Shark Tale

Shark Tale is a 2004 American animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman (in his feature directorial debut), from a screenplay written by Letterman and Michael J. Wilson. The film features an ensemble cast that includes the voices of Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, and Martin Scorsese. It tells the story of an underachieving fish named Oscar (Smith) who falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss in an attempt to advance his community standing. Oscar teams up with the mobster's younger son Lenny (Black) to keep up the facade. Shark Tale premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 10, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 1. It made $374.6 million worldwide against its $75 million budget, finishing its theatrical run as the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2004. The film received mixed reviews from film critics. Advocacy groups criticized the film for its use of Italian-American stereotypes. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 77th Academy Awards. Plot In the Southside Reef, a lonely Bluestreak cleaner wrasse named Oscar, who, in his childhood, dreamed to be a tongue-scrubber at the Whale Wash, like his late father Earl until his classmates cruelly made fun of him for it, fantasizes about being rich and famous, but owes money to his boss and the Whale Wash's owner, a pufferfish named Sykes. His best friend, an angelfish named Angie, offers him a pearl that was a gift from her grandmother to pawn and pay his debt. Meanwhile, Don Lino, the boss of a mob gang of sharks, orcas, sailfish, and octopuses, which Sykes works for, dislikes that his son Lenny is a vegetarian, and orders his eldest son, Frankie, to mentor Lenny. One day, Oscar brings the money from the pearl to a seahorse race to meet Sykes, but hears that the race is rigged and bets it all on a seahorse named "Lucky Day". A lion fish gold digger named Lola sees this and flagrantly seduces Oscar. Sykes is annoyed that Oscar bet the money, but he hopes that Oscar might win. Lucky Day, which revealed that the race was rigged against him, eventually takes the lead, only to trip and lose short of the finish line. Sykes loses his temper and orders his two Jamaican jellyfish enforcers, Ernie and Bernie, to deal with Oscar.