Reef, The

Stars: Voices: Freddie Prinze Jr, Evan Rachel Wood, Rob Schneider, Andy Dick, Donal Logue, John Rhys-Davies, Fran Drescher

Director: Howard E Baker, Kyungho Lee, John Fox

How many more fishy tales can we take? Barely had we swam ashore from The Little Mermaid and its video sequel than we were washed overboard into the world of Finding Nemo and Shark Tale. Once again the poor sharks are the villains in this cute and lively, but very derivative yarn (originally called Shark Bait, in which a little flipper called Pi (Prinze Jr) must tackle a lecherous, bullying shark named Troy to land Cordelia (Wood), the fish of his dreams.

The script, alas, is as unimaginative as the animation, both floundering a long way behind Nemo. But three- to five-year-olds unfamiliar with previous finny farragos will find the action exciting enough to keep their attention for a commendably brief 78 minutes, while their parents will have sat through worse cartoon adventures. But enough already - unless someone can draw up a scenario with sharks as the good guys.

Alan Frank

USA/South Korea 2006. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers. Colour.
78 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: U.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 11 Feb 2007