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Shark Tale
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Vicky Jenson Bibo Bergeron Rob Letterman
Written by	Michael J. Wilson Rob Letterman
Produced by	Bill Damaschke Janet Healy Allison Lyon Segan
Starring	Will Smith Robert De Niro Renée Zellweger Angelina Jolie Jack Black Martin Scorsese
Edited by	Peter Lonsdale John Venzon
Music by	Hans Zimmer
Production companies	DreamWorks Animation SKG PDI Studios
Distributed by	DreamWorks Pictures
Release date	October 1, 2004 (2004-10-01)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English

Shark Tale is a 2004 CGI comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. In the story, a young fish named Oscar (voiced by Will Smith) falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss to win favour with the mob boss' enemies and advance his own community standing. The film additionally features the voices of Jack Black as Lenny, Renée Zellweger as Angie, Angelina Jolie as Lola, Martin Scorsese as Sykes and Robert De Niro as Don Lino. Its original title was Sharkslayer, but the producers thought that this might provoke a degree of misunderstanding among the target audience of the film, children and families. Shark Tale is also one of the first three feature-length films to be made into a Game Boy Advance Video. It was released into theaters on October 1, 2004. Although the film was not a critical success, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Plot

The story begins with an underachieving bluestreak cleaner wrasse named Oscar (Will Smith), who is fantasizing about being rich and famous while making his way to work by following in his dad's footsteps as a tongue scrubber at the local Whale Wash. Soon after arriving he is called to the office of his boss, a puffer fish named Sykes (Martin Scorsese), to discuss the fact that he owes "five thousand clams" and has to pay it back by the next day. After explaining this to his best friend Angie who is an angel fish (Renée Zellweger), she offers him a chance to pay back the money by pawning a pink pearl that was a gift from her Grandmother. Oscar brings the money to the race track to meet Sykes, but becomes distracted by his wishes of grandeur and, upon hearing that the race is rigged, places it all on a long-shot bet by the name of "Lucky Day". Such a million dollar bet is noticed nearby by a beautiful lionfish named Lola (Angelina Jolie), who flagrantly seduces an excited Oscar, but Oscar is very disappointed when she leaves once Sykes tells her he is a whale washer. Sykes is furious that Oscar bet the money but nonetheless agrees to see how the race turns out. Moments before their "horse", "Lucky Day" crosses the finish line he trips and falls on line. The race is lost and Oscar is set to be punished in a secluded area for his impulsiveness.

Meanwhile, on another side of the ocean, a family of criminally-inclined great white sharks has a problem with one of their sons, Lenny (Jack Black) (who is a Vegetarian) . Lenny refuses to act the part of a killer and wishes to not have to live up to those expectations. Finally his father, Don Lino (Robert De Niro) loses patience and orders Lenny's more savage big brother Frankie (Michael Imperioli) to show Lenny the ropes. As the two sharks set out to go in accordance with their father's wishes, Frankie spots the scene where Oscar is being electrocuted by Ernie and Bernie (Doug E. Doug & Ziggy Marley), Sykes' two Jamaican Physalia physalis thugs, and sends Lenny off to attack. The jellyfish spot Lenny and swim off, leaving Oscar alone with him. Lenny frees Oscar but fails to trick Frankie, who becomes annoyed and charges at Oscar when an anchor falls and kills him. Lenny flees, overcome with grief and guilt. As no one saw the deed done and Oscar was seen near the body, everyone thinks he did it, and Oscar sees this as the chance to both redeem himself and receive his fame.

