Review of Shark Tale (2004) by Mrmoviebuff — 05 Feb 2016

Not that I am biased to anything Pixar makes (90% of the time, they are masterpieces), but DreamWorks' 'Shark Tale' is in no way as endearing or fun as 'Finding Nemo' (2003), my all time favorite Pixar film.

Will Smith voices our main hero as he seems to be a nobody at first, but soon gains recognition after many see him as a "Shark slayer" when he is shown taking down a shark voiced by Jack Black. Black's character seems depressed when his father, voiced by Robert De Niro who seems to be doing an impression of Marlon Brando in 'The Godfather' (1972) wants him to basically be tough and basically be like the mafia. Because your kids will understand all of this.

Other voicing talents include Renee Zelwegger whose character is fascinated by Smith's, but he is distracted by Angelina Jolie's character, and we even have legendary director Martin Scorsese voicing a blowfish named Sykes. Clearly the casting of Scorsese and Robert De Niro was intentional as this movie is nothing but trying to pay homage to 'The Godfather' (1972) and 'Goodfellas' (1990), which obviously EVERY child has watched and loved. (By the way, that was sarcasm...).

'Finding Nemo' (2003) was a simple story about a concerned father who wants to look for his missing son, every adult and child watching that will understand, and it could bring them closer together. This film relies heavily on mafia/mob movie references that children may not understand. It's too dependent on pop-culture to keep the jokes going. I know 'Aladdin' (1992) is a movie that also relies on pop-culture, but that movie also had songs, and only some likable characters...I'll put it out there, 'Aladdin' (1992) is a movie I liked, but didn't love...'Beauty and the Beast' (1991) is the one that's perfect in my opinion.

But enough about the 90s Disney films, what I am trying to say is, these "kid's films" don't need constant pop-culture references to keep them entertaining, the colorful animation alone will distract the kids, and maybe the slapstick humor, but this is DreamWorks' attempt to try and create something like 'Finding Nemo' (2003), and instead settled for a watered down (pun intended) sequel to 'The Godfather' films.