The pre-opening promise of “Shark Tale” was huge.With A-List voice-overs, and animating talent from powerhouse PixarEntertainment, “Shark Tale” offered the potential of aninstant classic; yet another of late for DreamWorks productions.Though, as moviegoers have learned time and time again, outstandingpotential doesn’t always guarantee an outstanding endproduct.
In fact, “Shark Tale” is the likely eventual mixtureof Mobster movie clichés with Disney’s patented brandof animal-based social satire. Set in an under-water representationof ‘Big City’ USA, the storyline follows the innerdevelopment of two unlikely, however satisfactory social saviors;one inner-city youth, with dreams of making it big in the world,and one son-of-a-gangster, whose heart guides him towards adifferent line of work.
The film also explores such existential topics as true love vs.lust, unconditional loyalty to an immoral way of life (the sharkmafia), and the dangers of taking loans from a loan-… youguessed it- a loan blowfish. Perhaps the only substantial failureof the film was in applying such a rich plot to a screenplay andanimation obviously designed for an audience of children and young,young adults; while marketing it to a much more sophisticateddemographic of college kids and late twenty-somethings.
To be more specific, the writing and humor might be novel for asheltered 10th-grader who has happened to view the”Godfather” trilogy, and has some knowledge ofpop-culture lifestyles, but to a seasoned yuppie hipster, thelayers of clichés and racial stereo-types can get real old,real fast. Similarly, the bright minimalist animation is completelyinappropriate when used to set the stage for grimy, bottom-feederlifestyle, and the atmospheric melancholy of organized crimehangouts; more grittiness please. Even “Analyze This “was darker and less shallow.
That said, the voice-overs couldn’t be better, and thecharacters in general are well defined and sufficientlycomplicated. Increasing the audience’s emotional connectionto the very human sea creatures is the incorporation of the realactors’ likenesses and mannerisms into the computer generatedanimation of the film. The satirically represented world alsodeserves credit for both its success in performing its function,and for the obviously large amount of hard work that went into itsproduction.
This underwater metropolis, “The Reef,” isstrikingly similar to our own, as we find out very early in thefilm. The center and wealthy section of the city is called the”Upper Reef’ and resembles the towering penthouseslining Central Park in our world. This superior existence issurrounded by the industrial/residential, low-wealth squalor ofurban fish, like hero “Oscar’ (Will Smith) and his twolove interests: beautiful, shallow Lola (Angelina Jolie), and plainbut good-hearted Angie (Renee Zellweger). The Shark Mafia is run byDon Lino (Robert Deniro) and his two antithetically opposed sons,villainous Frankie (Michael Imperioli), and vegetarian Lenny (JackBlack), along with a host of other cliché Mafiosos. It liesin and around the Reef, but in a parallel existence to the brightlights and commercialization of the city, making contact only forfeeding time.
The story gets interesting when the chance of a lifetimetransforms Oscar’s public image from that of a peon, garbagetruck (garbage whale) sanitizer, to that of”Shark-Slayer’ and savior of the Reef. Oscar’sco-hero, Lenny, has a similar opportunity for transcendence-literally; at one point he becomes a dolphin body guard, opposingthe marauding rule his own mafia family.
Although “Shark Tale” doesn’t measure up tothe hype and promise of its pre-release promotion, it is areasonably worthwhile way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon thismonth. On a scale of one to five, I give this film a veryimprovable three. It’s a great starting point and with a fewalterations could be a great film.
- ROBERT BENIMOFF – Contributing Writer (The Ticker