, beneath all the rap influence and bulls*** messages, was a decent gangster spoof. However, to look through all that crap for a couple jokes is just not worth it. Kids will not get the gangster references and basically only enjoy a pufferfish in a pimp hat. Adults will like the gangster references, but will cringe to tears at the rap influence. It is a lose-lose situation.