Shark Tale is about Oscar(voiced by Will Smith), a fast talking, jive talking “little fish in a big pond,” who is tired of living life at the bottom of the reef. For once, he would like to see how the other half lives at the top of the reef, where the rich fish live.

After being squeezed by his boss Sykes (voiced by Martin Scorsase) to pay back the 5000 clams that he has borrowed, to pay off his debt, his friend Angie (voiced by Renee Zellweger) gives him a rare pink pearl, a gift to Angie from her grandmother.

However, on the way to pay off his debt, he bets it all on a long shot seahorse. When the horse loses by a hair, Sykes orders his hinchmen Ernie and Bernie (voiced by Ziggy Marley and Doug E. Doug) to “find the deepest hole in the bottom of the ocean, dig farther and drop him in it.” However, this is where the real story begins. Lino, the top shark and mafia reef Don (voiced by Robert De Niro), orders his sons Lenny (voiced by Jack Black) and Frankie (voiced by Micheal Imperioli) to go out into the reef and make a killer out of Lenny, a vegetarian shark. A boat anchor drops on Frankie and Oscar takes credit as a Shark Slayer, moving him up to the top of the reef. However, when he gets there, he realizes that what he really wanted in life was right before his eyes to begin with.

Shark Tale is a cute satire based on the “haves and have nots” in real life. Loosely based in New York, it is filled with lessons about what is really important in life. However, it is highly geared toward adults and offers little to younger audiences. It has it all, a Mafia Don, Sharks, Jamacian hinchmen, the good girl and the bad girl and many memorable characters. However, SharkTale misses the mark in relating to younger audiences, being highly geared toward young adults.

Many stars lend their voices to give life to characters, adding to their realism, but does not totally save the film. It was worth seeing, but not worth seeing again. I give it three stars.