Shark Tale
Shark Tale is a cleverly animated movie by the skilled artists at Dreamworks Animation. This one raises the ante on the increasing quality of computer-generated animation that has revolutionized the way cartoons are now made.
The screenplay relies overly much on how human society is projected on sea-dwelling creatures. Its mildly amusing to see how whales get cleaned in a “Whale Wash” (ala car wash), and how undersea society has TV news and skyscrapers that look very much like New York’s Times Square. The initial scenes were held my interest because of the parallels it draws to modern American society, but that didn’t last too long. Perhaps the formula has been overused in recent movies (remember any other box-office hits with singing fishes?)
One observation - the actors and actresses no longer just lend their voices to the roles. Indeed, some of the animated characters are even imbued with features similar to the real person - I noted Don Leno’s mole on the cheek (voiced by Robert de Niro) and Oscar’s thick African-American lips (voiced by Will Smith). I wonder if those details actually helped the audience identify with the characters by evoking the image of the actor?
Nevertheless, the movie was well produced and thoroughly enjoyable. The story is developed quickly and the audience is not left wanting for laughs.
I would have given it a higher rating, but I did leave the cinema feeling like I’ve seen this somewhere before.
Three stars.