Oscar vs Barry (Shark Tale vs Bee Movie)

(Flip)

(Garf)

“Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear.” -Hayao Miyazaki

Oscar, the Shark Slayer from Shark Tale.

Barry B. Benson, the Pollen Jock from Bee Movie.

In the vast ocean of animated films, two unlikely heroes emerged from their respective hives and reefs: Barry B. Benson, the bee who sued humanity over honey, and Oscar, the fish who took credit for taking down a shark. One's a buzzing legal advocate with a sweet tooth for justice; the other's a fast-talking fish with a knack for tall tales. When these two worlds collide, will Barry's sting be mightier than Oscar's slippery schemes? Or will Oscar prove that even a small fish can outswim a bee in the battle of wits? Get ready for a splashy, sticky showdown, it’s time to settle this beef once and for all in a DEATHBATTLE!

Before We Start…

For this Blog we will be looking at almost all their material, Ads, Games and of course, the Movies. We will be excluding all crossover content, such as the “Dreamworks: Universe of Legends” mobile game or “Over the Hedge” feats just because Vincent appears in the Bee Movie (there’s no actual scaling between them anyway).

PS: Thanks Normal, Kuma and TheBiteRaptor for the last minute calcs, and Yuix for the opening GIF.

Background

Oscar

The early 2000s were a strange time for animation at DreamWorks. Fresh off the success of Shrek, they had firmly established itself as the studio that would do anything to separate itself from Disney: where the latter told timeless fairy tales, DreamWorks filled its movies with pop culture jokes and celebrity stunt casting. And no film exemplified this era quite like Shark Tale, a movie that asked, "What if The Godfather, but underwater? And also, what if the fish had Will Smith’s face?"

For as long as the ocean had existed, life beneath the waves had followed a strict hierarchy. The strong ruled, the weak served, and the vast expanse of the sea was governed by predators at the top of the food chain. At the center of this was Oscar, a hustler who lived at the very bottom of the reef’s social ladder. He was a nobody, stuck scrubbing whales for a living while drowning in debt to his pufferfish boss Sykes. But Oscar wanted more. He didn’t want to just get by. He wanted to be famous, rich, and admired, even if it meant lying his way to the top. His big break came when he happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. Frankie, the son of mob boss Don Lino, was killed in an accident, and Oscar, being the opportunist he was, took credit for it. Almost overnight, he became the “Sharkslayer,” a legendary figure feared by predators and worshipped by the reef. Money, status, and attention flooded in, including from Lola, a gold digger who caught and blinded Oscar’s eye. The real heart of the story however came from Angie, the main romantic interest for the movie and voiced by Renée Zellweger, something that wouldn’t be the last time at this studio.

Angie had been Oscar’s best friend and confidante all along, the one person who truly cared for him and saw past his lies. As Oscar’s life spiraled further into fame and deception, Angie became the moral compass of the story, the one who constantly reminded Oscar of who he really was. While Oscar dazzled in the limelight, Angie remained in his shadow. But, despite her selfless devotion, Oscar remained more focused on maintaining his false image than on the one person who genuinely cared about him. But Oscar’s success was built on a foundation of sand. More importantly, Don Lino now had a personal vendetta against him. The life Oscar had always wanted turned out to be more dangerous than scrubbing whales, and when his lie finally collapsed, he had to decide whether to keep running or take control of his own story. In a rare moment of sincerity, Oscar dropped the act and told the truth. He was no Sharkslayer, just a fast-talking fish who got lucky. Surprisingly, that honesty saved him. He helped forge peace between the sharks and the reef, proving that in a world where strength ruled, words could still change everything. In the end, he gave up the illusion of success and returned to the whale wash, not as a failure, but as someone who had finally figured out what actually mattered.

