Shark Bait (aka: The Reef) sports an all star cast (and I use the term rather generously), but is badly marred by a weak story line, horrendous dialogue, cheesy references to other films, and third rate computer animation.
I assume the bulk of the film's (apperently low) budget must have gone toward convincing some fairly popular actors to embarrass themselves by having their names associated with this "bucket o' chum"! The actors seemed to walk through their parts, as if they simply sat in a sound booth and read lines they had never seen before.
The writing is horrible... period.
Much of the film is an obvious knock off of both Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo and Dreamworks' Shark Tale. However, the animation doesn't fall in line with those movies. Much of it seems unfinished, as if we are watching a "making of" segment on the bonus material portion of a DVD.
IMDb lists the title as Shark Bait in the U.S. and The Reef as the U.K. title. However, the copy I rented from a U.S. Blockbuster store had the latter title.
The film is rated G for General Audiences by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), but is riddled with crude, scatological humor (farting noises followed by bubbles rising from behind a fish "wetting" himself and the surrounding water turning yellow), numerous references to butts, and even one reference to putting things in one's butt. When a movie is rated "G" one usually expects that it won't contain any material which could possibly be considered offensive. Not the case here.
The only reason I gave this movie a rating of 2, and not 1, is that my kids under 6 found it mildly amusing (emphasis on mildly), but I can't even recommend it for kids of that age because of the gratuitous potty humor. Those over that age, however, were as bored and disappointed as I was.
I assume the bulk of the film's (apperently low) budget must have gone toward convincing some fairly popular actors to embarrass themselves by having their names associated with this "bucket o' chum"! The actors seemed to walk through their parts, as if they simply sat in a sound booth and read lines they had never seen before.
The writing is horrible... period.
Much of the film is an obvious knock off of both Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo and Dreamworks' Shark Tale. However, the animation doesn't fall in line with those movies. Much of it seems unfinished, as if we are watching a "making of" segment on the bonus material portion of a DVD.
IMDb lists the title as Shark Bait in the U.S. and The Reef as the U.K. title. However, the copy I rented from a U.S. Blockbuster store had the latter title.
The film is rated G for General Audiences by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), but is riddled with crude, scatological humor (farting noises followed by bubbles rising from behind a fish "wetting" himself and the surrounding water turning yellow), numerous references to butts, and even one reference to putting things in one's butt. When a movie is rated "G" one usually expects that it won't contain any material which could possibly be considered offensive. Not the case here.
The only reason I gave this movie a rating of 2, and not 1, is that my kids under 6 found it mildly amusing (emphasis on mildly), but I can't even recommend it for kids of that age because of the gratuitous potty humor. Those over that age, however, were as bored and disappointed as I was.