DVDizzy Forum

So I dunno how many of you guys are going to get around to seeing this, but I'll probably go sometime this weekend. Think I'll buy a ticket to something else and sneak in, though.

Anyhoo, as with the Disney "thoughts on..." threads, just post a short blurb here if/when you see it. Personally, I'm not expecting overly great things from a "family" mob comedy with creepy over-humanized fish characters, but we'll see.

Honestly, it looks completely awful. I haven't seen one appealing thing in any of the previews. Not wasting my money on this crap - DreamWorks can do better.

Jack wrote:DreamWorks can do better.

I doubt it...

PatrickvD wrote:

Jack wrote:DreamWorks can do better.

I doubt it...

You're by yourself on that one...

I was hoping to see it today, but those chances are shot because my dad wants to go to a crappy battlefield...

Jack Wrote:

DreamWorks can do better.

I totally agree with you Jack. Stark Tale is a piece of crap I'm not wasting my money on that I prefer to rent it when it comes out on DVD.

PatrickvD wrote:

Jack wrote:DreamWorks can do better.

I doubt it...

Yes, they can. Look at stuff like The Prince of Egypt and Spirit. Admittedly,they don't quite reach most of the Disney or Pixar fare, but at least they tried to artistically tell a story.

Shark Tale is a shallow attempt at being 'hip' and bringing the teenage crowd into theaters and making loads of cash. Personally, I don't give it any artistic merit at all, from what I've seen.

yeah it does look crappy, and i cant stop thinking that its a NEMO wanna be. I mean I know that it has nothing to do with Nemo but to me its like since Nemo was THE movie of the year Dreamworks wants to do a movie UNDER THE SEA just like Nemo. I dunno nevermind it sounds dumb.

Well, I sort of find it rude that you all are bashing this movie when all you have seen are previews for the movie. Comparing this to NEMO is not completely valid. Yeah, the both deal with fish underwater. What about SpongeBob? They are all different stories.

Really. If you don't give the film a shot, then you can't give it a full blown out bashing. Maybe something like: "Well, from the previews it doesn't look to great because...".. not that "Shark Tale is a piece of crap"

If someone said the Incedibles looked like crap then there'd be an outrageous group of people, so keep it in perspective.

Yeah im sorry, ur right.
I guess i should go see it before i talk about it.

jabroni76 wrote:If you don't give the film a shot, then you can't give it a full blown out bashing. Maybe something like: "Well, from the previews it doesn't look to great because...".. not that "Shark Tale is a piece of crap"

In my critisism of it, I've always said "from what I've seen." However, I'm 95% sure I wouldn't like the movie if I saw it - its very easy to grasp what type of movie it is from the previews.

I read two reviews which both offered mild praise to the film. My gut instinct is "We already saw the underwater fish movie when it was called <i>Finding Nemo</i>." And I'm sure <i>Nemo</i> is better. Nonetheless, there are some things which sound like they could be interesting about <i>Shark Tale</i>, even if it represents a) DreamWorks again trying to swim in Disney's part of the animation pool, b) advertising the voice cast as if that's why you have to see the film, c) adult-oriented humor for the sake of getting adult audiences, not for the sake of the film.

Nonetheless, my perceptions are obviously tainted until I see the film. But I don't think I'll be paying to do that, so I guess maybe I'll rent it next March.

jabroni76 wrote:Well, I sort of find it rude that you all are bashing this movie when all you have seen are previews for the movie. Comparing this to NEMO is not completely valid. Yeah, the both deal with fish underwater. What about SpongeBob? They are all different stories.

It is a lot like Nemo, with the vegetarian shark and all. To top it off, this is the second time Dreamworks has done this. It's a lot like when Antz came out after Bugs Life with the outcast Ant. It's incredibly difficult to not compare them, it's not like fish are a really common movie concept.

Spongebob is very different in content and style; besides it was out on T.V. before Nemo.

I'll reserve judgement until I rent this one, but from what I've seen I do think Dreamworks can do better. They make better movies when they aren't trying to live up to Disney. Like somebody said, The Prince of Egypt was a really good movie. A lot of the artwork in it was really well done as well.

TheZue- Dreamworksm has walked in Disney's shadow for years. And Antz was made and released before A Bug's Life.

Just Myself wrote:And Antz was made and released before A Bug's Life.

Released? Yes. Made? No.

I don't plan on seeing this film, although it does feature the vocal talents of my girl Christina Aguilera as...a jellyfish. How fitting.
But seriously, I don't picture this film appealing as much to the teenage audience as much as a more sly film could...the character models just look disgusting if you ask me. And the voice talents? I really don't care.