But Shark Tale itself was not as lucky. Unlike Shrek, which balanced its edgy humor with a genuine heart, this film's focus point was a humor that aged like unrefrigerated seafood, and somehow, it leaned so hard into mafia clichés that it got a real mobster, Henry Hill, to do promo interviews for it. Shark Tale remains one of the strangest relics of DreamWorks’ history, and at the heart of it all was Oscar. A liar, a showman, and one of the most unlikely protagonists to ever trick his way into success, with the Fresh Prince of Bel Air's face and voice on top of that.

Barry

For 27 million years, bees lived in perfect order. Each generation was born into a single, unchanging purpose. They worked, they produced honey, and they never questioned their place in the world. That is, until a DreamWorks animated film in 2007 shattered that tradition, introducing audiences to Barry B. Benson, a bee who would challenge the fundamental laws of his own species.

Barry was raised in New Hive City, a meticulously structured society where bees graduate, pick a job, and perform it until they die. Unlike his peers, he wasn’t satisfied with this arrangement. He longed for something more, something beyond the hive. That opportunity came when he joined the Pollen Jocks, an elite squad of bees tasked with gathering nectar from the human world. It was supposed to be a simple mission, but fate and a poorly explained set of world-building rules had other plans. Swept up in a rainstorm, Barry found himself stranded in a New York City apartment, where he made the first of many baffling choices. He broke the sacred bee law by speaking to a human. That human, a florist named Vanessa Bloome, didn’t scream or swat him like any rational person would. Instead, she welcomed him into her life, and what followed was a relationship that even the animators didn’t seem entirely comfortable with. For better or for worse, DreamWorks also had Renée Zellweger once again found herself voicing a love interest, following her role in Shark Tale. But Barry’s fascination with humans didn’t stop at casual conversation and vaguely romantic café visits.

Upon discovering that honey was being mass-produced and sold in stores, he was consumed by a new purpose: justice. Armed with legal knowledge that he seemingly acquired overnight, he launched a lawsuit against the human race, single-handedly bringing the honey industry to its knees. He won. And the world suffered for it. With honey production halted and bees no longer working, global pollination collapsed. Crops failed. Flowers wilted. Humanity faced a food crisis. What should have been Barry’s greatest triumph quickly unraveled into catastrophe, forcing him to take desperate action. In a last-ditch effort to restore the planet’s ecosystem, he hijacked the Tournament of Roses Parade, stealing a flower-covered float and using it to reintroduce pollen into the environment. In the end, Barry learned a valuable lesson. Blindly dismantling a system without understanding its consequences can have disastrous results, a message far too complex for the film surrounding it. With the hive back in order and the planet saved, Barry pivoted to a new role, using his legal knowledge to advocate for both bees and humans alike.

To this day, Bee Movie remains one of the most perplexing animated films ever made, not just for its bizarre romance and baffling premise, but for the whole allegory on the faults of both capitalism and communism and the ideological debate it continues to spark. It truly is a surreal fever dream of courtroom drama, ecological disaster, and with Jerry Seinfeld as a talking bee.

Experience & Skill

Oscar

Oscar always was quick on his feet- both metaphorically and literally, given his constant habit of dodging responsibilities. Despite being just a humble tongue scrubber, he possessed a remarkable ability to talk his way out of (and sometimes into) trouble, whether it was with his boss, Sykes, or a group of hungry sharks. While Oscar never really excelled in any traditional sense, he did have a knack for making things happen - sometimes through sheer luck, sometimes through deception, and occasionally through sheer, desperate improvisation. After falsely claiming to have defeated Frankie the Shark, Oscar rode the wave of his own lies all the way to the top, becoming the so-called “Shark Slayer” and enjoying the perks of fame and fortune. Despite having zero combat skills and no actual ability to fight sharks, he managed to hold onto his reputation long enough to turn it into real influence, all while evading the wrath of the mob boss Don Lino. Even when his lies crumbled around him, Oscar still had the street smarts to turn things around, using his quick thinking and smooth-talking to broker peace between the sharks and the reef. Oscar is a master of adaptation - he may not be the strongest or the smartest fish in the sea, but he’s got an unmatched ability to hustle, bluff, and charm his way into (and out of) just about any situation.

