• Starring: Angelina Jolie, Renée Zellweger, Robert De Niro, Will Smith
  • Summary: Oscar is a fast-talking little fish whose big dreams have a habit of landing him in hot water. Lenny is a great white shark with a sensitive side and a secret -- he's a vegetarian. When a great white lie turns Oscar into an improbable hero and the truth about Lenny makes him an outcast, the two become the most unlikely of friends. (DreamWorks) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 36
  2. Negative: 4 out of 36
  1. 88
    Represents solid family entertainment, and will find a special place in the hearts of those who adore the "Godfather" movies and the TV series "The Sopranos."
  2. Comes off as an overly jokey but often quite entertaining spoof that should please families everywhere.
  3. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    38
    Where "Nemo" was clever, soulful, and marvelous to look at, "Tale" is manic and surprisingly ugly, with a script that leans on the shallowest aspects of hip-hop street cred while pimping for corporate product placement at every turn.

See all 36 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 36
  2. Negative: 19 out of 36
  1. Its easy to compare it to Finding Nemo but the references to real-life and the singing is surprisingly clever and fancy and the cast is ambitious. Nevertheless compared to Finding Nemo, its plot teaches children why you should be yourself and not someone your not despite being different from others. Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. Despite a ensemble 'voice' cast, "Shark Tale" is a normal Dream works animation with the obvious hero path formula intended to scrap money out of the audience. Expand
    • 2 of 2 users said yes
  3. This CGI movie from Dreamworks Animation tells the story about Oscar, a fish who is tired of being called a "nobody", dreams of something big. One day, when he gets chased by a shark, an anchor kills it and Oscar tells a white lie in which it makes him a famous killer known as the "sharkslayer. He meets Lenny, a shark who turns out to be a vegetarian and ran away from his father Don Lino and realizes that his false claim has serious consequences as he tries to sort out the whole problem by telling the truth. I caught a screening of this in theaters the same year it came out and I really enjoyed it, but a few years later, I've finally realized that this movie didn't turn out quite well. The first problem I had with this movie was the moral lesson. In the ending scene where Oscar finally admits that he lied, he gets the money he had transferred to the Whale Wash where he now works as a manager. Is that what you want to teach your kids? That if you tell the truth, you will get what you want? I'm sorry, but that was very inexcusable. Another problem that I had with this movie was the characters. They weren't even developed and were not that likable. At most of the scenes, they were very annoying and their personalities were too predictable. I will give Dreamworks Animation credit for the CGI animation and art design plus the voice acting and music score included, but most of the time they were overshadowed by a poorly written storyline, bad jokes and puns, overused clichés from other CGI movies, and the villain voiced by Robert De Niro wasn't even threatening or diabolical. Dreamworks, I love you, but if everyone has to pick at least one CGI movie that was bad, then frankly, this was it. Even though I loved it as a child, I seemed to hate it. It's watchable for the kids, but for the adults, however, it's not even entertaining. I also really hated the fact that this clichéd, unfunny CGI movie made so much money and became the highest grossing animated movies of 2004 (which Shrek 2 and The Incredibles held their own ranks.) because there was no way any bad CGI movie like this could make that amount of cash. Overall, it isn't the worst CGI movie yet, but I think I've seen the worst parts in this movie and I've seen better Dreamworks animation movies than this. Sorry, Dreamworks, but this one deserves a good punch in the face. 3/10 Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 36 User Reviews

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