Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #814 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-02-11
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Animated, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
When a shark accidentally clobbers himself, a small fish named Oscar (voiced by Will Smith, I, Robot) just happens to be around, prompting everyone to believe that he killed the shark himself. This lie soon makes Oscar a celebrity, worshipped by the general mass of fish, wooed by a glittering golddigger (Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted), missed by his best friend (Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain)--and hunted by the godfather of great whites (Robert De Niro, Goodfellas). Can a vegetarian shark named Lenny (Jack Black, School of Rock) get Oscar out of this mess? The formulaic story of Shark Tale never reaches the giddy heights of Pixar's output (Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Toy Story) or the freewheeling comedy of Shrek, but it's capably told and impeccably animated--the sheer technical skill is stunning. Kids won't get the mobster jokes or the other pop-culture references, but they'll enjoy it nonetheless. --Bret Fetzer

Synopsis
Will Smith brings hip-hop zest to the voice of Oscar, a fast-talking everyfish who rejects his life at the whale wash and longs for fortune and fame in this animated film from Dreamworks. A combination of FINDING NEMO and GOODFELLAS set in New York, here sharks are old-school gangsters who prey on the local citizenry and hang out in the wreck of the Titanic. Martin Scorsese does the voice of Mr. Sykes, Oscar's blowfish boss, who owes head Shark Don Lino (Robert De Niro) a lot of clams. Don Lino wants to turn over his reign to his two sons, but youngest Lenny (Jack Black) is a closet vegetarian. The plot thickens when Oscar takes credit for the accidental death of Lenny's brother, and suddenly finds the fame and fortune he's been seeking, only it's based on the lie that he's 'the shark slayer'. It's tough not to like this spunky fish story, especially with Scorsese and De Niro verbally one-upping each other in some hilarious bits. Also noteworthy: a pair of hilariously mellow Rastafarian jellyfish (Ziggy Marley and Doug E. Doug) and Peter Falk as an old Tiger Shark who hangs around the Titanic crooning My Heart Will Go On. Renee Zellweger and Angelina Jolie are the females--one pure of heart, one a 'fish fatale' - battling over Oscar's affection. In addition to all that, there should be enough goofy humour, action, and goofing to keep the kids riveted.

Customer Reviews

Give it a second bite
When I took my children then 7 and 10 to see this neither they nor I were particularly impressed and it had considerably less impact than many other films of similar genre probably due to the rather thin plot line
However on revisiting the DVD it was infinitely better and the characters'nuances/one liners could be appreciated far more eg the Rastafarian jellyfish. I suspect that given the success of similar films,immediate expectations are always high and disappointment is often inevitable. This film is definitely worth revisiting

A fun movie for the family to share
This movie is fun for the whole family, and has enough jokes to keep both children and adults entertained through out. I gave it four stars because even though its a good movie, its not one of the best that dreamworks has come out with recently. It should still be in your DVD collection though!!

Sinks without a trace...
Filling a movie with flashy visuals, pop culture references and enough celebrities to fill Oscar night, does not a good film make, as Shark Tale so admirably proves.

Vocal talents from the excellent cast include Will Smith, Angelina Jolie and Robert DeNiro, but they aren't given the characters to match their talent.

It's matched to a pathetic storyline that on the whole, doesn't really work. A small fish (voiced by Smith) accidentally defeats a shark, and then becomes the legendary Sharkslayer. Big cheese shark (vocied by DeNiro) then wants to get payback on Sharkslayer for killing his son. Yawn.

Still, it's not exactly dull - as the story fairly zips by, and apart from some well-meaning but film stopping musical numbers which are groan inducing, the film has quite a bit of energy behind it.

I think the underwater gangster style of the film will go over most children's heads, and its not filled with slapstick humour either, so small kids won't really laugh. The bright, flashy visuals might keep them entertained. For adults, there's even less to enjoy as we are bombarded by film references and pop culture jokes. So many of them that it just gets tiresome, and unfunny.

This pales in comparison to the other underwater animated lark, Finding Nemo, and just fails to live up to Dreamwork's other monster hit, Shrek. I, personally, wanted this film to be good, but it was ultimately disappointing.