THE young man who I watched for the duration of Shark Tale, running up and down a row of seats due to boredom, was merely acting in agreement with the majority of film critics - they have absolutely trashed it.

So if you were contemplating popping along with the progeny to check it out, you should still proceed, but with caution, because, while it's far from brilliant, it's not entirely an enjoyment-free zone.

Will Smith voices the lead character Oscar, a fish who works at a whale wash, but dreams of a bling lifestyle at the top of the reef with a massive crib and a sound system to match.

Adored from afar by his good friend and workmate Angie (Renee Zellweger), one day he gets himself in a bit of a pickle with his boss Sykes (Martin Scorcese) and ends up in the middle of the reef, bound, gagged and being tortured by rastifarian jellyfish brothers Ernie and Bernie - far too strong a scene for a U certificate.

Running parallel is the story of Don Lino (Robert De Niro), the shark who controls the reef, and his two sons, Frankie and the cowering vegetarian Lenny (Jack Black).

When Frankie gets killed by an anchor during a last-ditch attempt to get Lenny to act like a real shark and devour the fish they have chanced upon - Oscar, wouldn't you know - both fish and shark sense a chance to escape from the restrictions of their normal lives.

As you may guess from this summary, Shark Tale suffers from the lack of an original concept.

Following too closely on the heels of the vastly superior Finding Nemo, it wants to spout the same old guff about accepting who you really are, but without seeming like it means it.

It took no stretch of anyone's imagination to cast De Niro as a Mafia godfather, and although he does an okay job, the lack of wit and invention in the script are very telling.

Thus we have very few laughs, very few emotional moments and very little satire - a very noticeable absence in what should be a big film in the new crossover arena (i.e. entertaining both adults and children) of animation.

But the characters I found most appealing, as did most of the audience - Crazy Joe and the vengeful shrimp - were those where an anonymous industry professional had provided the voice. These small performances added much enjoyment and are worth checking out.

One woeful recasting mistake, similar to that which marred Shrek 2, is the replacing of Katie Couric, the co-anchor of the US Today programme, with GMTV's Fiona Phillips, as fish reporter Katie Current - dreadful.

If you're a fan of Smith, an R 'n' B soundtrack or an obscene amount of product placement, this may be just the film for you - but the rest of us will have goldfish memory as far as it's concerned.