Shark Talewas a classic for any household in the early 2000s. It had everything; talking fish, a great cast of voice actors, and, of course, its brilliant soundtrack. The one thing it doesn’t have, however, is an accurate reflection of how the ocean works. In all fairness, no one realistically watched this animated family comedy about talking fish and thought angrily to themselves about the lack of oceanography representation. Nevertheless, it is fun to explore some of the areas in which the film completely overlooks logic in the name of storytelling.
Released in 2004,Shark Talefollows the story of Oscar, an underachieving fish who claims (wrongfully) to have killed a shark mob boss’s son for clout. The film did great both financially and critically, continuing to be one of the more quotable children’s films of that era. The film made $374.6 million and became the ninth highest-grossing film of its year of release, and was even nominated for Best Animated Picture at the Academy Awards, losing out toThe Incredibles.
Shark Tale
The Parts of the Ocean That Shark Tale Gets Wrong
Most obviously, the ocean is not a colorfully animated seascape reflective of the real world, where fish get jobs and partake in the rental market. It would be cool if it did, but most of us can agree that introducing capitalism to the ocean wouldn’t be the best thing for it currently.
Sharks Are Worryingly Endangered
With sharks in the title, it makes sense that a lot of the inaccuracies have to do with the elasmobranch fish. The film makes a constant effort to enforce a certain image upon audiences that sharks spend all of their time worrying over their loss of territorial control of the ocean.In reality, sharks are one of the most endangered species of ocean life at the moment, only getting worse since the film’s release in 2004.
One study by the scientific journal Nature projects that there has been a71% decline in the number of sharksand rays in the ocean over the past 50 years. Therefore, it seems like the sharks would have a lot more on their minds than losing influence over the reef. Equally, their depleting numbers may be a cause of concern, since there are fewer sharks to maintain control, so this may have actually been considered.
Sharks Aren’t at the Top of the Food Chain
Sticking with this idea of control, it does not make much sense that sharks would be running the mafia.The real ocean has killer whales above sharks in the food chain, and even feed on parts of the great white. This falsity is only more glaring during a mafia meeting scene where some killer whales appearterrified of the sharks.
Keeping with the theme of fear, Oscar simply would not be afraid of the sharks. The blue streak cleaner wrasse he is based on has a mutualistic relationship with sharks, by eating dead tissue and parasites from their body. By cleaning such larger animals, they feed themselves. It therefore seems odd that Oscar would fear the very species it relies upon to survive.
Family Units Look a Little Different
It is strange that a film calledShark Talewould seem too reluctant to research the fish in too much depth. To provide further examples, the head shark, Don Lino, claims to raise his sons, despiteno real species of shark actually being there as a parental figure for their offspring after they are born. Another small detail you may have missed is when all the other sharks made fun of Lenny for being a vegetarian, when some species such as Bonnetheads largely eat seagrass (alongside some smaller crabs and snails). However, maybe meat-eating sharks in the real world make fun of the vegetarian ones and humans just don’t know it yet…
Magic Undersea Geography
There are other details that went over a lot of people’s heads, such as the misrepresentation of what a lionfish actually looks like. When creating the character of Lola, it feels more appropriate to choose a different species, rather than just completely change its appearance for the screen. Finally, the mafia hideout is presented as the RMS Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, nowhere near the exotic, tropical reefShark Talesis set. Well, that is unless some pretty powerful and convenient ocean currents managed to move the ship across the world.
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How Do Other Animated Films Compare?
The only animated film which is primarily set in the ocean which is more famous thanShark TaleisFinding Nemo, which has its own array of errors. The most glaring error is thatNemo’s dad, Marlin, would have become a female shortly after the death of his wife. A few others include how ocean currents are represented as narrow, when this is not the case, and sea turtles tend to travel solo, only coming together into larger groups during nesting periods.
Another popular example manifests itself withinDisney’s 1989 classic,The Little Mermaid. As with the hierarchy represented inShark Tale,the sea life utilized within Titan’s kingdom appears off balance. It does not make sense that average fish species are used to pull Sebastian’s chariot, whilst Flounder gets to be Ariel’s best friend and lives freely. Like with the changing appearance given to Lola, Flounder should not look that colorful. It even appears that maybeShark Taleborrowed its incorrect geography book fromThe Little Mermaid, sinceSebastian has a Jamaican accent, and the film is set around Denmark. Perhaps he took the same magic current that transported the Titanic.
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Unless it is a documentary, you are not going to find a film, or television series, for that matter, representing the ocean correctly. The ocean is not a sentient being in the wayMoanapresents it to be, nor does it home sea monsters who can turn human when dry, like inLuca. And that is fine. Who wants to watch an accurate re-telling of these films anyway?
