If this isn't the worst animated feature movie by a major studio in my lifetime, it must be darn close. The only thing saving it from getting 1 star is that with considerable effort I could imagine it being slightly worse. Some of the dialog and voice acting is fair, but only fair, and only some of it.

[[Edit] With time to reflect on it, I've decided this film doesn't even deserve 1.5 stars. Even thinking about it makes me want to smash something.]

On the other hand I can't think where to start listing what I hated about this movie. The characters are almost preternaturally ugly. The main character is hideous. It looks like a fairly untalented animation student grafted a badly rendered 3D picture of Will Smith's head onto a bit of seaweed. Most of the other characters are almost equally ghastly to look at. The whole thing is underwater, but it looks as if it's filmed on dry land, with almost none of the authenticity of motion that 'Finding Nemo' managed. And it's not just the movements, it's the whole scenario. I mean there's a restaurant where sharks sit and drink stuff out of glasses. How the hell do you pour something into a glass underwater? There's hip-hop music. There are bad ethnic stereotypes. It's like some nightmarish MTV clip. How in God's name did they talk Robert De Niro into being involved in this? Is his agent out to get him? "Hey Rob, I know 'Meet the Parents' kinda stunk - but I've got something lined up for you that'll really restore your credibility. C'mon - it'll be your best part since 'Raging Bull'."

After the very worthy 'Antz', the pretty good 'Shrek', and the tolerable 'Shrek 2', PDI/Dreamworks have officially entered 3D Hell with this one. The DVD contained previews of 'Madagasgar', and from the look of that, they intend staying there.

Don't buy this movie. Sponsor a child in Africa for a month. Or jump off a building. Either way you'll feel better.

This film was hilarious...if your sense of humor is found in obnoxious pop culture refrences and stereotypes. This movie was probably not worth seeing altogether, but I was curious. What was all the rave about?

Well, to be honest, America generally gobbles up anything with pop stars singing the score (think Christina Aguilera, JoJo) and film stars playing the characters. This is probably why most of those easily pleasable audiences liked it. But I, being a more critical movie-goer, disliked this.

For one thing, I find it ironic that 3 dimensional characters would have at most .5 dimension. They were bland, snappy and pretty irritating.

Another problem was the consant cliches of other movies...like the Godfather, and pop cultural...things. ("can't touch this!") Yes, it was mildly amusing. And yes, some of those scenes were funny and enjoyable. But as a movie...

I'd skip it.

Shark Tale was ok, but I think it had way too much hype and too little story. It had a good moral I guess, but the way it was told was kind of weak. I found myself getting bored with the movie. Many of the jokes, I thought, were out of place and didn't really fit the situation. There were a lot of annoying pop/rock songs in it as well. It's a good one time rental maybe. On an upside the animation is really great.

Oy vey... I said it when I first saw the trailer and I will say it again: Why on earth did this story NEED to be told with *FISH*?! It would've been fine if the writers/designers/animators actually took advantage of the fact that the story is told with fish, but sadly no... this is really a story about people in fish suits living in a urban center that happens to be covered with coral.

Our hero: Oscar... perhaps better described as Will Smith in a fish suit.

Our story: Small time "loser" Oscar takes credit for the death of the local mobster's son. Everyone believes that Oscar is a hero, making the city's streets safer for everyone... when the mob boss finds this out he wants his son's killer dead.

Oh, and add fish...

I sat in the theatre waiting for this movie to get funny... (it didn't)... waiting for my annoyance over the fact that all the fish seemed to have necks, knees, elbows, fingers... (nope, still bothers me)... waiting desperately to actually start caring about the characters... (nope, sorry).

Actually that's not quite true. The only character I had a mild interest in was Lenny. His plight--as the resident vegetarian shark who just wants to be accepted--was vaguely interesting. Lenny was a good, if misundestood, kind of guy.

Oscar was just Will Smith in a fish suit. Sorry Will.

Athena's advice to you on "Shark Tale": skip it.

it is really a good movie, filled with humour and a moral lesson