Film Review: Shark Tale The makers of Shark Tale have appeared to make sure that their film is about as many things as possible, including a fish who gets lost.

Will Smith plays Oscar, a feckless fish who works at Sykes' whale wash. Renee Zellweger is the receptionist, Angie. She is madly in love with Oscar, who regards her as his best pal and nothing more.

Meanwhile, Don Lino (Robert De Niro), the head of the local shark mob, is having trouble with his younger son, Lenny (Jack Black), a sensitive guy who can't stomach either his family business or the predatory ways of his species.

The plots converge when Lenny's brother, who is about to make a snack out of Oscar, smashes into an anchor. Oscar becomes a local celebrity, the Shark Slayer, while Lenny's identity crisis becomes even more acute.

A further complication arrives in the slinky form of Lola, Angelina Jolie, a gold-digging fish fatale who steals Oscar away from the loyal, good-hearted Angie. It all ends much the way you would expect to, or does it?

There are cheerful ethnic stereotypes; jellyfish Rastafarians, shark Mafioso, and aquatic ghetto kids with cans of spray paint. There are film-star voices galore -- Robert De Niro, Will Smith, Rene Zellweger, Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, and unusually, a recognisable movie-director voice and caricature, namely Martin Scorsese, a fast-talking blowfish with bushy eyebrows called Sykes.

Like Shrek, Shark Tale lobs a barrage of film and television references over the heads of the children in the audience and into the faces of their parents.

Some of these are visual, like Sykes's resemblance to the auteur reading his lines, while others pop up on the soundtrack, quoting the scores from The Godfather, Car Wash, and, of course, Jaws. For the finale, fishy similarities of Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott strut and prance, while the real-life divas sing through the closing credits.

There are some inspired touches, including a seahorse racetrack and Sykes's whale wash, but the undersea environment lacks the sublimity and detail of Nemo.

The fish faces are more clammy than cute, though the sharks have a doughy integrity and some of the minor players, like Don Lino's octopus and a plate of terrified shrimp cocktail, are cleverly rendered.

All in all Shark Tale is a fun film for parents and children alike, much like Finding Nemo, yet with a twist.

Shark Tale - Directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, Rob Letterman Starring Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Rene Zellweger, Jack Black. Dur 92mins.