Shark Bait (The Reef: Shark Bait in the UK, Australia and North America, Pi's Story () in South Korea) is a 2006 animated adventure film. The plot revolves around Pi and his attempt to win the heart of Cordelia while dealing with a tiger shark that is terrorizing him and the reef's inhabitants.
Despite being an American-South Korean co-production, the movie did not receive a theatrical release in the United States. Instead it was released direct to DVD in 2007.
A direct-to-DVD sequel, The Reef 2: High Tide was released in 2012.
Plot
Pisces, or Pi, is a young orange wrasse living with his parents Pike and Piper in the polluted harbor of Boston, Massachusetts until a fishing boat scoops them from the sea. Pi's parents help him escape the net, but cannot escape themselves. Before they are taken away, Piper tells Pi to promise her he would go live with his aunt Pearl. Pi's porpoise friend Percy and Percy's mother Meg agree to take him, but Pi refuses to leave in case his parents return. Meg tells him once anyone is taken by a net, they are killed. Pi is heartbroken that his parents are gone forever.
Meg and Percy take Pi to live with his aunt Pearl on an exotic reef. The first residents Pi comes across are three elderly marlin named Moe, Jack, and Manny, which direct him toward Pearl's home. On his way there, Pi immediately falls in love with Cordelia, a beautiful angelfish model that has appeared on the cover of National Geographic. He also meets his cousin Dylan, who quickly becomes Pi's best friend. However, Pi soon encounters Troy, the meanest, toughest tiger shark in the ocean, who is not only terrorizing everyone in the reef community but also has his eye set on Cordelia to become his mate. Pi confronts Troy, only to be physically assaulted by him. Cordelia tells Pi that the only dangerous place on the reef is between Troy and whatever he wants, and if Pi wishes to help her, he won’t interfere. Pi and Dylan find their way home, where Pearl is excited to see that Pi has arrived. She is a fortune-teller, along with her assistant Madge, a sea star, and uses a pink pearl that Dylan's late father gave to her as a crystal ball. Pearl reads Pi's future and sees that he is destined for great things and that he will find his destiny on the reef. Pearl then tells Pi that he can go anywhere, excluding an old pirate wreck and a forbidden place called "flat bottom." Pearl leaves Dylan in charge of showing Pi around. Dylan tells Pi about Nerissa, a wise old hermit loggerhead turtle who lives in an abandoned shipwreck and practices martial arts, leading to rumors that he is a wizard. Eventually, they stumble upon the flat bottom, the open sea, which is outside the wildlife sanctuary, free for humans to come with their fishing nets.
Dylan leaves after a close encounter, and Pi sees Cordelia, but per her instructions, does not interact until he hears her scream after getting a lure stuck in her fin and comes to her aid. Pi brings Cordelia to a crab and sawfish duo named Buddy and Lou, who successfully remove it, afterward she invites him to go to a concert with her. Beforehand, Pi meets Dylan, once again, and they observe Nerissa defend his blue pearl against a gang of squids.
At the amphitheatre that night with Cordelia, Pi learns about the performer Thornton, a harbor seal who fought an enormous monster. Afterward, Pi and Cordelia look at the stars, and she falls in love with him. Suddenly, Troy arrives and pursues them. Pi refuses to leave Cordelia, but Troy starts abusing him worse than ever, until Cordelia makes a deal with him: if he leaves Pi alone, she will marry Troy. Pi is knocked unconscious by Troy and is carried to Nerissa's shipwreck by a current.
When Nerissa tells Pi the following day, he is fed up with Troy's abuse towards him and asks Nerissa to teach him the ways of the ocean to combat Troy. Nerissa initially refuses, Pi asks other residents to help him, but the marlins think because of their age, they won't be useful, also revealing they used to be friends of Nerissa's. Thornton also refuses until Pi reminds Thornton of his tale. However, he states that he didn't actually fight a monster, but due to his "poetic license," it didn’t count as lying.
Meanwhile, Troy's henchmen Bart and Eddie try to steal Nerissa's pearl but are frightened away by Pi and Dylan. Nerissa arrives and is impressed with Pi's skills, agreeing to train him the next day.