Shark Tale at Barnes and Noble
Comedy – general DVD – As gangster-film parodies go, Shark Tale is in a league of its own — 20,000 leagues under the sea, that is. This Academy Award-nominated computer-animated feature reeled them in at the box office and, with its rich complement of special features, should make it an even bigger splash on DVD. The A-list voice cast gives a new meaning to “star fish.” Will Smith is jive-talking Oscar, a tongue scrubber at the local Whale Wash who yearns to live among the “somebodies” at the top of the reef. Renée Zellweger costars as Angie, a co-worker with an unrequited crush on the clueless Oscar. Robert De Niro is Don Lino, a shark looking to turn over control of the reef to his sons, but one of them gives him a sinking feeling. Jack Black is Lenny (presumably a play on the fact that he sounds like Laverne & Shirley’s Squiggy), a vegetarian with no taste for the family business. Lenny and Oscar form a surprising alliance when Oscar is mistaken for a shark slayer. Fame and fortune turn his head, but Oscar will learn that life at the top of the reef can be a shallow existence. The supporting voice cast is no less impressive, with Martin Scorsese as a puffer fish to whom Oscar is deep in debt and Angelina Jolie as a gold-digging fish fatale. The script is filled with movie references and puns — there “shell-phones,” a “prawnshop,” and an anchorwoman named “Katie Current,” perkily voiced by Katie Couric. Taking its cue from the Shrek DVDs, the Shark Tales disc contains an exclusive animated musical segment set on the dance floor of “Club Oscar.” Shark Tale does not tell as primal a story as Finding Nemo, and many of the jokes will float over children’s heads, but the film’s high spirits never flounder. – Shark Tale at Barnes and Noble
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