Barry

From the moment of his birth, Barry had to bee capable of handling everything that the hive society had to throw at him. That includes the public education system weirdly enough and while it’s only around nine days long due to their short little lives, Barry still managed to pass his courses with flying colors as the movie starts off with him graduating college alongside his buddy Adam. After that little stint in schooling, he was forced to become a pollen jockey in order to serve the hive and while he didn’t exactly fit the physical mold there; he was capable of using the pollinator to well… pollinate flowers and fight off wasps. Unfortunately for humanity, Barry quickly became uninterested in supporting his hive in the traditional way and upon learning about the injustices within the honey industry; he decided to lawyer up. Despite his complete lack of legal experience and the fact that he is a bee; he somehow managed to best Layton T. Montgomery, a man seen as the best defense attorney in the eyes of honey CEOS, in both a legal battle and his plot for world domination. Additionally, he was able to coordinate his hive to come together and help lift a plane and reintroduce pollen to the ecosystem near the end of the film. Ultimately, Barry is a weirdly capable little bee that is able to put the pedal to the metal and pull through on ridiculous half-baked ideas that he came up with moments prior.

Equipment

Oscar

In the movie, Oscar isn’t exactly a combat engager, however, with the games it's a different story. Here is all the items he uses in the Shark Tale adaptations:

Newspapers

Oscar in the GBA version of the Shark Tales video game is able to pick up Newspapers and throw them at the enemy.

Newspaper Bundle

Variant of the newspaper he throws, he throws two of them at a time in different directions.

Ink Sacs

Oscar has picked up ink sacs to hurl at enemies, they are quite dangerous somehow.

Kamikaze Shrimp

Oscar can throw little shrimps at his foes, they'll lock onto their target and explode on them.

Explosion

Valhalla orb, likely a pearl of some kind Oscar picks up in-game that he can throw and causes a small explosion.

Barry

While Barry actually get into some fights in his movie, we are also only able to see him using equipment in the fullest with the video game adaptations:

Pollinator Gun

With this nifty little gadget, Barry is able to both rejuvenate  flowers and shoot blasts of pollen at his enemies for a nice itty bitty ranged attack.

Race Car

In the game, Barry can sign up for one of the most dangerous jobs in the hive: race cart driving and he obviously needs a perfectly petite little car.

Powerups

No racing mini-game is complete without its power ups and you better beelieve that Barry is going to ram his little car into those glowing hives in order to gain an upper hand. Now what’s the deal with these power ups? Well I’m glad that you asked.

• Hive: Barry gets swarmed by a bunch of bee hives and then turns invincible for a few seconds (58:45-48)
• Honey: You get to shoot out giant globs of honey onto the floor which slow down your opponent (14:30)
• Double Arrows: It doubles the speed of Barry’s car, pretty useful (57:38-43)

Abilities

Oscar

Oscar is way more than dance skills and lying, he’s packing some fintastic abilities! Here are some fishy-themed abilities for Oscar:

Fish Physiology

He's got all the normal earth fish stuff. You know fins, gills, a few scales here and there. Allows him to breath and swim underwater.

Dash

Oscar can rapidly dash forward to either attack enemies or speed up his movement.

4th Wall awareness & Time Stop

Don't ask how, but Oscar can stop time, he mostly did it to get the player a tutorial on how to fight.

Dancing Ability

Oscar is cracked at dancing, move over Thanos, Fortnite’s got a new dopest dancer (please, Epic Games).

Resistances

Electricity: Oscar withstood multiple minutes of nonstop shock torture from Earnie and Bearnie, a pair of Thysanostoma loriferum jellyfish.

Venom Resistance: Earnie and Bearnie are Thysanostoma loriferum, so same logic applies to somewhat resisting their venom.