Oscar comes back to the city with a new title of the Sharkslayer. Sykes becomes his manager, Lola becomes his girlfriend, and Oscar moves to the "top of the reef" to live in luxury. At the same time, Don Lino has everyone out looking for Lenny, and when several get close to Oscar's town the other fish expect him to drive them away. On the way he meets Lenny once more who forces Oscar to let him stay with him because he does not want to go home. Soon Angie finds out about the lie and threatens to tell everyone but Oscar and Lenny convince her to keep quiet. Although Oscar desires to please everyone, he soon discovers that he pleases no one; his paramour Angie is heartbroken by the fact that Oscar is no longer honest, while her hedonistic rival Lola repeatedly reminds Oscar that he has her only as long as he is famous. With Don Lino planning revenge, Oscar and Lenny stage an event where Lenny pretends to terrorize the town and Oscar must defeat him, throwing him into the depths of the ocean. Though this further cements Oscar as the Sharkslayer, it greatly angers Don Lino. Oscar leaves Lola for Angie after Angie reveals that she had feelings for Oscar even before he became famous, but this leaves Lola determined to get revenge.

Oscar buys some Valentine's Day gifts for Angie, but before he can present them to her, he finds that Don Lino has kidnapped Angie in order to force a sit-down. Lenny comes along, now disguised as a dolphin named Sebastian. They arrive at the meeting to find Lola next to Don Lino, while Angie is bound and gagged with duct tape and presented to Don Lino on a plate, who prepares to eat her if Oscar doesn't comply. Oscar just laughs and Lenny as "Sebastian" lunges forward to scoop Angie into his mouth, freeing her from Don Lino and giving Oscar dominance over the sharks. However, he spends too much time threatening the sharks and doesn't realize how much pain Lenny is in, and Angie is regurgitated onto the table. Don Lino suddenly realizes it's Lenny and proceeds to chase Oscar through the reef, but Oscar heads for the whale wash and ends up trapping both sharks. Given an ovation by the other fish, Oscar confesses that he is not a "Sharkslayer" and that it was an anchor that had killed Frankie. He then strongly urges Don Lino not to prejudge people before he knows them properly and to not make the mistake he made in prejudging his wealth, so Don Lino and Lenny reconcile. Oscar forsakes all the wealth he has acquired, makes peace with the sharks, becomes manager of the Whale Wash (now frequented by sharks), and starts dating Angie and starts to have a happy, honest life.

In the post-scene credits Lola comes to see Oscar in the top of the reef but all she finds is Crazy Joe a hermit crab.

Cast

• Will Smith as Oscar, an underachieving worker in the Whalewash of Reef City. He wants to be rich, but his schemes always fail and he owes five thousand clams to Sykes.
• Jack Black as Lenny, a great white shark who is a closeted vegetarian.
• Robert De Niro as Don Lino, Frankie and Lenny's father, the leader of a mob of criminally-inclined sharks and the film's main antagonist. He wants Lenny and Frankie to take over the business and run it together, and is infuriated when Oscar gets in the way.
• Renée Zellweger as Angie, an angelfish, Oscar's best friend and coworker. Angie harbors a secret romantic interest in Oscar.
• Angelina Jolie as Lola, a seductive female gold-digger lionfish whom Oscar develops a romantic interest in.
• Martin Scorsese as Sykes, a porcupinefish and a loan shark whom Oscar owes five thousand clams to. He once worked for Don Lino but was thrown out and called in his debts to pay off the gangster.
• Ziggy Marley and Doug E. Doug as Ernie and Bernie, two Jamaican jellyfish and Sykes' henchmen. They enjoy jabbing Oscar with their vicious stingers when he is in trouble with Sykes.
• Michael Imperioli as Frankie, the more savage son of Lino. Like Lino, he is embarrassed by Lenny's vegetarian tendencies.
• Vincent Pastore as Luca, Don Lino's "left-hand, right-hand man". Luca is an octopus with a tendency to state the obvious.
• Peter Falk as Don Ira Feinberg, an elderly leopard shark who is friends with Don Lino. He performs karaoke (badly) at the sharks' headquarters.
• David P. Smith as Crazy Joe, a deranged hermit crab who is Oscar's other friend. He normally lives in a dumpster near the Whalewash.
• Katie Couric as Katie Current, the local reporter. At the time, Katie Couric hosted Today in America. In the Australian release, then local Today co-host Tracy Grimshaw dubbed the lines. Fiona Phillips of the UK's GMTV performed the voice for the UK release of the film. Cristina Parodi of Italy's Verissimo provided the Italian version of the character.

