Hale Kilinahe: Pith of Pop: Shark Tale

Dreamworks Pictures would like you to know that Will Smith and Angelina Jolie provide voice talent for their new animated film, Shark Tale.

Too bad my kid doesn't know who they are.

That seems to be the trend now, though. Stunt-casting. I think it started with Shrek. Shark Tale takes it to another level. The film is about a fish (Will Smith) who encounters mafia sharks, played by Robert De Niro and a couple of actors from The Sopranos. In fact, the De Niro shark has a mole on his face. Now, I know why that's funny, but no six-year-old does. Hell, no nine-year-old does, either.

The jokes are kind of cute. For instance, there are signs for "Old Wavy" and "Gup" stores. Now, that's clever, but not really adult-level clever. An adult would think a kid would find that funny. But the kid is just shaking his head. It's not geared toward adults, and it's not geared toward kids. It's just kind of there, in all its in-joke-y glory.

It's full of in-jokes. Not everybody has seen The Godfather. Or Jerry Maguire. In-jokes are kind of dumb. Instead of in-jokes, the writers should write good jokes that everybody understands. Finding Nemo didn't have any in-jokes.

Speaking of which, there are just a couple more similarities than I'm comfortable with. One of the De Niro shark's sons, played by Jack Black, is a vegetarian, a gag used much more effectively in Nemo.

The characters are pretty much like the archetypal character that each big-name voice actor plays. WIll Smith is being Agent J. Angelina Jolie is being an irrestistible hottie, et cetera, et cetera.