Movies I Like That Everyone Else Hates

Shark Tale

Well, it's certainly been a while hasn't it? I've been so focused on my personal life, my working life, and working on other fan fictions, that I haven't had time to focus on adding a new chapter to this novel. Well, here I am. Now, I've made it quite obvious that I am a big fan of cartoons, and I've mentioned animated movies that I like that everyone else hates, but those movies belong to Warner Bros. Animation. How about I talk a movie that isn't from Warner Bros? Let's talk about a DreamWorks animated movie. Like any 90s kid, I grew up in the era when Disney and DreamWorks were waging war in animation. When DreamWorks released Shrek in 2001 and won the Oscar for best animated feature, it was all out war against Disney. Heck, when they released their first movie Antz in 1998, Pixar knew they had a big competitor. To this day, those two respective studios keep accusing each other of plagiarizing either A Bug's Life, or they're accused of plagiarizing Antz. So when it comes to CG animation, Pixar and DreamWorks are the biggest rivals ever. But I just love those movies, whether they were released by Pixar or DreamWorks. And I'm going to admit, DreamWorks actually has more variety, because they've even released traditionally animated films. But there is one film everyone considers trash. Everyone except me and my family. That film is Shark Tale.

Shark Tale was released on October 1st, 2004. It was DreamWorks Animation's 8th theatrically released film. The film stars the voices of Will Smith, Renee Zellweger, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, and Martin Scorsese. It grossed $367.3 million against a $75 million budget, and was even nominated for the best animated feature at the Academy Awards, losing to The Incredibles. So financially speaking, it was successful, and even held the record for a successful opening at the box office, second only to Shrek 2's box office opening. But the film received a mixed critical reaction, resulting in a 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Italic Institute of America accused Shark Tale of forcing negative Italian stereotypes, demanding that these so-called stereotypes be taken down, and when DreamWorks didn't oblige, The Institute disowned the film. One idiotic Christian conservative  member made a claim that Shark Tale was trying to make a subliminal message in children coming out as homosexual. You're probably wondering what the hell I'm talking about. Allow me to explain.

One of the main characters is Lenny the Shark, voiced by Jack Black. The sharks are portrayed as mobsters, because the film was spoofing Mafia films like The Godfather and Goodfellas. And hilariously, Lenny's father, who's the big boss, is voiced by Robert De Niro, best known for playing a young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part 2 and Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas. Lenny isn't like all the other sharks. He doesn't like eating other sea creatures, and really isn't interested in the family business. And he's a vegetarian and he's ashamed to admit it. That Christian Nut Job thought that Lenny hiding the fact that he was a vegetarian was a metaphor for children being afraid to come out as gay. How do you even make a metaphorical comparison like that?!?!?!?!?!?! That's just stupid, it makes no sense!

Anyway, years later, many people consider Shark Tale to be one of DreamWorks Animation's worst movies ever. And they often compare it unfavorably to Finding Nemo obviously. But hey, it wouldn't be the last time Dreamworks Animation would release a crummy film that suddenly got nominated for best animated feature. (Thankfully Boss Baby lost to Coco, and I may not have seen Boss Baby, but even I think that film is crap, and shouldn't have gotten nominated.) Now why do I like Shark Tale? As I've mentioned, I'm a fan of the DreamWorks cartoons. And I guess it's as David Hannum said,  there's a sucker born every minute. And I am no exception. I am also a huge Will Smith fan. No matter what he's in, I'm always willing to watch it. He's my role model. So when I saw my favorite actor providing his voice for a cartoon, I so wanted to see Shark Tale. My dad even used the film as a bribe for me to take my shots. If I took my flu shots, he'd let me see Shark Tale in theaters. Sounded like a good bribe to 8 year old me. I thought the film was hilarious. The characters were funny. I liked it. I should also mention, this movie would be the first time I'd see actors like Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, and Martin Scorsese. I didn't realize that Scorsese was more of a director than an actor. But yeah, a cynic would say that I'm hung up on nostalgia, but I really like Shark Tale. To be fair, Jack Black gives a much better voice performance as Po the Panda in Kung Fu Panda, also done by Dreamworks Animation. Po belongs to Jack in a way. Just like how Donkey is Eddie Murphy's definitive cartoon character. You can question my taste in cartoons all you like, but I consider Shark Tale to be one of those films I like that everyone else hates. Besides, it's a lot better than that South Korean animated rip-off known as Shark Bait.