Shark Bait (film)

Shark Bait (The Reef: Shark Bait in the UK, Australia and North America, Pi's Story (Korean: 파이 스토리) in South Korea) is a 2006 animated adventure film. The plot revolves around Pi and his attempt to win the heart of Cordelia while dealing with a tiger shark that is terrorizing him and the reef's inhabitants.

Shark Bait
South Korean theatrical release poster
Hangul	파이 스토리
Revised Romanization	Pai seutori
McCune–Reischauer	P'ai sŭt'ori
Directed by	John Fox Howard E. Baker
Written by	Scott Clevenger Chris Denk Anurag Mehta Timothy Wayne Peternel
Produced by	Mark A.Z. Dippé Youngki Lee Ash R. Shah
Starring	Freddie Prinze, Jr. Evan Rachel Wood Donal Logue Andy Dick Fran Drescher John Rhys-Davies Rob Schneider
Edited by	Tom Sanders
Music by	Christopher Lennertz
Production companies	WonderWorld Studios DigiArt FXDigital
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment (South Korea) The Weinstein Company (United States)
Release dates	July 7, 2006 (2006-07-07) (South Korea) October 9, 2007 (2007-10-09) (United States) February 9, 2007 (2007-02-09) (United Kingdom)
Running time	77 minutes
Countries	South Korea United States
Languages	English Korean
Budget	$2.5 million
Box office	$13.6 million

Despite being an American-South Korean co-production, the movie did not receive a theatrical release in the United States. Instead it was released direct to DVD in 2007.

A direct-to-DVD sequel, The Reef 2: High Tide was released in 2012.

Plot

Pisces, or Pi, is a young orange wrasse living with his parents, Pike and Piper, in the polluted harbor of Boston until a fishing boat scoops them from the sea. Pi's parents help him escape the net, but they cannot help him escape themselves. Before being taken away, Piper makes Pi promise her he will go live with his aunt Pearl. Pi's new porpoise friend Percy and his mother Meg agree to take him, but Pi refuses to leave in case his parents return. Meg tells him once a net takes anyone, they are killed. Pi is heartbroken that his parents are gone forever.

Meg and Percy take Pi to live with his aunt Pearl on an exotic Caribbean reef. Upon arrival, Pi comes across three elderly marlin named Moe, Jack, and Manny, who direct him toward Pearl's home. On his way there, Pi immediately falls in love with Cordelia, a beautiful model who has appeared on the cover of National Geographic. He also meets his cousin Dylan, with whom he quickly bonds. However, Pi soon encounters Troy, a tiger shark, who not only terrorizes everyone in the reef community but also has his eye set on Cordelia to become his mate. Pi confronts Troy, only to be physically assaulted by him. Cordelia tells Pi that the only dangerous place on the reef is between Troy and whatever he wants, and if Pi wishes to help her, he won't interfere.

Pi and Dylan find their way home, where Pearl is excited to see that Pi has arrived. She is a fortune-teller, along with her assistant Madge, a starfish, and uses a pink pearl Dylan's late father gave her as a crystal ball. Pearl reads Pi's future and sees that he is destined for great things and will find his destiny on the reef. Pearl then tells Pi he can go anywhere, excluding an abandoned shipwreck and a forbidden place called "Flat Bottom." Pearl leaves Dylan in charge of showing Pi around. Dylan tells Pi about Nerissa, a wise old turtle who lives in the abandoned shipwreck and practices martial arts, leading to rumors that he is a wizard. Eventually, they stumble upon Flat Bottom, the open sea outside the wildlife sanctuary, free for humans to come with their fishing nets. Dylan leaves after a close encounter, and Pi sees Cordelia, but initially, they do not interact until she screams after getting a lure stuck in her fin and comes to her aid. Pi brings Cordelia to Buddy and Lou, a crab and sawfish duo, who successfully remove it. Afterward, Pi invites him to go to a concert with her. Beforehand, Pi meets Dylan again, and they observe Nerissa defend his blue pearl against a gang of squids.

At the amphitheatre that night with Cordelia, Pi learns about the performer Thornton, a seal who fought an enormous beast. Afterward, Pi and Cordelia look at the stars, and she falls in love with him. Suddenly, Troy arrives and pursues them. Pi refuses to leave Cordelia, but Troy starts abusing him worse than ever, until Cordelia makes a deal with him: if he leaves Pi alone, she will marry Troy. Pi is knocked unconscious by Troy and is carried to Nerissa's shipwreck by a current.

When Nerissa tells Pi the following day, he is fed up with Troy's abuse and asks Nerissa to teach him the ways of the ocean to combat Troy, but he refuses. Pi asks other residents for help, but the marlins think they won't be helpful because of their age, revealing they used to be Nerissa's friends. Thornton also only accepts once Pi reminds Thornton of his tale. However, he states that he didn't fight a beast, but due to his "poetic license," it didn't count as lying. After defending Nerissa's pearl from Bart and Eddie, Nerissa agrees to train Pi.

Pearl expresses her concern on Pi's first training day, telling Pi she could not live with herself if he were killed. Pi reminds his aunt how she told him he would find his destiny on the reef. He found it when he met Cordelia, and now he's losing her like he lost his parents. Pi reminds Pearl how he couldn't do anything to save them, but he still has a chance to save Cordelia.

Nerissa leads Pi down a valley with obstacles including razor-sharp elkhorn coral, burning fire coral in a dark enclosed tunnel called Bottleneck Alley, and finally, the West Indies current full of dangerous Portuguese man o' war.

Meanwhile, Cordelia is informed by Buddy and Lou about Pi's upcoming battle with Troy. Nerissa reveals the story of his blue pearl to Pi, and he gives it to his wife, but she gets hooked in the open sea and taken away. Nerissa desperately begged for help, but no one was brave enough. Pi understands but is unsure how to stop Troy for good; Nerissa tells Pi that Troy never learned about anything more significant than himself, stating the ocean itself is more important than Troy, and if Pi can use the sea against him, his size wouldn't matter.

Cordelia finds Pi and asks him to reconsider, willing to sacrifice herself for his life. That night, Troy's henchmen steal Pearl's pearl. She is heartbroken since it was all she had left of her late husband. Pi realizes that he must fight Troy, regardless of who doubts him.

When Troy returns to the reef, Pi initiates a chase through the valley Nerissa used to train him. All the obstacles hit Troy until they reach Flat Bottom. Nerissa and Dylan disable Bart and Eddie by shoving them down a lobster hole, and Dylan retrieves his mother's pearl. Troy swats Pi onto a cliff, burying him in rocks. Nerissa tries to help but is also hit by Troy; just as all seems lost, Thornton joins the fight with the marlins, who apologize to Nerissa for not having his back when he needed them. Percy and Meg return and free Pi. Pi sees a net and gets an idea. Troy says Pi is doomed since they are now in his domain. Troy chases Pi up to the surface, where he manages to lead Troy into the net and narrowly escapes the shark's jaws. A screaming Troy, trapped in the net, begs for his life as the fishermen lift him from the sea.

The reef's population proclaims Pi a hero. They mock Troy, believing that he will be made into seafood. Nerissa tells Pi he is like a son to him and gives him his pearl. Pi presents Cordelia with the pearl, and she accepts it. They kiss as the reef celebrates, including a redeemed Bart and Eddie, who rejoice at their freedom from Troy.

In the mid-credits scene, Thornton tells Pi's story to everyone on the reef. He is proud now that he can tell a true story, ending with, "Pi was determined; he refused to despair. I know it's all true, for you see, I was there..."

Voice cast

English dub

• Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Pi (Pisces), an orange Carpenter's flasher wrasse that was orphaned when his parents were caught in a fishing net.
  • Jimmy Bennett plays Young Pi.
• Evan Rachel Wood as Cordelia, a carnation pink Pterophyllum who acts as a model for National Geographic and Pi's love interest.
• Rob Schneider as Nerissa, a widowed hermit loggerhead sea turtle and Pi's mentor.
  • Schneider also voices Bart and Eddie, Troy's henchmen, Bart is a smart barracuda, while Eddie is a dimwitted wolf eel. Schneider also voices other characters like a conch shell, an Indian crab, a lobster, Lou, Madge the Sea Star, and a pelican.
• Donal Logue as Troy, a tiger shark that terrorizes the entire population of the reef. He is Pi's nemesis.
• Andy Dick as Dylan, a teal Elongate surgeonfish and Pi's cousin.
• Fran Drescher as Aunt Pearl, a purple Elongate surgeonfish who is Dylan's mother and Pi's maternal aunt. She is a fortune teller and has a sea star assistant named Madge.
• John Rhys-Davies as Thornton, an elderly storytelling harbor seal.
• R. Lee Ermey as Jack, an overweight marlin.
• Richard Epcar as Moe, an elderly marlin.
• Mel Rodriguez as Manny, a Spanish marlin.
• David Fickas as Max, a French-accented decorator crab who is Cordelia's boss.
• Trent Ford as Percy, a porpoise who is Pi's adoptive brother.
  • Dylan Cash plays Young Percy.
• Megahn Perry as Meg, Percy's mother and Pi's surrogate mother.
• Lena Gleen as Buddy, a flamboyant fiddler crab and Lou's boss.
• Joel Michaely as Lou, a sawfish and Buddy's assistant.
• Bruno Alexander as Pike, Pi's deceased father.
• Reedy Gibbs as Piper, Pi's deceased mother.

South Korean cast

• Kim Hyung-jun as Pisces ("Pi")
• Im Chae-moo as Nerissa
• Park Myeong-su as Troy
• Kim Kyu-jong as Dylan
• Kim Hyun-joong as a crab
• Park Jung-min as Percy

Reception

The film was panned by critics, and was deemed a rip-off of DreamWorks' Shark Tale and Pixar's Finding Nemo as it heavily borrows from both films along with The Little Mermaid. Its animation was also deemed poor and outdated.

On Rotten Tomatoes it has 4 reviews, 3 negative, and 1 positive.

eFilmCritic.com's David Cornelius described it as "undoubtedly one of the cheapest, ugliest cartoon features ever produced", criticizing its CGI, graphics, and animation. He also criticized its plot, saying, "the script also rehashes every conceivable cliché in the kid flick book".

Vince Leo from Qwipster's Movie Reviews gave the movie 2 out of 5 stars, saying, "Shark Bait (aka The Reef in some markets) certainly is testing the limits. It's easily the worst CG-animated adventure to date (up to 2007), burdened with lame puns...". He criticized the animation, calling the character designs "lackluster" and the background "overly simplistic".

Louise Keller of Urban Cinefile gave the film a positive review, saying "The Reef" (the alternative title used in some regions) was a much better title than "Shark Bait" and that it was a "colourful and family friendly animated ocean tale".

Tracy Moore of Common Sense Media gave the film two stars out of five, saying that it was "an animated ocean tale has lots of scuffles and bullying."

Crew

• Richard Epcar – voice director

External links

• Shark Bait at IMDb
• Shark Bait at Rotten Tomatoes
• Shark Bait at HanCinema
• Time Out film review