Shark Tale
Director: Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson and Rob Letterman
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 1.0
In case you didn't know, it's perfectly all right to be yourself - whether you're a car washer with dreams of fame or fortune (Will Smith) or a queer-coded vegan (Jack Black) who wants to explore your 'feminine' side despite the risk of offending your typically 'macho,' heterosexual father (Robert De Niro). If the name Vicky Jenson doesn't send shivers through your exoskeleton, it should, because she was one of the directors of Shrek, a film of lame pop-culture references and banal morality which this more or less imitates - like Shrek, it panders to its audience and plays to their 15-minute attention spans ("Oh, I get it - that's the Gap! In fish language!"). While not cripplingly awful - there are cute interjections by throwaway side characters, like a crazy crab who watches Benny Hill or talking shrimp that like the movie Scarface - most of this is pure kiddy-fodder and probably intolerable for most viewers over the age of 16. Also painful: watching the Scorsese fish rap.