Well, I saw it this afternoon (with a Shaun of the Dead ticket... ), and all I have to say is... holy crap. Literally.

The biggest thing that stuck out to me was the blatant and shameless "urbanization" of the film. If I had only three words to describe this monstrosity, it would be "Black Finding Nemo." Seriously. The movie is absolutely saturated with African-American pop culture - not just pop culture in general, but black pop culture. Shark Tale is almost as shameless in reaching for a specific demographic as Prince of Egypt was for Christians. I mean, name your reference - hip-hop, Rastafarianism, "old-school", bling-bling lifestyles (versus "livin' in da hood"), cool ebonics and slang terms, cute lil' Fat Albert-type kids, not to mention a good number of the characters' voice actors - pretty much anything in black pop culture is represented here. The film's synopses make it look like a mob parody - but I can seriously say that there was more black influence present in the film than anything concerning the mafia. The mob plot almost takes a backseat to all of Will Smith's... well, all of his "Will Smith-ing".
This definitely isn't a knock on black people, either. It's just the methods that the film employs, using their cultures and subcultures. I mean, a good handful of the jokes and references are so specific to a black mentality that they almost seem like inside jokes. It makes me wonder how many viewers this film lost as it progressed.

That was the biggest thing I noticed, anyway. I have all the usual gripes about fugly character designs and shameless promotion (Look at how many A-list voices we have! Hey... even the fishes' faces look like their celebrity voice!). The pop culture references, in addition to being so "black-heavy", will date the film even faster and more severely than Shrek. The CG was incredibly "boastful", too. They just crammed the screen with details - not so much for setting the tone as it was for a juvenile "Lookit lookit! Look what we can do! We'll rape your eyeballs with brilliant, sparkly imagery!!"

I sincerely hope this film bombs. >_<

Thanks for the review, Lindsay! That's not something I got from reading reviews, and I don't think it's a point that reviewers would be 'bold' (for lack of a better word) enough to make. So, I take it that this is <i>The Wiz</i> to <i>Finding Nemo</i>'s <i>Wizard of Oz</i>?

Wow. That review is much appreciated.

My wife asked me if I wanted to take our now 4 year-old daughter to see it this weekend, and I declined. I told her it just didn't look like a movie that I thought Hailey would enjoy. From the sounds of that review not only would she probbaly not enjoy it much, but she wouldn't understand much of it either.

oh god... i saw this w/ a friend yesterday... what can i say.... this can be compared to gigli.
you don't feel for any of the characters... except maybe angie... u want will smith to just die... the animation looked like something rushed (majorly rushed-especially compared to shrek and nemo) and the 3d looked like something you would find in a crappy ps1 game.
also... there is no genuinity to the life under the sea: here u have sushi bar, tvs, ps2, shopping malls... whatever!
in the end, i thought this movie was stupid, the charcters were boring, stupid and well.... anoying... and in the end, just save your money!

Shark Tale Worst Reviewed 3D Animated Feature Ever
Rotten Tomatoes

"Shark Tale," from the makers of such critically acclaimed 3-D animated features as "Shrek 2" and "Antz," is so far the worst-reviewed 3-D animated feature ever. With 68 reviews from major print and online critics so far, the film has received a very Rotten 31% percent on the Tomatometer - only 31% percent of the 68 critics gave it a recommendation. It also has an average rating of just 5.3/10. Overall, critics think that although the film is colorful and nice-looking, it's also shallow and generic, and relies too heavily on sight gags and humor based on inappropriate ethnic stereotypes. This critical dud ends Dreamworks' streak of well-reviewed 3-D animated features, which is an ominous sign for its box office prospects for the upcoming weekend.
Dreamworks' previous 3-D animated features - "Antz," "Shrek 2," and "Shrek" - were all critically acclaimed box office successes, with Tomatometer ratings of 97%, 90%, and 88%, respectively.

The previous worst-reviewed title holder is the critical and box office bomb "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," which has a 44% on the Tomatometer. The best-reviewed 3-D animated features ever are Pixar's "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2," both of which have a perfect 100% on the Tomatometer.

Ranking of 3-D Animated Features by Tomatometer:
=====================================
1. Toy Story 2 (100%)
2. Toy Story (100%)
3. Finding Nemo (99%)
4. Antz (97%)
5. Monsters, Inc. (95%)
6. A Bug's Life (91%)
7. Shrek 2 (90%)
8. Shrek (88%)
9. Ice Age (77%)
10. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (77%)
11. Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (68%)
12. Dinosaur (62%)
13. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (44%)
14. Shark Tale (31%)