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Nougathead
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Shark Tale (2004)
Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down...
Finding Nemo, often regarded as one of Pixar's best-animated movies, was a 2003 animated film about a father who goes on a quest to find his son after he's fish-napped by a dentist with the help of Ellen DeGeneres. The film was a big hit was critics and audiences and was a major hit at the box office. Meanwhile in the window of his office, Jeffrey was struggling to come up with new ideas to rival that of Disney, and so, he decided to make his response to Finding Nemo, Shark Tale, often regarded as one of Dreamworks' worst animated films. Despite being lambasted by critics, the movie was a box-office success and was nominated for an Academy Award, wait, what? But enough for that, now it's time to dig deep into the festering shark carcass that is this movie that was nominated for an Academy Award, no, no, I'm still not over that. But on the bright side, Katzenberg did kind of beat Disney. (FYI: Home of the Range came out the same year)
The Titular Shark Tale
So what's the story of Shark Tale? Well, it's about the cool rapping Will Smith fish (Yeah, this is one of those movies that Dreamworks makes where the actors aren't playing characters, so, therefore, you never refer to them by their names, but rather by their celebrities, which I am going to be doing in this review a lot) who works at a whale wash. One day, he has to pay his Martin Scorsese pufferfish boss (Yes, that Martin Scorsese) 5 grand. So his Renee Zellweger friend gives him her grandmother's pearl. And so, being the ever so charming protagonist he is, bets it on a seahorse after hearing that the seahorse race is rigged (Y-y-you get it? It's like horse racing, but it sucks your soul when you describe it) The seahorse loses, the Scorsese boss is fuming, and so he decides to kill Will Smith fish. (clearly a sensible man) Meanwhile, Jack Black Shark has issues with Robert De Niro shark. His brother, Frankie, tries to teach Jack Black shark to hunt, and before Frankie tries to eat Will Smith's fish (who is just abandoned by Scorsese boss, obvious villain mistake #2, right next to monologuing instead of killing the hero) an anchor drops on Frankie and kills him. So, our lovable hero decides to pretend that he killed Frankie. This makes him popular among the fish (Yeah, we'll get to that) and it also puts him in danger because, well, he pretended to kill a shark's son, of course, that cretin's gonna be in real hot water. So what are the problems of this story? Number one, it's extremely cliched and poorly executed. You've seen these "Liar Revealed" movies dozens of times before, especially in kids' films. Rango, The Road to El Dorado, A Bug's Life, Chicken Run, Aladdin, Over the Hedge, Hotel Transylvania, Madagascar 3, The Tigger Movie, it's been done before! Mainly by Dreamworks. And it's particularly done poorly by this movie. Like, think about this. Oscar killed the shark in a deserted place with no spectators except the Jamaican jellyfish. Why would the entire town believe his nonsense? It's also a rise-to-fame story where the character's fame slowly gets to his head which doesn't work either because Will Smith Fish remains the same character throughout the entire movie. An obnoxious, narcissistic dipstick who always thinks about himself, never does an intelligent thing in the movie, and because of his idiocy, he puts everybody around him, including Lenny and Angie in mortal danger. But we'll talk more about Will Smith fish later. Another problem with the story is the pacing. Now, I don't have a problem with slow pacing, but this movie does not use it to its advantage. It feels slow even when something is exciting, although the animation certainly doesn't help. But enough about the story, let's talk about how well the film handles its genre.
How Well The Movie Handles Its Genre
Note that I will also be tackling this movie's dramatic moments and action scenes to see how well they're done. The emotional moments are poorly done, especially at the ending, since not only is Will Smith's fish incredibly unlikable, but he does not deserve the emotional moment because he doesn't go through any arc of some sort. Although credit where credit is due, the reunion between Don Lino and Lenny is decently handled. As well as that, the fight between Oscar and Don Lino is also fine and this was the first time Oscar technically slayed a shark, so good for him. Now let's talk about "comedy". It mainly relies on four kinds of humor: Stereotypes, pop culture references, kids film humor, and fish puns. The stereotypes in this movie are offensive and insulting; the worst examples would have to be Ernie, Bernie, and Lenny, which we'll get to later in the character segment. The pop culture references are extremely forced and dated to make the adults go "Hey, I know that film." or "Hey, I know that actor." These include Frankie humming to the Jaws theme, the obvious Godfather references that no kid would get, and in one scene where Oscar pretends to slay Lenny, he says movie quotes from Gladiator, A Few Good Men, and Jerry Maguire, which are all R rated movies, by the way. Next, there's kids' film humor. To assure that the kids aren't bored out of their minds, they added the usual humor you'd find in a stereotypical kids' film. That's right, burping, farting, sushi for fish, wait, what? They're all there and equally unfunny. Lastly, there are the really atrocious fish puns (Katie Current, shell-phones, Mussel Crowe) Now I have to admit that not all jokes are bad, as there are a couple of them that did make me laugh a little. Especially Scorsese's lines. Even behind the microphone, he still proves to be the best part of the movie. Speaking of Scorsese, let's talk about the characters! (Yeah, I know that was a terrible segue, so sue me.)
