Shark Tale (2004)
Home Media & Streaming Options
“A little fish with a big mouth gets caught in a whale of a lie.”
Storyline
Oscar, an ambitious but underachieving bluestreak wrasse working at the local Whale Wash, dreams of living at the top of the Reef’s corporate ladder. When a falling anchor accidentally kills the son of Don Lino, the ocean’s ultimate shark mob boss, Oscar takes full credit for the kill and lifestyle-locks himself into a fraudulent public image as the “Shark Slayer.” To maintain his elite status and protect his true best friend Angie, Oscar forms an unlikely under-the-table tactical alliance with Lenny, Don Lino’s sensitive, vegetarian shark son who wants to fake his own death and disappear.
Ensemble Vocal Cast Matrix
Trivia & Fun Facts
- Anthology Crossover Voice Casting: *Shark Tale* is legendary for gathering an absolute powerhouse billing matrix, famously pairing *The Godfather Part II* icon Robert De Niro with his longtime collaborative director Martin Scorsese—marking a rare voice-acting duet for the duo.
- Physiognomy Animation Mapping: To elevate character marketability, DreamWorks animators heavily mapped the physical facial anatomy, traits, and movements of the real-world voice actors onto the digital ocean models, making Oscar’s silhouette explicitly resemble Will Smith and Sykes reflect Scorsese’s iconic eyebrows.
- Urban Hip-Hop & R&B Soundtrack Payload: The production served as an immense vehicle for early-2000s urban commercial music charts. Formulated via Geffen Records, the soundtrack famously features Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott covering Rose Royce’s “Car Wash,” alongside standout tracks from Justin Timberlake, Mary J. Blige, and Ludacris.
- The Oscar Nomination Node: Despite polarizing critics due to its hyper-urbanized fish-metropolis concept, the technical processing and animation execution secured an official Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature in 2005.
Box Office Performance Metrics
| Production Capital Footprint | $75,000,000 |
| Opening Weekend Chart Gross (US) | $47,604,430 |
| Worldwide Cumulative Gross | $374,583,759 |
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Table of Contents
The Trailer
A Still from the Movie

Featured Photo: Dreamworks
The Archival Staple

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Author Bio
Jael Rucker is the founder of Decked Out Magazine. She has previously worked as the Associate Commerce Editor at PureWow, focusing on analytics and trends to pitch stories and optimize articles that build and engage their audience. Her work has also been seen in Footwear News and WWD. Prior to 2024, she was the style and pop culture editor at ONE37pm for over three years, contributing numerous product reviews, brand profiles and fashion trend reports, which included interviewing Steph Curry, Snoop Dogg and more.
