Why So Blu?

‘Shark Night 3D’ Has Small Bite

First things first. Did you really expect this to be as good as the original Jaws? Of course not, so let’s get that comparison out of the way. Now the real question is, does Shark Night 3D have any redeeming value? It’s along the lines of last year’s Piranha 3D, which I actually found to be a really entertaining film, in 3D or not. So let’s sharpen those chompers and take a bite out of Shark Night 3D.

Let me clarify.  While this movie may be categorized in the same field as Piranha 3D, it doesn’t come anywhere close to the fun, entertaining value that Elizabeth Shue, Jerry O’Connell and the rest of the cast brought to Piranha 3D.  Here’s the deal.  A handful of good-looking college students go on vacation to an isolated house in the bayou for some R & R.  It’s a saltwater lake and it’s filled with all kinds of species of sharks; hammerheads, tigers, bulls, great whites, you name it.  Along the way to the beach house, the kids come in contact with some backwater bottom-of-the-gene-pool hoodlums who plan on making the vacation anything but fun for the students.

I’m well aware of what artistic license is and I’m well aware this movie is fiction.  However, how are sharks from all different waters and depths around the world living in one lake in Louisiana??  Never mind for a moment how they got there.  I just want to know how they’re surviving, food aside.  As you can guess, one by one, the very physcially fit cast of college students start getting eaten here and there.  It doesn’t have the suspense of Jaws.  It doesn’t have the fun of Piranha 3D.  As a matter of fact, it doesn’t have a whole lot going for it at all.  The one saving grace for me was the very attractive Katharine McPhee (former American Idol runner-up to Taylor Hicks).  She is hot, but aesthetics aside, she can act.  And while Shark Night 3D isn’t her first go-round in front of the camera, it may be one of her more noticeable ones.

As for the imagery, the CGI sharks look convincing enough and the 3D visuals are used pretty well, though they’re nothing to elicit wonder and bewilderment at the technology.  Overall, the film was not good.  It may be worthy of a rental, but while Piranha can be easily enjoyed in 2D, Shark Night really needs some of that 3D to carry a few of the scenes here and there.  At best, wait until a rental for this movie.