Barry

Winning on the court isn’t his only ability, as Barry is sure is packing some stingers, and here’s how he brings the buzz:

Bee Physiology

The standard abilities of a bee, The flying, The eyes, Barry has everything and then some!

Bee Vision

One of the abilities that a normal bee doesn't have. “Bee vision”, as it's called in the games, functions essentially exactly like thermal vision.

Bee Reflexes

Using his “Bee Reflexes” Barry can slow down time to better manoeuvre through obstacles and evade incoming enemy attacks, as well as landing those attacks before his enemy can react.

Stinging

(not the vocalist, altho he is also in the movie)

So y’know how bees sting people? Yeah, Barry can do that. We haven’t seen him directly sting a person, but he has famously extended it in order to fence with a person using a thumb tack. That being said, his friend Adam stings Montgomery and loses his sting. They survived, and they said it gave a feeling of adrenaline and ecstasy.

Vehicle Mastery

Barry’s a pretty damn good driver man, he’s not only worked over three different careers involving vehicles such as a cabbie, a pizza delivery man, and a professional racer. And luckily for the citizens of the hive, Barry always delivers when it comes to his performance as he can complete each driving mission in unbeelievable time. He’s also worked a few gigs as s mechanic so he’s familiar with the insides of a vehicle as well.

Jazz Taste

Ya like jazz? Fellas, this made my day. I can hear the roll of those sticks on the drum, that thunderous chunk chunk he's making stomping on the hi hat, and the "hot!" (looks like he's screaming "hot") he's belting from the depths of his being. THIS, my friends, is art. THIS, my friends, is life. THIS, my dear friends, is JAZZ.

Feats

Oscar

• Got famous
• Has a decent relationship with his girlfriend at the end of the movie
• Helped Lennie reconnect with his father
• Is a pretty good dancer
• Is voiced by Will Smith

Power

• Can kick apart a large vase
• Can ram large crabs to death
• Can punch out large eels
• Actually manages to defeat multiple types of sharks in gameplay
• Broke a metal cage by dashing into it (2:26) (331.549 Kilojoules)
• Can break a bunch of Crates by dashing into them (305.785 Kilojoules)

Speed

• Could Swim away from great white sharks multiple times (5.1 m/s)

• …yeah this bitch is slow

Durability

• Withstood multiple Jellyfish stings
• Can get slammed into by large clams
• Withstands getting bit by a large eel
• Got slammed into a window
• Doesn’t mind ramming info pufferfish

Barry

• Got into one of the the weirdest animated movies relationships in the history of cinema
• Graduated school in three days
• Graduated college in three days
• Sued the human race and won
• Is voiced by Jerry Seinfeld

Power

• Punches a wall
• Can ram his little body into a window
• Fights off, overpowers, and defeats a man using a thumb tack with his stinger
• Is comparable to the Pollen Jocks, who were able to move a plane without the engines turned on (2.8 Kilojoules per bee)

Speed

• An average bee flies at 7.5m/s
• Can fly as fast as a frisbee
• Can keep up with New York City traffic
• Escapes the blast of a makeshift flamethrower
• Other Pollen Jocks can catch up to a plane in order to catch it (28.6 m/s)
• Barry can slow down his perception of time using his “Bee reflexes” in order to maneuver around rain drops  (35:00) (Mach 24.59)

Durability

• Can survive getting hit by a magazine
• Survives getting hit by the “lethal mode” setting of a shower nozzle
• Survives high-fiving his girlfriend Vanessa
• Shrugs off getting hit with a frying pan
• Doesn’t flinch from a direct thumbtack stab
• Can withstand being on top of a tennis ball getting hit back and forth
• Can survive getting smacked by Layton Montgomery, who shook a courtroom by jumping (2.16 Kilojoules for Montgomery - 30.1522779 to 327.935026 Joules for Barry)

Weaknesses

Oscar

Oscar may have charisma and sick moves, however he also is more bark than shark-bite. He often talks about a bigger game than he can play, which leads him into dangerous situations he tries to take the easy way out of. Like staging fights, or sucking up to the person to butter them over and get out or trouble. He's also still a fish, so he's very small and heavily reliant on water to function.

