BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Shark Tale bares teeth at Venice

Stars of the film Will Smith, Angelina Jolie and Robert De Niro hit the red carpet in historic St Mark's Square on Friday night.

An audience of 6,000 watched the film on a 100ft inflatable screen with a personal headset tuned to either English or Italian.

It was the first time such an event had been held in the Square.

It really doesn't compare to any premiere or award ceremony there has been before

Will Smith, who voices fast-talking fish Oscar in the animated underwater tale, said: "This is one to remember forever."

"This is up there with the No 1 premiere of all time. It doesn't get much better than this."

De Niro was equally impressed: "This is great. It's just amazing."

Jolie, who attended the premiere with her four-year-old son Maddox, said the venue was "absolutely beautiful".

"I'm just thrilled to be here. It really doesn't compare to any premiere or award ceremony there has been before," she said.

Jolie, 29, added: "[Maddox] is going to watch the film with me and afterwards I've promised him a long boat ride."

The underwater movie has been described as a cross between Finding Nemo and The Godfather.

Oscar lands himself in hot water when he pretends to have slayed a great white shark and is hailed a hero.

But the plan backfires when the shark mafia put a price on his head.

De Niro sends up his role in The Godfather, playing shark boss Don Lino, with director Martin Scorsese as his puffer fish sidekick and comic Jack Black as his son.

Jolie voices Lola, a femme fatale of the fish world, who sets her sights on Oscar and his newly-found celebrity status.

The film is the latest animation from the DreamWorks studio.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, from DreamWorks, said: "We wanted to find a unique way to introduce this movie to the world. We needed a big idea. This is a pretty amazing dream come true, standing here and seeing the idea realised.

"More than anything, we are in showbusiness. This is the show part."