Shark Tale is a 2004 American animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman, from a screenplay written by Letterman and Michael J. Wilson. The film features the voices of Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, and Martin Scorsese. It tells the story of an underachieving fish named Oscar (Smith) who falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss Don Lino (De Niro) in an attempt to advance his community standing. Oscar teams up with the mobster's younger son Lenny (Black) to keep up the facade. Shark Tale premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 10, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 1. It made $374.6 million worldwide against its $75 million budget, finishing its theatrical run as the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2004. The film received mixed reviews from critics; advocacy groups criticized the film for its use of Italian-American stereotypes. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 77th Academy Awards.

Plot

In the Southside Reef, Oscar is a lonely bluestreak cleaner wrasse who, in his childhood, dreamed of being a tongue-scrubber at the local Whale Wash, like his late father Earl until his classmates cruelly made fun of him for it, fantasizes about being rich and famous to be accepted, but owes money to his boss and the Whale Wash's owner, a pufferfish named Sykes. His best friend, an angelfish named Angie, offers him a pearl that was a gift from her grandmother to pawn and pay his debt. Meanwhile, Don Lino, the boss of a mob gang of sharks, orcas, sailfish, and octopuses, which Sykes works for, dislikes that his younger son Lenny is a vegetarian, and orders his eldest son, Frankie, to mentor Lenny. The next day, Oscar brings the money from the pearl to a seahorse race to meet Sykes, but hears that the race is rigged and bets it all on a seahorse named "Lucky Day". A gold-digging lion fish named Lola sees this and flagrantly seduces Oscar. Sykes is annoyed that Oscar bet the money, but he hopes that Oscar might win. Lucky Day, which revealed that the race was rigged against him, eventually takes the lead, only to trip and lose short of the finish line. Sykes loses his temper and orders his two Jamaican henchmen jellyfish, Ernie and Bernie, to deal with Oscar. While the two taunt the helpless, bound, and gagged Oscar, by continually stinging him. Frankie sees them and urges Lenny to eat Oscar, but Lenny instead frees Oscar and tells him to escape. Furious and fed up with his brother's tenderness, Frankie charges at Oscar, but suddenly an anchor from above the surface falls on his neck, killing him. Devastated and blaming himself for his brother's demise, Lenny leaves. With no other witnesses, Oscar takes credit for killing Frankie and quickly rises in fame as the "Sharkslayer" and moves to the "top of the reef" to live in luxury, while Sykes becomes his manager and forgives his debt. At the same time, Lino has everyone search for Lenny and the Sharkslayer. Oscar encounters Lenny who, aware of Oscar's lie, begs Oscar to let him stay at his place to avoid returning to his father. Angie soon finds out about Oscar's lie and threatens to tell everyone, but he and Lenny convince her to be quiet. The next day, Oscar and Lenny stage a battle involving Oscar "fighting" off Lenny, thus cementing Oscar's popularity and tricking the sharks into thinking that Lenny has been killed too, infuriating Lino. Lola kisses Oscar on camera, making Angie jealous. That night, as Lenny disguises himself for his new life as a dolphin, Oscar and Angie get into a heated argument, where she reveals that she had romantic feelings for Oscar even before he became the Sharkslayer. A remorseful Oscar sadly reflects on his selfishness and dumps Lola, who beats him up in anger. Oscar visits the Whale Wash laden with gifts for Angie, only to discover that Lino has kidnapped her to stage a meeting, which Lola is also attending in revenge for being dumped. Lino threatens to eat Angie if Oscar does not surrender, but Lenny "eats" Angie to save her. He soon regurgitates her, and inadvertently reveals himself to Lino. Enraged, Lino chases Oscar through the reef. Oscar flees to the Whale Wash, accidentally trapping Lenny in the machinery before also trapping Lino. Everyone cheers for Oscar, but he finally confesses the truth behind Frankie's death while urging Lino to respect Lenny's lifestyle. Lino reconciles with Lenny and accepts him, and states that he and his gang bear the city no ill will. Oscar forsakes all the wealth he has acquired, becomes co-owner of the Whale Wash (which is now frequented by the gang members), and reconciles, begins a romantic relationship and lives happily with Angie in the reef. In a mid-credit scene, Lola arrives at the penthouse to apologize to Oscar, only to encounter his deranged hermit crab friend, Crazy Joe, instead.

Voice cast

Production

The film was officially announced and began production in April 2002, under the title of Sharkslayer, with Vicky Jenson (Shrek) and Bibo Bergeron (The Road to El Dorado) directing from a screenplay by Michael J. Wilson (Ice Age), as well as Mark Swift and Damian Shannon. By September 2003, the film had been retitled Shark Tale, to make it sound less violent and more family friendly. Bill Damaschke, the producer of the film, explained the title change: "In the beginning, we set out to make a movie a little more noir, perhaps a little darker than where we've landed." Shark Tale is the first all computer-animated film produced at DreamWorks Animation's Glendale facility, which previously animated the studio's hand-drawn animated movies, as well as their first computer-animated film to not be produced by Pacific Data Images. James Gandolfini was initially set to voice the kingpin shark, named Don Lino, but he dropped out, with Robert De Niro taking over the role. The film was produced concurrently with Finding Nemo, another animated film set underwater, which was released a year and a half earlier. DreamWorks Animation's CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, defended the film, saying that "any similarities are mere coincidence. We've been open with the Pixar people, so we don't step on each other's toes."

