Shark Tale's Oscar is one of the Dreamworks movie's most cherished characters, prompting some speculation as to whether he is based on a real type of fish. Shark's Tale is one of the production company's most popular films, despite the fact that a sequel was never made. Shark Tale came out in 2004, and with its ridiculously star-studded cast, fans flocked to their local theaters for its release. Shark Tale made a whopping $374 million at the box office, making it the ninth-highest grossing film of 2004.
Oscar, voiced by Will Smith, is a fish from humble beginnings, but his big dreams get him into trouble in this 2004 classic. Shark Tale cleverly uses its aquatic characters in ways that fit the species they're based on. The sharks, for example, are of an underwater mafia that places them at the top of the food chain. Oscar, on the other hand, works in a sort of underwater car wash for whales and other large marine lifeforms.
Oscar Is A Blue Streak Cleaner Wrasse
Oscar, from Shark Tale, is indeed based on a real type of fish called a bluestreak ceaner wrasse. These fish live on coral reefs from East Africa to French Polynesia and are best known for eating parasites and dead tissues off other fish. They have a mutualistic relationship with the larger fish they interact with, keeping the other fish clean of parasites and dead tissue while feeding themselves. There are several species of cleaner wrasse, of which bluestreaks are one of the smallest.
Oscar's Shark Tale Car Wash Is Perfect
Oscar working in an underwater car wash is actually a surprisingly fitting way of representing a bluestreak cleaner wrasse in the Shark Tale movie. The car wash, or whale wash as it's named in Shark Tale, depicts Oscar and the other car wash employees cleaning barnacles and other parasites off the skin and teeth of docile whales. What makes this work so well is the fact that the job of cleaning parasites is essentially the purpose they serve in real-life. This is, perhaps, the most clever way that Shark Tale uses the real life functions of aquatic animals to create their roles in the film (with a comedic spin, of course).
Also, using a bluestreak cleaner wrasse that works in a car wash as Shark Tale's main character perfectly sets up Oscar's arc in the animated movie. By the end of Shark Tale, Oscar owns and operates the same whale wash where he begins as an employee. The whale wash provides a sense of symmetry to the film by operating as the beginning of Oscar's story as well as his ultimate destination. Having the movie end with Oscar in charge of the whale wash adds an appropriate final touch, as it helps him to contribute even more in performing the basic function of a real bluestreak cleaner wrasse.
