Directed by Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson, Rob Letterman

Starring Will Smith, Robert De Niro

Dreamworks Animation SKG

Rated PG

91 minutes

Grade: B

“Finding Nemo” last year was another Pixar masterpiece in line with “Toy Story” and “Monsters Inc.” With an original, innocent story that was entertaining for kids and adults alike, Nemo received numerous accolades from the press and audiences. Now, this year “Shark Tale” has audiences swimming wildly, but the water is unfortunately somewhat murky.

Dreamworks Animation, the same company that brought the hilarious “Shrek,” has released “Shark Tale.” The movie revolves around Oscar, voiced by Will Smith, a fish that is out for all the ladies he can get, while he works at the local “Whale Wash.” Yes, a Whale Wash. Just like “Shrek,” much of this movie’s hilarity comes from spoofs from real life including the journalist Katie Current (actually voiced by Katie Couric), and the plethora of stores that make up the city such as Gup. The secretary at the Whale Wash is named Angie (Renee Zellweger), who is Oscars main love interest, even though he has a hard time showing his true feelings for her.

Meanwhile, mob boss Don Lino (Robert De Niro) is trying to make his son Lenny (Jack Black) tougher so that he can take over the family business one day. Lenny eventually meets up with Oscar who is fleeing his pufferfish boss Sykes (Martin Scorcese, with huge eyebrows and all), and they together tirelessly work to fit back into the coral reef society.

Other inhabitants of the city include other famous voices as well. Angelina Jolie is Lola, the hottie fish who tries to steal Oscar away from Angie. Ziggy Marley and Doug E. Doug lend their voices to Ernie and Bernie. These two jellyfish turned Jamaican hippies give many of the laughs in the film with their quick, stinging wit.

The voice acting is great, and the film seems to have a lot of energy, but the plot just fizzles. A film isn’t great when there are many great ingredients but no underlying substance to it all.

“Shark Tale” goes too far sometimes with its stereotypes to. Whereas “Finding Nemo” and “Shrek” had original characters with an original storyline, which in effect made them great, this film feels like it was all done before. The guy ends up with his girl after he screws up and finds out he really loves her, with no surprise or that much adventure at all. Spoof after spoof, after stereotype, it gets to be a bit much. Sure, most of it is funny, but it is just lacking charm. This movie won’t be a classic, just a box-office hit.

The film is a visual wonderland though, even more so than its other Computer Generated Image predecessors. The reef city explodes in vibrant color and the characters move in a fluid way. The undersea world in this movie is a sight to behold.

Through its faults though, “Shark Tale” is worth seeing at least once. The one-liners are funny and all of the actors give their fishy characters energetic life. Although the stereotypes are over-done, the underlying message is that everybody needs to accept one another in this world and be true to themselves, how Disney of them.