This one is meant for kids and not so much for kidults(those grown ups like me who enjoy video games and watch cartoons meant for kids). In fact for a long time the animation industry has tweaked its offerings to have somrething for both the segments like Finding Nemo, Lion King, Ice Age, Dinosaur etc etc. Shark Tale depsite the impressive cast is unable to rise to that level. **You may find it just about a nice timepass but your kid would love it.
*This is the story of Oscar who dreams big, Angie who loves him even if he is a’nobody’. They both work at the Whalewash. Sykes is Oscar’s boss and Don Lino is the The Boss;). When Sykes demands his 5000 Clams(currency of the underwater) that he had lent to Oscar, it throws Oscar’s life out of gear and he gets entangled with the Coral reef mafia. He becomes Sharkslayer by mistake and the usual hullabaloo follows making him a darling of the media and enemy no 1 of the mafia boss.
The most delightful characters in the movie are not the hero- Oscar(will Smith) or heroine Angie(Renee Zellwegger) but their boss -Sykes(Martin Scorsese) and Lenny(Jack Black). You love the speed at which Sykes changes loyalties. Lenny is throroughly entertaining as the vegetarian son of the mafia Don. The Rastafarian Jelly fish flunkies of Sykes are fun as well.
It seems that Disney in 2004 realized that the audience was favoring digital animation over the traditional what with *Finding Nemo *and *Incredibles *of Pixar as hits. Pixar specilaised in digital animation. So Disney hired the rival Dreamworks, hired the best cast possible from Will Smith to Angeline Jolie and then put together a story. *
As expected critics panned the film when it was released. It got a paltry 34% rating on the rottentomatoes. Despite all the panning from critics teh movie had a blockbuster
openings. Shark Tale made$160 million in US and$206 million overseas
with$367 million worldwide.
In order to provide some depth to the thin plotline lots of cultural touchstonesare thrown in. From jokes to posters references to Jaws *and *Godfather abound The Oceanic Times Square, Gup, Coral Cola. Whalewash on the theme of a car wash, Rose’s potrait hangs in the Don’s office. In the true Disney mould the movie puts forward two messages:
Its ok to be nobody than a fake somebody(Oscar)
Its ok to be different(Lenny)(at times you would feel as if Oscar is talking about Lenny being gay;)
Tip: Meant for kids, they will like it. Make your own arrangements this would never be more than a timepass for you.
Trivia:
The film was previously called Sharkslayer but then it was felt that the title might be misunderstood and kids and family audience might stay away.
The shark mob’s hangout is the R.M.S. Titanic. We even see a clothed version of the famous sketch of the character Rose from Titanic(1997) hanging on the wall(complete with the Heart of the Ocean diamond), during one scene.
When Lenny coughs up the objects on the table, one of them is a license
plate with the registration "007 981." This is the same plate found
inside the tiger shark in Jaws(1975)
- Lenny tells his brother that he’s cold because he’s cold blooded. In fact,
Great White Sharks are one of four types of shark that are warm blooded.