Shark Tale (2004)

Sometimes, I wanna take your big, dumb, dummy head, and just... nyhhhh!

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Angie: Sometimes, I wanna take your big, dumb, dummy head, and just... nyhhhh!
[makes pounding motions]
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Shark Tale was an animated feature from Dreamworks, the company that brought you Shrek, but for all the talent involved in Shark Tale, there were mixed results. I think that it was a cute idea, mixing the gangster 'goodfellas' genre with hip hop and black culture--think Car Wash meets The Godfather--but it just didn't work because of some basic story flaws, and also because once the hip new slang or whatever comes out in a cartoon, it is by definition no longer hip. First, the problem with the story as I see it is that a vegetarian shark is just silly, and Jack Black doesn't really have much to chew on as Lenny. Also, how can a Hollywood ending really work? How can they all live happily ever after when a shark's nature is to eat the other fish?

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[Frankie starts humming the Jaws tune]
Lenny: That song gives me the creeps!
Frankie: What do ya mean? It's our theme song!
[the Jaws tune starts to play, and the opening credits roll]
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Now, Will Smith would be the person who could carry off a movie like this, as he even began his career as a rapper, but while he is appealing as Oscar, the whale wash worker with dreams of moving up in the reef, but is this really state-of-the-art Black Culture? Are Lava Lamps really de riguer for the well equiped crib?

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Oscar: Hi, I'm Oscar - you might think you know me, but you have no idea! Welcome to my crib - the good life, the way the other half lives! Check it out, I got my 60-inch high-def plasma TV with six-speaker surround, CD, DVD, Playstation and an eight-track for one of those days when you're feeling just a little weeka-weeka-weeka OLD SCHOOL, ha ha ha! Coz even a superstar Mac-daddy fish like me has to have the basic necessities!
Shortie #1: Yeah, like money!
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The music was good, but it was a lot more retro than current, in spite of Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Ludicris, Christina Aguilarri, Missy Elliot, and Ziggy Marley. There were good remakes of "Carwash" and "Got To Be Real" but do we really need to do The Hustle? All right, I admit, that it was interesting to see Robert De Niro as a shark doing The Hustle, but where was the hip hop they promised?

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Oscar: Sykes! My brother from another mother!
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It is funny that Martin Scorsese was actually the best hip hop talker, and his character of Sykes, a blowfish with his trademark Martin Scorsese eyebrows, was cute, but is he the best they could do?

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Sykes: Come on, snap your fin. Snap it. You're not snapping it.
Don Lino: I'm snapping it, I'm snapping it!
Sykes: That's okay, a lot of great whites can't do it, yo.
Don Lino: Yo?
Sykes: Yo, what's up?
Don Lino: What's up with what?
Sykes: Yo-yo-yo, yo-yo-yo, yo-yo-yo-yo...
Don Lino: Hey, you say "Yo" one more time, and I'm gonna yo you.
Sykes: I'm sorry.
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There were some cute characters in Shark Tales, like Ernie and Bernie, two jellyfish with tentacles as dreadlocks, and Angelina Jollie as the the seductive gold digger fish Lola, and there were entertaining musical numbers, some good jokes, great animation--but the story didn't really work. Still, it was a cartoon, not Shakespeare.

Will Smith ... Oscar (voice)

Ali (2001) .... Cassius Clay / Cassius X / Muhammad Ali
Six Degrees of Separation (1993) .... Paul

Robert De Niro ... Don Lino (voice)

GoodFellas (1990) .... James 'Jimmy' Conway [Directed by Martin Scorsese]
Taxi Driver (1976) (as Robert DeNiro) .... Travis Bickle

Renée Zellweger ... Angie (voice)

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) .... Bridget Jones

Jack Black ... Lenny (voice)

School of Rock (Widescreen Edition) (2003) .... Dewey Finn
High Fidelity (2000) .... Barry

Angelina Jolie ... Lola (voice)

Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (Special Collector's Edition) (2001) .... Lara Croft
Girl, Interrupted (1999) .... Lisa Rowe

Martin Scorsese ... Sykes (voice)

The Muse (1999) .... Himself

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Oscar: Big shark comes at me. Seventy-five, hundred feet long, with razor-sharp teeth. I say to him, "You coming at me like that? You come at the O like that?"
Angie: Hey, do the muscle thing! The muscle thing!
Oscar: Oh, right. So I say, "You see this guy?"
[points at right bicep]
Oscar: "Well, he has a brother who lives right over here."
[points at left bicep]
Oscar: "And I think it's time for a little..."
Oscar, Angie: Family reunion!
=============================================== December 28, 2008

Shark Tale

Ordered a used copy, so was quite inexpensive, arrived a day earlier. DVD was in great condition. Great value for money. Very satisfied! December 25, 2008

2.5 stars out of 4

The Bottom Line:

Shark Tale is mediocre animated fare: it doesn't try to be anything more than a colorful kids' film with a few laughs for grownups thrown in, and in this regard it succeeds. December 18, 2008

Great video

I am very pleased w/ the product & the time frame in which it arrived. October 13, 2008

A Nutshell Review: Shark Tale

After watching this movie, you'll know why Dreamworks Animation's IPO is worth billions. Going by their success of the Shrek Movies, and now Shark Tale, they'll be the studio that will give Pixar a run for their money. The premise for this animated film is similar to Shrek's, adapting modern day icons to suit the mis-en-scene, thus providing tongue-in-cheek references as well as opportunities for a gag or two. We follow the exploits of Oscar (Will Smith), who lives in a fish colony modeled after New York's Times Square, with neon billboards screaming recognizable brands like "Coral-Cola" (Coca- Cola), "Fish King" (Burger King), "GUP" (GAP), "FQ Magazine" (GQ Magazine), etc. Look out for references to Titanic (the sharks' lair), and one liners from movies like A Few Good Man, Gladiator and even Jerry Maguire (in one of the most direct references towards Renee Zellweger) As the simple story goes, it's about redemption and learning not to lie (hey, it's a G-rated movie!), about who your true friends (those who stuck by you even when you're a nobody and have nothing) and about family. One thing I've always enjoyed about Hollywood animations, is that the toons are carefully caricatured after the real life actors bringing their toon counterparts to live. Even Robert De Niro's mole is cheekily added, and Angelina Jolie's poutty lips are featured as well and even Martin Scorsese lends his voice in this show. Stay throughout the end credits, and I mean throughout the end credits. You'll be treated to multi easter eggs and zany moments, right up until the final character goes "Go Home, It's Past Your Bedtime!" and the screen goes blank. October 9, 2008

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