Shark Tale

As entertainment, this is about as engaging as an algae infested 20-gallon aquarium gone unattended for five months. Big stars like Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Jack Black and Renée Zellweger lend their voices to this paltry, animated affair about Lenny, a vegetarian shark (Black) and his guppy friend (Smith). Dreamworks, makers of Shrek, have delivered a film that falls way below the mark that the green ogre achieved. The animation is irritating and the humor dated and alien to its young target audience. As Lenny’s dad, Don Lino, Robert De Niro fares a bit better, especially in a humorous exchange with a paranoid Puffer Fish played by Martin Scorsese. Actually, had the movie focused on the De Niro and Scorsese fishes, they might’ve had something enjoyable and perhaps profanely gory. As for Black, he needs to quit screwing around, complete that King Kong remake, and get focused on the Tenacious D film. Enough with the kid movies.