The film features the voices of Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Martin Scorsese, and Michael Imperioli.

It tells the story of an underachieving fish named Oscar (Smith) who falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss Don Lino (De Niro) in an attempt to advance his community standing.

Shark Tale premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 10, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 1.

In the Southside Reef, Oscar is a lonely bluestreak cleaner wrasse who, in his childhood, dreamed of being a tongue-scrubber at the local Whale Wash like his late father Earl.

Lucky Day eventually takes the lead, only to trip and lose short of the finish line, revealing that the race was rigged against him.

Furious and fed up with his brother's refusal to eat meat, Frankie charges at Oscar, when suddenly an anchor from above the surface falls on his neck and kills him.

Oscar visits the Whale Wash with copious amounts of gifts for Angie, only to discover that Lino has kidnapped her in order to stage a meeting, which Lola is also attending in revenge for being dumped.

Oscar forsakes all the wealth he has acquired, becomes co-owner of the Whale Wash (which is now frequented by the gang members), and reconciles with Angie, beginning a romantic relationship with her and living happily in the reef.

[11][12] Bill Damaschke, the producer of the film, explained the title change: "In the beginning, we set out to make a movie a little more noir, perhaps a little darker than where we've landed.

[10] James Gandolfini was initially set to voice the kingpin shark, named Don Lino, but he dropped out, with Robert De Niro taking over the role.

The DVD contained behind-the-scenes featurettes, games and activities, blooper reels, an audition for the whale Gigi, the Car Wash music video featuring Aguilera and Elliott, and a short film Club Oscar.

[27] Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars, observing, "Since the target audience for Shark Tale is presumably kids and younger teenagers, how many of them have seen the R-rated Godfather and will get all the inside jokes?

He also opined that younger viewers would have trouble enjoying a film about adult characters with adult problems, such as an elaborate love triangle and a main character wanting to clear his debt with loan sharks, and compared it to more successful fish-focused animated features like Pixar Animation Studios' Finding Nemo, which Ebert felt featured a simpler plot that audiences could more easily identify with.

[29] Todd McCarthy of Variety was critical of the film's lack of originality: "Overfamiliarity extends to the story, jokes and music, most of which reference popular entertainment of about 30 years ago" noting that the script combines The Godfather and Jaws, with a dash of Car Wash. McCarthy calls Smith's character "tiresomely familiar", and Zellweger's "entirely uninteresting", but praises the vocal performance of Martin Scorsese.

[30] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said the film was not as good as Shrek, but called it "an overly jokey but often quite entertaining spoof that should please families everywhere.

[35] Dona De Sanctis, deputy executive director of the Order Sons of Italy in America, said: "We were very concerned about this type of stereotyping being passed on to another generation of children.

"[32] John Mancini, the founder of the Italic Institute of America, protested the movie, stating: "We're concerned about what preteens are learning from the outside world.

[34] Lenny, a shark voiced by Jack Black, spends the film coming to terms with his vegetarianism, a trait deeply ostracised by his carnivorous family.

Since the film's release, many have taken this as an allegory for homophobia and self-acceptance—particularly in the context of Lenny's family environment, rife with "alpha male" types who mock his refusal to eat seafood.

[36][37] The American Family Association, a Christian conservative organization, found fault with this aspect, suggesting that it was designed to "brainwash" children into supporting gay rights.

The soundtrack features newly recorded music by various artists, including Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, India.Arie, Bobby Valentino, Sean Paul, Timbaland, The Pussycat Dolls, Ludacris, Missy Elliott, and Justin Timberlake, as well as "Some of My Best Friends Are Sharks", the film's closing theme composed by Hans Zimmer.

"[55] Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, had appointed Jackson's producers Jam & Lewis to be involved with the soundtrack, though the duo only ended up producing only one song for the film, with Jam saying "We worked for DreamWorks before on the Bryan Adams song for Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and the Boyz II Men tune for The Prince of Egypt, and Katzenberg is a fan of what we do.