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| Oct. 5, 2004 | ||||
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At the Movies: 'Shark Tale'
“Shark Tale” is the latest Dreamworks SKG computer-animated project that is going to be compared to last summer’s Disney hit “Finding Nemo.” Although “Shark Tale” is not going to surpass “Finding Nemo’s” $300 million plus box office gross, it thoroughly surpasses “Nemo” in fun and jokes. Where “Nemo” had its enjoyable kicks and laughs, it consumed the audience with the redundant family theme that Disney movies seem to put audiences through these days. “Nemo” was good, but “Shark Tale” is much better. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and has a very simple message that kids will understand. “Shark Tale” follows a small fish named Oscar (Will Smith), who craves to be a “somebody” that the reef looks up to. He wants to aquire all the finer things in life so he can become the “mac daddy fish of the sea,” as he proclaims. However, he’s stuck working at the local Whale Wash where he is oblivious that his best friend, Angie (Renee Zellweger), is in love with him. Things are fairly ordinary until Oscar runs into Lenny (Jack Black), a vegetarian killer shark who can’t live up to the family name. Lenny’s entire family is simply a parallel of “The Godfather.” Don Lino (Robert De Niro) is the godfather of the shark family and wants his two sons to take over the duties of the sea. When Lenny continues to defy his father’s wishes, Lino tells his other son Frankie to take Lenny out and teach him the basics of sharkhood (eating fish). While out, they stumble onto Oscar. Frankie is killed when trying to eat Oscar. Lenny is devastated and Oscar sees an opportunity to improve his community status. Oscar takes full credit for taking down the big shark and becomes famous back at the reef as the “shark slayer.” When it becomes clear that Oscar is going to need to kill another shark to prove the naysayers of the reef wrong, Lenny sets up a plan to have Oscar pretend to kill him so he can run away and have Oscar retain his glorious status. Despite the sappy premise and outrageous shots at gangster flicks, “Shark Tale” really works and doesn’t let you down. The movie lives up to its name, giving audiences of all ages a tale to remember. Sure kids aren’t going to catch the “Godfather” inside jokes or gangster movie rip-offs, but the action is funny enough that they’re not going to care and the adults will surely find it appeasing and hilarious. The entire voice-over cast worked incredibly well. Everyone fits into their character perfectly. What appealed to me was how the animators gave these characters features of the star who were actually playing them. Will Smith’s big ears are noticeable on Oscar and Angelina Jolie’s infamous lips are not hard to miss on Lola, just to name a few examples. “Shark Tale” livens up the crowd with laughs and jokes, but also leaves them with a simple theme even the kids can take home. I’m thankful that “Shark Tale” exists. It’s not a good movie, but it is a perfect example of that classic “too many cooks in the kitchen” phrase. In the directing and writing credits alone, there are six individual names. This is too much for an animated film. The movie does not feel cohesive. I’d love for the behind-the-scenes material on the eventual DVD to prove me wrong, but I can find no unifying force in this movie. It needs a guiding hand to make this sprawling world of characters work, but I had no such luck. “Shark Tale” swerves all over the road. Oscar (Will Smith) is a down-on-his-luck fish dreaming of escaping his messy job and his lower-class neighborhood. He blissfully ignores his co-worker Angie’s (Renee Zellweger) romantic inclinations. Instead he yearns for fame and fortune. His city is run/terrorized by a group of mobster-sharks, lead by Don Lino (Robert De Niro) and his two sons, Frankie (Michael Imperioli) and Lenny (Jack Black). While Frankie is teaching Lenny to be a “real shark” one day, a series of complicated events leads Oscar into the limelight as a “shark slayer.” Obviously, problems ensue. Even though the movie has fun with its fairly intricate plot, and elaborate animation, the focus is kept on the actors and their characters. Most of the characters have been designed to strongly resemble their vocal counterparts, but that’s a mistake. Instead of creating unique and original characters from scratch, the animators created “celebrity characters” that give the audience an easy, immediate connection. Where’s the skill in that? Although “Shark Tale” was plainly created for children, the movie’s main influences run from the “Godfather” films to “Jaws.” Will any kid will understand those frames of reference? Sure, there’s enough physical humor and pop culture to please young children but not enough intelligence for adults. Additionally, the target audience will not understand a few of the movie’s themes and ideas. This includes, incredibly, an allegory for the acceptance of homosexuality. I’m sure every little boy and girl will comprehend that one. Right? To be fair, I did laugh every once in a while. There is some kind of ingenuity to the scene where Oscar and Lenny team up to fool the entire city into thinking Oscar is the self-avowed, all-powerful “shark slayer.” The movie is also much more bizarre than it probably needs to be, and I applaud that. However, most of the movie just isn’t that funny or intelligent. At one point, I could have sworn they had exhausted all of the possible ocean-related puns, but I was horribly wrong. The crassly commercial soundtrack “complements” the movie perfectly. When Missy Elliott and Christina Aguilera appear at the end (in animated fish form no less), my jaw dropped. This is “Entertainment Tonight” meets MTV. Hold on, isn’t that one of the Seven Seals of the Apocalypse? Ricky Skaggs plays Holmes Center All hail the savior of country music! Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder will play Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. in Holmes Convocation Center, with Rhonda Vincent and The Rage are opening acts. “He was credited in 1982 for being the person most responsible for saving country music. Ricky always honored the traditions of country music, by keeping his bluegrass roots and he’s had a great deal of success in doing so. Skaggs is a world class musician, singer and entertainer and has a mantle of Grammys to prove it,” Former Manager Hugh Sturgill said. Skaggs is a multiple Grammy and Country Music Association Award winner and has just released “Brand New Strings” on Sept. 28, which features all new material, Owner/Manager of Lost Ridge Productions Ronnie L. Moretz said. Tickets are on sale now at the Box Office for $20. Tickets can also be purchased by calling the Box Office at 262-6603 or going on-line at the Holmes Center Web site. “I think he’s just a talented musician and puts on a great show,” Director of Holmes Convocation Center J. Eddie Crawford said. “He brought back more of the bluegrass acoustic sound to country music where country got it’s roots. He eventually became one of the most awarded country artists of our time,” Sturgill said. Sturgill said Skaggs has formed his own label, Skaggs Family Records and Ceili Music, and now produces and promotes other bluegrass artists while maintaining a tour schedule of his own. “I think one of the things that makes it stand out is that bluegrass is a true, honest and heartfelt music acoustically presented with Ricky Skaggs and special guest Rhonda Vincent. These are two of the hottest performers on the bluegrass circuit today and it just doesn’t get any better,” Sturgill said. Sturgill said Kentucky Thunder was the name of his country band, formed in the 1980s and Skaggs brought the name over to his bluegrass band, which was formed in 1997. Seven musicians make up Skaggs’ band, Kentucky Thunder. “Ricky Skaggs is the main mandolin player and plays guitar. Jim Mills [plays banjo and] has won multiple International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo Player of the Year Awards,” Sturgill said. “Mark Fain is the road manager and bass player. Paul Brewster one of the most highly regarded lead and tenor singers in bluegrass music also plays guitar,” Sturgill said. “Andy Leftwich is the fiddle and mandolin player, one of the new kids in bluegrass, only 21 years old and he’s phenomenal. Cody Kilby is on lead guitar and Darrin Vincent (Rhonda Vincent’s brother) is on rhythm guitar,” Sturgill said. “Ricky continues to keep the traditional sound of bluegrass music alive while searching for newer, more modern material giving it the bluegrass edge, but making it his own,” Sturgill said. Afghan women exhibit ends with lecture by photographer Appalachian State University welcomed Peggy Kelsey, a photographer whose exhibit, “Women in Afghanistan: Portraits and Stories” hung in the Catwalk Community Gallery of the Turchin Center for the past month, to speak to campus about her experiences. The exhibit went up at the very end of August and was taken down Saturday The slides began with a brief sketch of Afghan history and then moved on to the photographs she took of post war destruction and everyday life. The final segment of the slide show was a small representation of the women she met during her six-week excursion in August and September of 2003. The exhibit that was displayed in the Turchin Center was made up of 40 photographic portraits of different Afghan women complemented with a brief biography taken from interviews she had conducted with them. Kelsey is from Austin, Texas and got the idea for this project after meeting with delegation of 14 women from Afghanistan in 2002. Kelsey said she believes that the way the media portrays Afghan women as “helpless” is inaccurate and she jumped at the opportunity to make a difference and show how amazingly strong the women are, and that it’s just “support that they [Afghan women] could use”. Kelsey said that during the meeting with the Afghan women she had a “flash, an inspiration” that she needed to go to Afghanistan and complete this project. The work gained her knowledge that she calls, “a little peephole into Afghan society.” The women that hang as portraits in Kelsey’s exhibit all come from vastly different backgrounds. Kelsey’s six-week expedition took her to five different locations in Afghanistan meeting the educated as well as the illiterate, the college students as well as the prison inmates. The stories that she was able to capture and the photographs, which encapsulate the spirit of her subjects, are the reason that Kelsey sees herself as “someone who brings people together to heal society.” Her images are intended to “give you the strength to know that if you ever had to go through [a terrible and life altering experience] that you could, and you wouldn’t give up on life.” Kelsey’s exhibit has also been shown in Austin, Texas and a mini exhibit consisting of around six pictures was also up in Ohio and Houston. In the future Kelsey hopes to do a similar project for a group in another country. At this point in time she is working on a project called ‘Real Voices Photography’ which uses words and photography “to create a unique, personal document and historical record of who we really are—to enjoy and pass on to posterity.” |
© 2004 ASU Student Publications