The Worst Cast in a Dreamworks Movie
I've already talked about how astonishingly unlikable Oscar is. There's nothing to say except he always whines, and never thinks once that his actions could cause disastrous consequences, like when he pretends to slay two sharks and doesn't have a doubt that maybe other sharks would see him as a threat, and puts everybody around him in jeopardy because of it. He is the reason why Angie is kidnapped in the climax and is on the verge of being eaten. He also ruins the plan to save Angie and ends up making Lenny barf and expose his disguise in front of Don Lino. Thanks for that, jerk. Not even the irresistible charisma of Will Smith saved this character. The rest of the cast doesn't fare much better. It says something when your antagonist is more sympathetic than your protagonist. And even then, Don Lino is just your typical mobster character who doesn't have much sympathy either. There is not much to say about him there. Angie is the audience's surrogate, complaining to Oscar about how he could expect his life to be perfectly wonderful when he pretends to kill two sharks. But during the middle, she starts to get clingy for no reason when Lola tries to seduce Oscar and ends up kissing her on public television. But like, she never admitted that she had a crush on him. It's not like he's cheating on her. (Although, considering his character, he probably would if he could) Besides, I have no idea how she could still love him when she gets lied to and kidnapped by the shark mafia because of his idiotic actions. He doesn't even realize until the end that Angie might be in love with her. (Did I ever mention how moronic he is? I feel like I missed that part) Then there's Lenny, and there is no way around this: he is a gay stereotype. The movie pulls a coming out of the closet story with him not wanting to eat meat yet his dad keeps forcing him to do so and be like his son Frankie, who hunts for meat. He tells Oscar that he is a vegetarian, that he doesn't want to keep it a secret, and his dad never lets him be who he is, until the end where Don Lino finally accepts that his son is going to stay the way he is and he comes to realize that he doesn't care if his son is a carnivore or a herbivore and comes to love him for who he is. The symbolism could not be any more obvious, which is another problem with this movie that I forgot to pick up on: it has no subtlety. When it wants to tell you something, it shoves it into your face with a sledgehammer. Lola comes out and says that deep down, she's superficial. Then there's the example of Angie. And when Oscar is going to give the money to Sykes, he talks to himself about how he's going to give the money to Sykes. (No kidding) Not helping matters is Lenny's voice. Now, I love Jack Black. Who doesn't? But the voice he puts on for him will genuinely get on your last nerves. It tries to come off as really shrill and effeminate, but it just sounds aggravating. Then there's Lola, who like I said, has no subtlety. She's also the generic gold-digger character, and when she is first introduced, they play a song that includes lyrics like "She's dangerous, super bad, better watch out, she'll take your cash. She's a gold-digger. She's a gold-digger." Yeah, this movie loves to treat the audience like idiots, like it's Dora the Explorer or something. Lastly, let's talk about some of the supporting characters. Sykes is probably the best character in the movie. His voice actor, Martin Scorsese proves that he can give his all in front of the camera or behind it, making his less funny lines even funnier. What else? The Jamaican jellyfish are not funny. They are genuinely offensive and obnoxious. Don Lino's henchmen, like the sharks, Frankie, and the octopus, can be pretty hit-and-miss too. Lastly, I'd like to mention the best part of the movie, the voice acting. All of the actors, including Jack Black, put 100% into their roles. Martin Scorsese, like I said, kills it as Sykes. And the other actors aren't far behind. While I did say that Jack Black's voice for Lenny was pretty annoying, he does still sound like he's having a lot of fun.