Shark Tale

Yet another computer-generated film from Dreamworks pictures. This is the second release this year by the company, after the incredible sequel Shrek 2. In direct competition to Disney, Dremworks has slightly stolen the underwater motif and twisted it into their own image. Shark Tale, originally titled Shark Slayer, follows the story of a down-and-out wanna-be who claims he has killed a shark. He's catapulted into fame, then has to weasel his way out and into the truth.
For the most part, the movie was enjoyable. The underwater environment is humorous, and the plethora of celebrity voices are fun to listen to, but it lacked heart. The story is pretty overdone, and I lost interest pretty quick. Sure, a few moments made me laugh pretty hard, but everything seemed so forced and labored. And frankly, Will Smith as Oscar, the lead character was horribly annoying. He was a little too over-the-top, and I got sick of him pretty quick.
Now, let's compare movies. I know that this and Finding Nemo are two very different movies, but they have pretty similar premises. Nemo was twice the movie that this was. There was less emotional impact in Shark Tale, and it got old kind of quick. I've seen Nemo several times, and it still gets me at the end. I don't think that this one will have the repeated-viewing quality of Nemo. It had its moments, but it was subpare.
In the recent computer animation war, there hasn't been a clear winner. Sure, Shrek and Shrek 2 were fantastic movies, but Disney scored back with Nemo and of course, the Toy Story movies. We'll have to see what this fall's Disney effort, The Incredibles has to offer. If its a success, will Dreamworks counter with another similarly themed movie? Time will tell. As for me, I'm giving this a 6. Lackluster at best.

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