Review : Shark Tale

Shark Tale : The story of how a little fish in a big pond, comes out on top by telling people that he killed a shark... but how long can he keep it up and convince everyone he knows that it's all true before they find out the story is a lie?

It's the same with all these animation studio companies. Disney, Dreamwork's, PIXAR... They know how to tell stories. I dare say better than any director or script writer out there today... on the exception of Quentin Tarantino and Dickens - two of the greatest story tellers who have ever lived.

Dreamwork's - the people who brought us Shrek, bring us Shark Tale. Clever play on the title, especially given what the film is about. Shark Tale - Tall Tale, there's Sharks in it? You get it. It also has a really interesting main character, Oscar who is brought to life by Will Smith. Will Smith does a great job of making the audience want to laugh with Oscar rather than laugh at him, he's a deadbeat fish who feels like nothing and has always dreamed of coming out on top.

When an opportunity comes for Oscar to come out on top he takes it. by telling everyone he knows that he killed a shark, when of course he didn't - the whole story is a lie. The lesson here to kids is... NEVER Lie! It's not worth it and a lie always causes more problems than it solves - in the case with this Oscar tells a lie and ends up becoming tangled up in a rope of little lies and it gets out of hand quite quickly, he's treated like a celebrity and its all fake.

Into that you got the Shark, which are so brilliantly set up to be a mock mafia type of gang. It's a friendly gangster mafia type set up, sort of taking influence from 'The Godfather' and 'Goodfella's'. It just adds to the comedy and gives the Sharks character background, plus Robert De Niro is good a playing gangster, so what a better role for him. To describe it best it's a hip-hop/mob computer-animated fun film filled with an all star, top notch voice cast and some bright and charming musical numbers to keep the young ones entertained.

I would say this about all Disney classics, Dreamwork's productions, PIXAR Movies. They define the perfect perimeters of what a family film is and how its meant to be enjoyed. If it were me, I define this as being a stand out. It's funny, witty, adventurous, deeply moving in some cases, achieves drama really well and has a good story.

The story for those who don't know or have never seen the film is about a fish and a shark who somehow unexpectedly come together and create a friendly bond amongst each other and they become friends, after of course events occur when Oscar supposedly is believed to have killed a shark and learning of this news the mafia of sharks want him dead.

Now this isn't a stand out classic. It's not 'Finding Nemo' or 'Shrek' which were both franchise  hits on the market, but it throws so much at you, you too carried away enjoying yourself to notice.

The plot is nothing special, but the visuals are. It's a graphically brilliant film. Lots of great underwater authenticity and accuracy which makes it look as if it was really underwater, under the sea. It looks very impressive and tremendously life like, with eye-popping color and wonderfully expressive fish faces, hilariously funny and surprisingly touching in moments of sentimentality.

There are dozens of gags and pop-cultural references and some bright musical numbers that keep things moving briskly, so the pacing of it is really coherent. It may not be a brilliant film, but it's very good. 

8/10

Next Review : Puss in Boots.