one of the worst mainstream animations in the last decade

Rating: 1/10 (14 February 2005)

SPOILERS Ever since the original "Toy Story" (1995), we've had some truly wonderful animations. With films like "Shrek" (2001) and "Finding Nemo" (2004), we've had some amazing stories for the whole family which are equally funny and impressively animated. By the law of averages therefore, it is perhaps not surprising we would end up with one or two truly woeful stories. That is what we have here with "Shark Tale". This is a film which is short on humour, devoid of originality and a mechanism for Will Smith's ego.
Smith plays Oscar, a down on his luck fish who works as a tongue scraper at a Whale Wash. With dreams of making it big and moving up in the world, Oscar is a no-hoper who constantly bleeds his heart out to loyal friend Angie (Renee Zellwenger). When things take a turn for the worse however, Oscar inadvertently kills a shark and a media icon. Now with a Vegetarian shark (Jack Black) for company, Oscar must survive popularity, and the growing threat of Shark Godfather Don Lino (Robert DeNiro).
On paper, any film which involves a Shark spoof of all Italian mafia films, should be hilarious. Truthfully, at times it shows signs of reaching this peak, but all too often it drifts away to leave us feeling bitter disappointment.
DeNiro and friend Martin Scorsese appear to enjoy poking fun at a genre which they are culturally renowned, but with one or two jokes which are either stolen from elsewhere (a scene involving Smith's character at a Mafia meeting is a replica of a scene from 1999's "Analyze This") or based on seemingly personal stories, the story never clicks. Still, DeNiro and Scorsese are more tolerable compared with Will Smith's role.
As Oscar the fish, Will Smith simply plays himself. It is like watching the Freshwater Prince of Bel-Air or something equally pointless. Smith walks around making irritating comments, wearing "bling" and generally making a fool of himself. Will Smith has proved in the past that whether comedy or drama, he CAN act, but the man is fast loosing any support with performances like this where he plays an old character in new surroundings. Perhaps it's time his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith convinced him to actually lay this Fresh Prince character to bed and actually do more challenging work. Sadly, this probably won't happen.
Aside from Smith, DeNiro and Scorsese, "Shark Tale" also features vocal performances by Jack Black, Renee Zellwenger and Angelina Jolie. These three actors are famous for different styles of work, and they are worth mentioning for their performances in "Shark Tale" purely for the fact that they aren't awful. They're not particularly superb, with even Black seeming subdued, but they don't stand out as awful. They're simply mediocre.
Another flaw with "Shark Tale" is a problem faced also by "Shrek 2" (also 2004). Whilst the later film was at times hilarious, it did possess a lot of jokes about current television series which might not be remembered in the future. The same is true in "Shark Tale". At first appearance, Smith's character appears in a fantastic apartment and is showing the furniture off. Blatantly joking about a modern MTV programme called "Cribs" the jokes are not only unfunny, but they won't last beyond a few years, if even that.
All in all, there is little praise that can be given to "Shark Tale". A woeful story with little going for it, it fails on all levels and whilst it is harsh to say it should never have been made, it most definitely needed more rethinking. Should be avoided at all costs.