Accolades

Controversies

John Mancini, the founder of the Italic Institute of America, protested Shark Tale for perpetuating negative stereotypes of Italian-Americans.

The American Family Association, a Christian conservative organization, raised concerns about the film, suggesting that it was designed to promote the acceptance of gay rights by children.

Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars, observing, "Since the target audience for Shark Tale is presumably kids and younger teenagers, how many of them have seen the R-rated "Godfather" and will get all the inside jokes? Not a few, I suppose, and some of its characters and dialogue have passed into common knowledge. But it's strange that a kid-oriented film would be based on parody of a 1972 gangster movie for adults." He also opined that younger viewers would have trouble enjoying a film about adult characters with adult problems, such as an elaborate love triangles and a main character wanting to clear his debt with loan sharks, and compared it to more successful fish-focused animated features like Finding Nemo, that Ebert felt featured a simpler plot that audiences could more easily identify with.

Popular culture references

There are various popular culture references throughout the film. A few of them are:

• At the start of the film a box of "Kelpy Kremes" an undersea version of Krispy Kreme can be seen.
• Mrs. Sanchez is seen reading a newspaper with an ad for a film entitled "The Hook". The poster is the same poster for the 2002 horror film The Ring, however instead of a ring shape, there is a hook shape. The tagline reads "Before you die, you eat", rather than "Before you die, you see".
• Several of the signs seen in the fish city read paraodies of actual companies:

• Coral-Cola, an undersea version of Coca-Cola.
• Fish King, an undersea version of Burger King.
• Gup Kids, an undersea version of Gap Kids.
• Old Wavy, an undersea version of Old Navy.

• In Don Lino's lair, (which happens to be the wreck of the Titanic) Jack Dawson's drawing of Rose DeWitt Bukater from the 1997 romance Titanic is seen on the wall, although slightly altered to fit the PG rating of the film. Sykes also bumps into this picture during his meeting with Don Lino.
• In one of the final scenes of the film, Ernie and Bernie can be seen playing the Shark Tale video game.
• At one point, Frankie Lino begins singing the shark motif from Jaws. A poster for the 1975 blockbuster film can be seen in the film as well.
• An advert for "Preparation O" is seen, advertised as "Slaying haemorrhoids like Oscar slays sharks", rather than Preparation H.
• The reporter in the film was named "Katie Currant", which was a parody of the actual Katie Couric.
• A magazine is shown with the name "FQ" which is supposed to be like GQ, the men's magazine.
• Another magazine is shown, "Pisces" which is like the magazine, People
• Four starfish celebrities called Tuna Turner, Mussel Crowe, Jessica Shrimpson and Cod Stewart are based on the real life celebrities Tina Turner, Russell Crowe, Jessica Simpson and Rod Stewart, respectively.

Soundtrack

Shark Tale: Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on September 21, 2004.

See also

• List of animated feature-length films
• List of computer-animated films
• Shark Tale (video game)
• Shrek
• Post Grad

References

1. ‘Shark Tale’ offensive to Italian Americans?, MSNBC.com, April 6, 2004
2. Berkowitz, Bill. "Still Cranky After All These Years", Media Transparency, April 19, 2007, accessed May 7, 2011.
3. Roger Ebert. "Shark Tale". Chicago Sun-Times.

External links

• Official website
• Shark Tale at IMDb
• Template:Bcdb title
• Template:Allmovie title
• Shark Tale at Rotten Tomatoes
• Shark Tale at Metacritic
• Shark Tale at Box Office Mojo

• 2004 films
• American films
• English-language films
• 2000s comedy films
• American animated films
• American children's films
• American comedy films
• Animated features released by DreamWorks SKG
• Computer-animated films
• DreamWorks Animation films
• DreamWorks films
• Films about animals
• Films about sharks
• Films featuring anthropomorphic characters
• Mafia films