Think of DreamWorks' new animated comedy Shark Tale as The Codfather.
This zippy little ditty from the creators of Shrek, Shrek 2 and Antz is an affectionate homage to such mobster classics as The Godfather, GoodFellas and The Sopranos, but the movie trivia certainly doesn't end there.
Shark Tale is a fish stew with bits of Jaws, Gladiator and even Jerry Maguire thrown into the mix.
Oscar (Will Smith) is a little fish with a mouth as big as his dreams.
He works as a tongue scrubber at the whale wash in a reef version of Times Square, complete with garish neon ads for Coral Cola and Kelpy Kreme doughnuts.
Oscar wants desperately to be a somebody, which he is in the eyes of Angie (Renee Zellweger) the angelfish, who secretly loves him.
Oscar's dream of becoming rich and famous literally drops into his lap when Frankie (Michael Imperioli), the menacing son of shark-father Don Lino (Robert DeNiro), is killed by a descending ship anchor.
Oscar receives the credit and becomes known as the Shark Slayer.
Suddenly he is the reef's swinger king and even the sexy Lola (Angelina Jolie) is a frequent visitor to his penthouse pad.
Oscar's chief conspirator in this lie is Lenny (Jack Black), Don Lino's other son, a shark who's both a sensitive vegetarian and a cross-dresser.
Of course Oscar and Lenny will be found out.
If they are to live, Don Lino has to embrace his son's eccentricities and Oscar has to embrace Angie.
Smith's Oscar is the equivalent of Eddie Murphy's Donkey in the Shrek movies and his dragon in Mulan, Robin Williams' genie in Aladdin and John Leguizamo's sloth in Ice Age.
Oscar is all jokey attitude and loud-mouthed bravado and Smith's vocal gymnastics are genuinely hilarious as is the animators' caricature of him.
The problem is that the jokester is usually the sidekick in these films, not the central character and Smith's antics eventually wear thin.
Black's Lenny is much too bland to be the film's other hero, which is why the minor characters really shine.
Zellweger's long-suffering girlfriend is wonderfully spunky and the fish definitely has her squint.
Lola is defined by Jolie's lips; Don Lino even has DeNiro's mole and the puffer fish Sykes has Martin Scorsese's bushy eyebrows.
To add to the slapstick tomfoolery there is a pair of Rastafarian jellyfish voiced by Ziggy Marley and Doug E. Doug, and the reef's top news anchor Katie Current is voiced by Katie Couric.
There's a great musical homage to Jaws and the shark lair is in the sunken Titanic complete with a picture of Kate Winslet's Rose.
Though there are many visual and verbal jokes aimed at adults, like the vacant sushi bar and the Car Wash parody, Shark Tale will appeal more to young children than teenagers and adults.
It's bright, colourful and tuneful and its action is frenetic, making it true eye candy.
It's not nearly as clever and edgy as the Shrek films and nowhere near as captivating as Finding Nemo so, though diverting, it's not exactly a whale of a tale.
(This film is rated G)
More Movie Reviews
