Shark Tale
It's a big ocean out there - and obviously Dreamworks felt that there was
room for two big fishes in a sea of riches when they decided to do a Finding
Nemo of their own. Oscar (Will Smith) is a small and unimportant fish in a
big ocean; that is until he inadvertently crosses paths with Don Lino
(Robert DeNiro), Godfather of the Shark mob. Lino is looking for revenge
when his favorite son is killed, and Oscar - seeing an opportunity to get
out of the slums - takes credit for the kill and becomes a public hero.
After getting tied up with Lino's self-conflicted son named Lenny (Jack
Black), Oscar finds that fame isn't all that its cracked up to be - and that
importance can't be judged and weighed with the almighty dollar sign.
Of course, this premise is interestingly ironic, considering all of the
product placements that we endure throughout this movie. Where Finding Nemo
featured subtle parodies of human society underwater, Dreamworks fashions
Shark Tale by giving celebrities gills, animating its characters to the
persona they're being voiced by. One has to wonder whether Dreamworks
pitched a film like Finding Nemo to the big corporations, asking for money
and then sold ad space by the dollar. There's a subtle art to placing
products in a film, and while it can sometimes be a minor nuisance in some
films, Shark Tale shoots a barrage of these products in our faces - and it
doesn't sit well with me.
This also made it harder to swallow the moral pill that money and status
doesn't solve all of life's problems, as the film pays due to all who
invested heavily in this project (and we see everything from Coke to Krispy
Kreme Donuts being). Certainly the deterring factor between good film and
great film was the abundance of corporate influence on the script and the
surroundings featured in the film. This is no Finding Nemo, as I have to ask
where we draw the line between satire and brainwashing. And considering that
Shark Tale was meant for kids, what the hell is the message here? Drink Coke
and listen to shitty Christina Aguilera remakes of classic funk tunes?
Absolutely not.
But here I am, delineating the film as a total piece of shit - when there
are some good things thrown into the mix as well. Visually the film is
pretty stunning - and Dreamworks definitely reaffirms its own sense of style
of computer generated affairs; I suppose it's easier to sell these kinds of
movies when they feature a familiar famous face (as I said, Dreamworks
animated these characters well), and everything from the character design to
the underwater world is done with detailed precision. I did like the message
the story had to tell, despite the irony mentioned above - and there are
some really good jokes when the film isn't busy parodying a product that we
can buy.
If there's anything certain to be said about Shark Tale, it is that kids
will eat this film up. At a packed theater I witnessed many youngsters
filling the cinema with cries of laughter and awe - and it's certainly nice
to see that Dreamworks Animation did something that is a lot of fun. Isn't
it odd how times have changed, and how is it since the days of the
exceptionally clever film Antz they've become a marketing powerhouse? These
may be the inane ramblings of some hippie bastard who has nothing better to
do than bitch about money (or the lack thereof), but frankly I don't feel
comfortable telling you to bring your kids without warning you that they'll
be getting a delicious spoonful dose of advertisement heroin. Either way,
many people will get a kick out of seeing the likes of Martin Scorsese,
Robert DeNiro, Jack Black, Will Smith, Renee Zellweger and Angelina Jolie
personified as sea creatures, and Shark Tale certainly will do what it set
out to do in the first place - bank some serious coin.
(C) Chris McGeachy September 26 2004
http://www.dvdork.com/
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