WITH the two Shreks under its belt, you'd have thought DreamWorks would have been quite happy to plough its own furrow rather than engage in silly head-to-head games with its big animation rival, Pixar.

The last time it happened - Antz vs A Bug's Life - DreamWorks took a hell of beating. And so it is with Shark Tale, a likeable but fairly unimpressive seaworld saga when compared to Pixar's Finding Nemo.

Anyway, here's the deal... Ambitious fish Oscar (voiced by Will Smith) dreams of living at the top of the reef in a penthouse with all mod cons and a great view. Until then he has to make do with life at the whale wash where only the devotion of his friend Angie (Renee Zellweger) keeps him from getting sacked by the boss, a camp blofish called Sykes (Martin Scorsese).

Meanwhile, the great shark Don Lino (Robert De Niro), scourge of the reef, is grooming his two sons to take over at the head of the food chain. But when his lad Frankie is killed in a bizarre anchor accident, his youngest, the vegetarian Lenny (Jack Black) ends up in cahoots with Oscar who has been hailed a shark killer and elevated to the lofty position he always dreamed of, complete with vampish girlfriend Lola (Angelina Jolie).

Naturally, the story is propelled towards its obvious conclusion - in which all concerned learn the true healing power of honesty - and we finish with a great big sing-song and plenty of hugging.

The trouble is, getting there just isn't half as much fun as we have every right to expect it to be.

Will Smith's rapid-fire delivery gets wearing after about ten minutes and the female voices lack the personality required to make their characters stand out. There is much to enjoy in the bizarre on-screen reunion of De Niro and Scorsese, not least because the cartoon characters look so much like their voices' mortal forms, but the appeal is entirely adult.

Similarly, the movie parodies (Godfather, Jerry Maguire, Jaws etc) and the better gags are aimed squarely at grown ups; and the product placement that proved an amusing diversion in Shrek has now become hugely annoying - Gup for Gap, Coral Cola, Fish King... well, you get the picture.

A bit of a damp squib then.

See it at UCI, Odeon, ABC