A movie still from Shark Tale starring Angelina Jolie and Will Smith.

[THE FILES] : Shark Tale (2004)

Shark Tale (2004) : Cast, Runtimes, Soundtracks, Review
Media Library / Retro Directory Hub

Shark Tale (2004)

Released: October 1, 2004 (US) • 1h 30m • Animation / Comedy / Family • On Digital / Streaming

Home Media & Streaming Options

Digital Streaming Vault Rent or Buy on Prime Video / Peacock On-demand digital availability across primary platform catalog registries.
Retrospective Assets Watch “Car Wash” Music Video Nostalgic theatrical trailers, marketing teasers, and hip-hop studio logs attached.
Directors Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, Rob Letterman
Writers Michael J. Wilson, Rob Letterman
Animation Engine DreamWorks / Pacific Data Images (PDI)
Setting Paradigm Sub-Aquatic Reef City

“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

Will Smith as Oscar
Robert De Niro as Don Lino
Renée Zellweger as Angie
Jack Black as Lenny
Angelina Jolie as Lola
Martin Scorsese as Sykes
Ziggy Marley as Ernie
Doug E. Doug as Bernie

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
Primary Language English
Studio Banner DreamWorks Animation / PDI
Audio Configuration Mix Dolby Digital / DTS / SDDS
Visual Aspect Ratio 1.85 : 1
Original Release Window October 1, 2004 • North America

RELATED: [THE FILES] 116: Xbox x Mountain Dew Code Red (2004)

The Trailer

A Still from the Movie

A movie still from Shark Tale starring Angelina Jolie and Will Smith.

Featured Photo: Dreamworks

The Archival Staple

A look at the DVD of Shark Tale (2004) starring Will Smith and Angelina Jolie.

Shark Tale DVD

Photo: eBay

The DVD to add to your collection.

RELATED: [THE FILES] 115: Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004)

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.

Leave a Reply