Shark Tale Review

[Adz]

From Widescreen Review. Fantastic PQ, But SQ may be a disappointment. Since when does a DVD like that have less than stellar SQ? What's up with that? 8O


DVD Picture:
"As can be expected, the anamorphically enhanced animated DVD picture looks absolutely fantastic. The depth of field and attention to shading created by the CGI artists creates a striking underwater environment. From silt floating through the ocean water to the undulating shading of light from above contrast the brightly colored characters and underwater environments. The 1.85:1 picture is also incredibly sharp, with insatiable detail! There is not a sign of edge enhancement, nor is there distracting pixelization to mar the visual experience. What a gorgeous picture throughout!" (Suzanne Hodges)

Soundtrack:
"The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack incorporates a subtle use of the surround and LFE channels, but does present a good spread across the front three screen channels. Pans across the front channels are unimpressive, but occasional pans from the back of the room to the front are believable. Music is presented well, with a nice stereo mix in the front left and right channels, with vocals phantomed nicely on the center of the screen. Effects are not imaged well around the room, making it easy to tell where the loudspeakers are in the room. Fidelity is pure, with good articulation throughout the frequency range. Unfortunately, the sound does not match the superlative visual experience." (Danny Richelieu)

[Brandon B]

I'd rather watch Catwoman anyway.

BB

[aud19]

I'd rather watch Catwoman anyway.

BB

Ouch! :E

[Nick M]

Rented It.

Let me start by saying the opening scene with the worm was absolutely hysterical. Will Smith is one of those actors where I absolutely loved some of his performances (Ali), and groan when I see others (Men In Black). Coming from Dreamworks Animation, you know this is going to be a film that had some talent behind it. At first I didn't like the design of the heads on the fish that resemble the actors that play their voices, but I soon set it aside. If you can get past that small tick, the movie was enjoyable. Many hilarious scenes, including the must-see bits during and after the credits. I think I will buy this one to join Shrek and Shrek 2 in my collection.

:3: out of :5:

[Foxman]

The family and I saw this one while on vacation in Orlando and thouroughly enjoyed it so the purchase was easy for me. I am interested to see how well it does at home though, but I expect nothing less than the likes of the other anime greats of recent release.

[Patt]

if you liked Finding Nemo....this will also be a winner.

[Nick M]

Personally I enjoyed both Shark Tale and Finding Nemo, but Nemo was a much better film in IMHO.

[Clive]

I also watched it a week ago found it to be an enjoyable movie. Not stellar but good fun. It is a collectable for me. I hope the will do better on the SQ if they come out with a Special Edition DVD.

[Jurgen]

Watched it last week. Excellent PQ, but sound wasn’t that special.
Nemo and shark tale are difficult to compare, but Nemo, for me anyway, has much more scope and is the more complete film. Still, I enjoyed Shark Tale very much.
I really liked the painting of the Titannic and the line where de Niro says to Scorsese: “you and I go a long way back”( or something along those lines) and the stupid, but very funny, phone sequence (the ordering of the pizza).

I actually am happy about the fact that Dreamworks finally has chosen to design their characters so that they resemble the voice actors. I always believed it was one of the downsides of their animation technologies as opposed to Disney, were the characters are instantly recognisable and, therefore , likeable. With Prince of Egypt and Sinbad, for instance, it took me a while to adapt myself to the weird combination of that familiar voice with the, completely different looking, animated character. Or it took me a while to figure out to who that familiar voice belongs to, therefore distracting me from the movie (With Sinbad, it took me the whole movie to recognise the voice of Catherine Zeta Jones). A waste of expensive voice actors, if you ask me.

Regards,
Jurgen

[Brandon B]

Suppose it's a philosophy difference, but IMO that's one thing Disney does right. They don't cast 'name' actors in voice roles, they cast someone specifically for what their voice brings to the role and the character. Being a well-known actor or big star does not make you good animation voice talent. Sort of parallels what I feel are the real weakness in Dreamworks CGI efforts - most of the humor is current pop culture and in-jokes. 10-15 years down the road, don't think these movies will have much appeal left.

BB

[Nick M]

Definetly agree with Brandon here.

[Chris D]

I'm sure I'll end up buying this one. As for me, I've always preferred Pixar stuff to Dreamworks pictures. I just like the way Pixar characters look more, and I think the "feel" of the movie is better. Probably just a personal thing. I haven't seen Shark Tale yet, but I'm expecting good things from it.

[Jurgen]

Yep, the things mentioned above really contribute to the ,IMO, “timelessness” of the movies of Disney and Pixar. I am amazed on how they can find voice characters that really make the animated characters come to live. A few voices that come to mind are Tom Hulce as the Hunchback (I kind of lost track with Hulce after Amadeus) and Lance Henriksen as the head Gorilla (Kerchak) in Tarzan. But those are just a few examples of excellent voice casting (IMHO).

A bit OT: but I am disappointed in the fact that Disney has stopped with " hand painted ” animation, because I do feel that this also contributes to the “lifespan” of a movie. Computer animation is, in a way, much more dependant on modern technology, and, perhaps, can look more outdated when a movie reaches a certain age.

Regards,
Jurgen

[Nick M]

I'm still in shock over Pixar and Disney cutting ties. I think Disney really kicked themselves in the butt.

As far as Dreamworks Animation vs Pixar, well I don't think DA is even in the same league as Pixar.

[Patt]

Nicholas.....

That Pixar animation is real easy to watch, sort of lost interest in the old Disney characters after getting hooked on Jimmy Neutron and computer animation.