FILM · 2004
Shark Tale
32 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (32)
- #001
According to Hans Zimmer, he told producer Jeffrey Katzenberg that he could no longer work on epic films and instead wanted to make a fun animated film, and he got the chance to compose for this one.
- #002
When Don Lino is first clearly seen (raising his head out of the aquarium), a mole can be seen next to his right eye, a distinctive facial feature of Robert De Niro.
- #003
When Sykes is fired, he is thrown onto the drawing of Rose that Jack made in Titanic (1997).
- #004
Throughout the film there are signs that the sharks' hideout is the wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic. However, the exterior and interior of the wreck were based on the 1930s French ocean liner S.S. Normandie. The scenes in the bar where Don Lino and Sykes first meet and the dining room where the seating is set up are specific examples of this.
- #005
The jellyfish Ernie sings "Three Little Fishes." Ziggy Marley's father, Bob Marley, wrote "Three Little Birds."
- #006
A sequel was discussed, but it was never produced.
- #007
Some of the "fishified" products include "Coral Cola" (Coca-Cola), "Gup" (GAP), "Fish King" (Burger King), "Old Wavy" (Old Navy) and "Newsreef" (Newsweek).
- #008
Anthony Anderson was cast as a sperm whale, but the role's raunchy dialogue caused his character to be shortened. When the whale encounters Angie and Oscar cleans the whale's eye, Anderson had only a few risk-free lines.
- #009
When Crazy Joe retreats into his shell to watch his show, the theme song of The Benny Hill Show (1969) begins.
- #010
In the racetrack scene, there are more than 16,000 computer-animated 3D characters in the stands.
- #011
When Leonard "Lenny" Lino temporarily eats Angie and then vomits her back up, he also brings back up a license plate identical to the one consumed by the tiger shark in Jaws (1975), when it is found by Matt Hooper and Chief Martin Brody.
- #012
Don Feinberg (Peter Falk) was originally named Don Brizzi. Yielding to pressure from the Italic Institute of America, an organization protesting Hollywood's portrayal of Italians as mafia and gangsters, DreamWorks agreed to change the character's name to Don Feinberg just before release.
- #013
The American Family Association, a Christian conservative organization, voiced concerns about the film, suggesting it was designed to promote children's acceptance of gay rights. It primarily treated Leonard "Lenny" Lino, a vegetarian shark, and his struggles as an allegory for the struggles gay men face with their homosexuality.
- #014
This was the first DreamWorks Animation film with no humans in it.
- #015
When asked on Instagram whether he enjoyed voicing Frankie, Michael Imperioli said "no."
- #016
Spanish audiences consider the Castilian Spanish version one of the worst dubs ever made. Aquí no hay quien viva (2003) was a big hit at the time, so distributors decided to have some actors and actresses from that show voice certain characters, even though some had no dubbing experience at all. Fernando Tejero voiced Oscar, María Adánez voiced Angie and Santiago Ramos voiced Sykes. José Sancho and Natalia Verbeke were cast as Don Lino and Lola, while television reporter and presenter Mercedes Milá voiced Katie Current. Audiences criticized Tejero's performance as Oscar the most.
- #017
Frankie and Lenny's mother is mentioned but never seen. Frankie and Lenny's grandmother can be seen once during Frankie's funeral, silently crying on Frankie and Lenny's grandfather's left shoulder.
- #018
This was the only animated film Will Smith made until Spies in Disguise (2019).
- #019
It became the ninth highest-grossing film of 2004.
- #020
When they come to sit down, orcas are shown sitting alongside sharks. Although both are apex predators, orcas are the only animal known to kill sharks.
- #021
In the early stages of production, James Gandolfini was considered to voice Don Lino, Christopher Walken to voice Luca the Octopus, and Sacha Baron Cohen to voice Bernie the Jellyfish. Cohen later voiced King Julien in DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar film series.
- #022
For Australian audiences, the voice of Katie Current was provided by famous Australian Channel 9 news anchor Tracy Grimshaw.
- #023
This is Jack Black's second animated film. His first, Ice Age (2002), featured characters named Oscar and Lenny.
- #024
The name of the news anchor who delivers the news is Katie Current, a reference to American news anchor Katie Couric, who voices the character.
- #025
Originally, Luca the Octopus was going to die. DreamWorks Animation abandoned the idea because it was seen as too dark and risky for a family film. It was replaced with Frankie's death because Frankie's death was more interesting.
- #026
David Soren improvised the monologue for the shrimp. It was originally twice as long.
- #027
One day Jeffrey Katzenberg went to Martin Scorsese and said: "Marty, you know you've probably never thought about this about yourself, but you actually have an incredible voice and you speak in an incredibly unique way and you're actually quite funny in a good way." He showed Marty the concept art for Sykes and Marty fell over laughing.
- #028
Behind-the-scenes footage revealed that Don Lino's name is Edward.
- #029
In the United States version, reporter Katie Current was voiced by Katie Couric, then host of the "Today Show." In the Australian version, she was voiced by Tracey Grimshaw, co-host of the completely unrelated Australian TV series Today (1952).
- #030
While Oscar tells the story of how he killed a shark, Angie can be seen in the background silently mouthing Oscar's words. Coincidentally, Will Smith was known for engaging in dialogue with other actors while filming episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990).
- #031
This is the second of Robert De Niro's three animated roles; the other two are the Fearless Leader in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) and the King in Arthur and the Invisibles (2006).
- #032
According to the director's commentary, Will Smith improvised a terrible remix of the song "Three Little Birds."
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