SHARK BAIT (Theatrical Release South Korea 2006)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 2.0|5.0 Starsìì

Shark Bait—renamed The Reef: Shark Bait for UK, USA, and Australian audiences—was a real disappointment for an animated foreign film. The timing is not right. The film lacks flow and the animation is not up to par. Scene transitions seem jittery. Eleven years before this animation feature debuted, Pixar’s Toy Story blew the lid off animation. Shark Bait did not pick up on that technology. The storyline is thin, lacking heart, and the acting/voicing are poor.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

A young fish named Pi (voice of Jimmy Bennett) loses both his parents, Dad Pike (voice of Bruno Alexander) and Mother Piper (voice of Reedy Gibbs), to a fishing net. Young Pi lives with porpoises most of his life before finding his Aunt Pearl (voice of Megahn Perry). He meets Cordelia (voice of Evan Rachel Wood) and falls in love, but Troy (voice of Donal Logue), a Tiger Shark, likes Cordelia, too. Eventually, Pi has to defend his new home, friends, and family from the bullying tiger sharks.

Additional Thanks

Poor Work for Director Howard E. Baker, John Fox, and Kyung Ho Lee. Thank you to Executive Producers Sundip R. Shah, Hyuk Shim, and Alex J. Yoo for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Young Percy (Dylan Cash), Percy (voice of Trent Ford), Thorton (voice of John Rhys-Davies), Female Parrotfish (voice of Megahn Perry), Pi (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), Pelican/Indian Crab/Bart/Eddie/Lobster/Madge the Starfish/Lou/Nerissa/Conch Shell (voice of Rob Schneider), Manny/Dr. Tang (voice of Mel Rodriguez), Moe (Richard Epcar), and Jack (voice of R. Lee Ermey).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

No. There are better uses of entertainment time and dollars to be found with Disney’s Pixar Studio, DreamWorks Animation Studio, and Blue Sky Studio.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers