‘Shark Tale’ kinda bites

Pixar and “Shrek” have raised a high bar for the computer-animated family film. Some entries will measure up, but many will fall short.

“Shark Tale” is one that falls short.

It’s not horrible, mind you. Some of the visual detail is sumptuous, and a bubbly Will Smith makes for a great voice actor as a boastful fish. No, “Shark Tale” is just aggressively, tenaciously, average.

It’s as if “Shrek” studio DreamWorks worked from an old recipe on this one, throwing in a little dash of pop culture here, a pinch of uplift there, and presto! A movie.

These movies tend to have lessons, and the one at the center of “Shark Tale” is admirable enough: Be yourself. This means if you’re a vegetarian shark (Lenny, voiced by Jack Black), stand up and tell your mob boss pop (Don Lino, voiced by Robert De Niro) that you don’t want to kill anything. And if you’re a likeable fish (Oscar, voiced by Smith) working at the same whale wash where your dad toiled, appreciate what you have, including the friends who like you for who you are.

Lenny and Oscar team up through their refusal to be themselves. Lenny swims away from home when his tougher brother dies (cool your jets, it happens very early) and he can’t stand up to Dad. Oscar takes advantage of a mix-up to claim the title of Shark Slayer, riding his newfound fame and fortune to a penthouse at the top of the reef and a fling with a gold-digging fish hottie (Angelina Jolie). Meanwhile, the fish who actually loves him, Angie (Renee Zellweger), is right there before his own gills.

The story often seems secondary to the puns, which pile up faster than an all-you-can-eat fish ‘n’ chips platter. Shop at the Gup. Check your shell phone. Read Newsreef. How’s the latest Scallop Poll? You get the point. “Shark Tale” is more clever than smart, and it never approaches the heart and purity of “Toy Story,” much less its most obvious underwater reference point, “Finding Nemo.”

The comparisons are a bit kinder on the visual front. “Shark Tale’s” teeth are sharpest during crowd scenes, when the reef comes to life with a flurry of activity. Fish of all stripes (literally) and nationalities, including a pair of Rasta jellyfish, create a big-city, urbane feel that goes well with the hip-hop soundtrack. The depth and texture aren’t quite on the “Nemo” level, but the attention to detail is still impressive.

Some of the voice turns are also a great deal of fun. I’ve always found Martin Scorsese’s hyper-intensity to be a source of humor. Here he gives voice to Sykes, a scheming blowfish who has Marty’s eyebrows (nice touch). The sharks-as-mafia conceit also gets some mileage, although when De Niro’s Don says “I’ve been hearing things,” you think “Raging Bull” before “GoodFellas.” “Sopranos” veterans Michael Imperioli (a recent Emmy winner) and Vincent Pastore (as a squid henchman named Luca) pitch in as underwater heavies.

But for all the isolated pleasure, “Shark Tale” always seems less than the sum of its parts. The best films in this genre play like organic creations, great movies that happen to be computer-animated. This one has the slickness of the “Shrek” movies, but there’s not a whole lot beneath the surface.