Shark Tale (Mark's Take)
02/11/2004 . Source: Mark R. Leeper 
Dreamscape's latest animated film is set in a sort of undersea urban environment and should entertain the whole family. The story is familiar but the jokes come in a rapid fire. Buy Shark Tale in the USA - or Buy Shark Tale in the UK 
SHARK TALE (a film review by Mark
R. Leeper) CAPSULE: Dreamscape's latest animated
film is set in a sort of undersea urban environment and should entertain the whole
family. The story is familiar but the jokes come in a rapid fire. Rating: low
+2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10. Dreamworks
continues their competition with Pixar for the audience of animated films. They
made ANTS when Pixar made A BUG'S LIFE. Pixar did their fish film with FINDING
NEMO and Dreamworks has followed suit with their fish film, SHARK TALE. Pixar
used very naturalistic artwork capturing the beauty of Australia's Great Barrier
Reef in digital animation and has well-written characters. Dreamworks's film uses
a fantasy urban environment under the sea. Their characters are intentionally
cliched, being essentially film references. The writing team has ratcheted up
the pace of the jokes to a machine gun staccato. 
For a story they used as a framework a story Disney animated back
in 1941, "The Reluctant Dragon" (based on Kenneth "Wind in the Willows" Grahame's
story). The pacifist dragon becomes the vegetarian shark Lenny (voiced by Jack
Black). The timid dragon-slaying human is now a timid shark- slaying fish Oscar
(Will Smith). Other popular stars doing voices include Robert
DeNiro, Renee Zellweger, Anjolina Jolie, Martin Scorsese, and Peter Falk. Somehow
we have come to believe that animated films need big stars to do the voices.
The film is made palatable for a wide audience not by telling one story that can
be appreciate on many levels, generally the Pixar approach, but rather by planting
a lot of jokes to be enjoyed only by the adults or perhaps only by fans of classic
films. The distinction might be that Pixar makes family films,
Dreamworks makes children's films that adults can enjoy. Quotes from familiar
films abound. Product placements also are present in profusion, though always
for joke value. Stay around through the closing credits. There
are still more jokes. Mark R. Leeper Copyright
2004 Mark R. Leeper 
|