Barry

Barry may bee, a smooth talking Jazz loving womanizer, however one thing he really isn't is a fighter, as much as he can fence with his stinger, he has very little combat experience in general. On top of this, he's also just still a bee, so his most useful self defense tool can result in his death. His mobility is also heavily dependent on the environment; if there's too much rain or wind, he'll have a very hard time flying.

Before the verdicts…

How would they fight?

We looked through all the media we could find, Video Games, Ads, Movies, but never once found an instance of Oscar being on Land or Barry being underwater. Technically speaking, we could have Barry surfing close to Oscar, and he certainly can survive a water jet spray, but not enough to be underwater and surfing would be hella boring. So, for this to work, we will set it in a fictional neutral space where both can swim/fly and are able to breathe normally. Don’t think too hard, this is an April Fool’s blog after all.

Verdict

This debate was… weird to say the least. Starting with the obvious, Barry should take skill and fight experience by a small margin, given he has shown to be able to fence with his stinger, while Oscar never showed any real hand to hand fighting skill on the other hand. That being said, skill isn’t gonna be that much of a factor, given Barry barely is much of a fight either, and their boss battles in the games aren't very confrontational either. So what’s really gonna be impactful, and the actual game changer, is their abilities, speed and strength.

Abilities

While Barry certainly has the numbers advantage in abilities and arsenal, in terms of actual usability, that’s where the bee comes up short. Oscars are a lot more useful in a direct confrontation, especially with his ability to stop time and having homing shrimps that blow up upon contact. Oscar takes abilities with ease, but that’s not the end of this debate.

Speed

Oscar can be quick on his non-existent feet and can get himself out of difficult situations with his quick thinking, such as when he was chased through the whale wash. That being said, when we factor in the speed difference between the two, Barry's “Bee reflexes” gave him a huge lead speed, getting him to Mach 24, while Oscar doesn't really have any good speed feats aside from outswimming a great white shark which would land him at 5.1 m/s. There’s not much to discuss here either, Barry solidly takes speed, and while this does seem like too much to overcome for Oscar, we have to also look at our final category: Strength.

Strength

Yeah… this is game over for Barry. Oscar was able to break a metal cage underwater, a feat that is worth 331.549 Kilojoules. This is massively above Barry's best scaling, which would be the Pollen Jocks lifting a plane, which only gets to 2.8 Kilojoules per bee. With this much of a strength difference, it's much more likely that Oscar would use his homing shrimps to simply overwhelm Barry, use his time stop to land a solid hit, or have the AoE of the explosion to finish Barry off before the latter can find a way to turn the tide. Barry's usual fighting style of stinging also wouldn't work that well, Oscar has endured stings from creatures much more powerful with a more potent venom.

In the end, Barry just couldn't counter Oscar's strength and abilities, meaning Oscar was the one to bee able to live and tell the tale. The winner is Oscar.

Conclusion

Oscar

Advantages:

• Stronger…
• Kamikaze Shrimps can home onto Barry
• More combat applicable arsenal
• Time stop can allow him to land a hit
• Better Movie (Tario, Flip)

Equal:

• Got the girl

Disadvantages:

• …but physically too slow to reliably land hits
• Less actual combat experience and skill
• Has a lower score on Rotten Tomatoes

Barry

Advantages:

• A lot faster…
• More abilities…
• More skilled fighter
• Better Movie (Garf, Markx)
• Has a higher score on Rotten Tomatoes
• This image

Equal:

• Got the girl (?)

Disadvantages:

• … but Kamikaze Shrimps homing in on targets would eventually overwhelm him
• … but his abilities are not as useful in a fight
•  even using the plane feat, Oscar would still bee way weaker

Final Tally

Oscar - Tario, Garf, Flip, Markx, Lanturns Angler (5)

Barry -  (0)