Marketing

Burger King featured ten different Shark Tale action figures within its' kids meals. Over 100 million The Coca-Cola Company products displayed Shark Tale on their packaging. Specially-marked pouches of Minute Maid and Hi-C offered consumers a free movie voucher with three proofs of purchase, or directed them to free limited-time Shark Tale downloads at howdoyouhangout.com. Shark Tale was featured on over 40 million packages of General Mills products, while specially-marked cereal packages came with one of five Shark Tale mini video games inside. Great Clips sponsored a national sweepstakes awarding a trip to Shark Tale's world premiere and other prizes, and promoted Shark Tale on Kasey Kahne's NASCAR race car. Hewlett-Packard, whose computers were used to create the film, sponsored online Shark Tale games and activities. Krispy Kreme carried Shark Tale-themed doughnuts.

Release

Shark Tale was initially scheduled for release on November 5, 2004, but was later moved up to October 1. This shift was reportedly made to avoid competition with Pixar's The Incredibles, which was released on the same weekend. The film had its worldwide premiere on September 10, 2004, in Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. Screening as part of the Venice Film Festival, it marked the first time that Piazza San Marco was closed for a premiere of a major feature film. The film was projected on the largest inflatable screen in the world, measuring more than six stories tall and over 3,900 sqft. It required 20,000 cuft of air to inflate and more than 50 tons of water for stabilization. The premiere was attended by 6,000 visitors, including Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, and Michael Imperioli. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the executive producer of the film, explained that they "wanted to find a unique way to introduce this movie to the world. We needed a big idea. ... More than anything, we are in showbusiness. This is the show part."

Home media

Shark Tale was released on VHS and DVD on February 8, 2005. The DVD contained behind-the-scenes featurettes, games and activities, blooper reels, an audition for the whale Gigi, the Car Wash music video featuring Aguilera and Elliott, and a short film Club Oscar. The film was released on Game Boy Advance Video on November 17, and on Blu-ray on February 5, 2019.

Reception

Box office

Shark Tale grossed $160.9 million in the United States and Canada and $213.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $374.6 million. It was the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2004. Shark Tale opened at #1 with $47.6 million, which was, at the time, the second-highest opening for a DreamWorks Animation film behind Shrek 2 ($108 million). It remained the #1 film in the U.S. and Canada for its second and third weekends.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 35% based on 182 reviews, with an average rating of 5.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Derivative and full of pop culture in-jokes." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. 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 triangle and a main character wanting to clear his debt with loan sharks, and compared it to more successful fish-focused animated features like Pixar Animation Studios' Finding Nemo, which Ebert felt featured a simpler plot that audiences could more easily identify with. Richard Roeper commented that although the film was not on the same level as Finding Nemo, it was a film worth seeing. Todd McCarthy of Variety was critical of the film's lack of originality: "Overfamiliarity extends to the story, jokes and music, most of which reference popular entertainment of about 30 years ago" noting that the script combines The Godfather and Jaws, with a dash of Car Wash. McCarthy calls Smith's character "tiresomely familiar", and Zellweger's "entirely uninteresting", but praises the vocal performance of Martin Scorsese. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said the film was not as good as Shrek, but called it "an overly jokey but often quite entertaining spoof that should please families everywhere."

Social commentary

Shark Tale was criticized for perpetuating negative stereotypes of Italian-Americans in its antagonists. Politician Bill Pascrell said: "The prevailing message is negative and they have to be held out to dry for it. I'm a very proud Italian-American. When you stereotype me, it's like making fun of my grandparents". Columbus Citizens Foundation issued a statement condemning the stereotyping of people with Italian names as gangsters. Dona De Sanctis, deputy executive director of the Order Sons of Italy in America, said: "We were very concerned about this type of stereotyping being passed on to another generation of children." John Mancini, the founder of the Italic Institute of America, protested the movie, stating: "We're concerned about what preteens are learning from the outside world. They don't associate other groups as criminals, they only know Italians as gangsters. Our goal here is to de-Italianize it." The protest was coordinated by the Italian American One Voice Coalition of New Jersey. DreamWorks reacted by changing the name of Peter Falk's character from Don Brizzi to Don Feinberg. However, Mancini demanded that everything Italian—character names, the mannerisms, the forms of speech—be dropped. The American Family Association, a Christian conservative organization, raised concerns about Shark Tale, suggesting that it was designed to promote the acceptance of gay rights by children.

Accolades

The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 77th Academy Awards, but lost to Pixar's The Incredibles.

Soundtrack

Shark Tale: Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on September 21, 2004. The soundtrack features newly recorded music by various artists, including Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, India.Arie, Bobby Valentino, Sean Paul, Timbaland, The Pussycat Dolls, Ludacris, Missy Elliott, and Justin Timberlake, as well as "Some of My Best Friends Are Sharks", the film's closing theme composed by Hans Zimmer. Janet Jackson and Beyoncé initially planned to record a duet for the film's soundtrack. Jackson's frequent collaborator Jimmy Jam, who had recently worked with Beyoncé for The Fighting Temptations soundtrack, commented, "Obviously we'd love to have the involvement of Janet and Beyonce, who we just worked with on Fighting Temptations. They've already expressed interest", adding "There are a lot of opportunities with an animated piece to work with some different people." Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, had appointed Jackson's producers Jam & Lewis to be involved with the soundtrack, though the duo only ended up producing only one song for the film, with Jam saying "We worked for DreamWorks before on the Bryan Adams song for Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and the Boyz II Men tune for The Prince of Egypt, and Katzenberg is a fan of what we do. He thought we would be perfect to do the music for Shark Tale."

Video game

A video game based on the film was released on September 29, 2004, for Microsoft Windows, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Game Boy Advance. Published by Activision, Edge of Reality developed the console versions of the game, while Vicarious Visions developed the Game Boy Advance version, and Amaze Entertainment developed the Microsoft Windows version. The cast from the film didn't reprise their roles in the game, except David P. Smith reprising his role as Crazy Joe.