Susan Granger’s review of “Shark Tale” (DreamWorks)
In the undersea city known as the Reef, jive-talking Oscar (Will Smith) is at the bottom of the food chain. Working at the Whale Wash, he’s finding it difficult to pay off the 5,000 clams he owes to Sykes (Martin Scorsese), a puffer fish in cahoots with the Mob that’s headed by the great white shark Don Lino (Robert DeNiro). This watery Godfather has two sons: vicious Frankie (Michael Imperioli) and sensitive, sweet-natured Lenny (Jack Black), who’s a closet vegetarian. When an anchor drops and accidentally kills Frankie, Oscar happens to be nearby. Grasping for glory, he claims to be the “shark slayer” and becomes the reef’s local hero, a lie that appalls sweet Angie (Renee Zellweger) who adores him but attracts luscious Lola (Angelina Jolie). Then there are the stinging Rastafarian jellyfish (Ziggy Marley, Doug E. Doug), an oily octopus (Vincent Pastore), a Mafia maven (Peter Falk) and the Reef’s top anchorfish (Katie Couric). Basically, this aquatic satire of gangster films transforms Manhattan’s Times Square into a deep-water reef. Visually, the animation is superb, particularly the way that the fish are cleverly humanized, capturing the individual idiosyncrasies of their well-known voices, even DeNiro’s prominent mole. There are in-jokes referencing “Jaws,” “Titanic,””Car Wash,”etc., and the music rocks with songs from Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and Justin Timberlake. Yet, while “Shark Tale” is a cinematic frolic, it could be a bit too hip for its own good, exploring subtext themes that may be too cynical and sophisticated for some youngsters. Lola puts it best: “Deep down, you’re really superficial.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Shark Tale” is a flashy, “see-faring” 7, if you’re comfortable with its sharp, biting humor.
