IT'S a cast to die for comedy star du jour Jack Black; bona fide Hollywood A list celeb Will Smith; hot Oscar-winning babes Renee Zellweger and Angelina Jolie; and Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, following up previous successful collaberations such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas with . . . Shark Tale.

Of course, we don't actually see these stars in the film we hear them instead, offering their vocal talents to a variety fishy creatures in what could be seen as a Finding Nemo 2.

In a busy underwater city, motormouth fish Oscar (Smith) works at the local whale wash, where he is secretly adored by fellow employee Angie (Zellweger).

Their boss is the blowfish Sykes (Scorsese), who is forced to pay protection money to Don Lino (De Niro), the godfather of a shark mob that every so often terrorises the fish population.

But the Don has a big embarrassment on his hands his son Lenny (Black), a thoroughly nice individual who happens to be vegetarian. The Don doesn't approve, believing such a thing makes him look bad to those who need to show him fear and respect.

A strange set of circumstances bring Oscar and Lenny together, those same circumstances leading everyone to believe Oscar is an invincible shark slayer, earning him big bucks (or at least the fish currency equivalent) and the attention pouting, sexy fishette Lola (Jolie).

Less impressed is Don Lino, who demands a showdown and kidnaps Angie to ensure it takes place.

Shark Tale is fun, even if many of the jokes are scattershot and 100 per cent attention is required to make sure none are missed.

The screenwriters clearly enjoyed themselves creating the gags. Such as, in the hustle and bustle of a noisy, working fish city, where is the one place you can find peace and quiet? The sushi bar, of course. And at a day at the races sea horses, naturally you can have a flutter on a nag called Seabiscuit.

And film buffs should keep a look out for many sly movie references.

Meanwhile in the art department, doodling the characters saw them turn out to look not a little like the stars who voice them Sykes has a pair of bushy eyebrows, Don Lino has what could be a mole close to his right eye, and Lola is blessed with a set of luscious lips. Although of all the characters, Sykes's Rastafarian jellyfish henchmen (voiced by Ziggy Marley and Doug E Doug) are perhaps the most entertaining.

Shark Tale is nowhere near as good as Finding Nemo made by rival studio Disney and the comedy falls well short of the standard set by stablemate Shrek. But there is still a lot to enjoy in what is probably the funniest fish film of the year.

Rating 7/10

By Stephen Webb

Voices: Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Renee Zellweger

Director: Vicky Jenson

Certificate U, 100 minutes