Surf's Up

With so many CGI animated feature films starring cute animals pouring in and out of theaters year after year, it can be tough to sort through them all and figure out which ones are actually worth taking a family to. "Surf's Up" belongs in the pile with the good ones. Written and animated similar to a Christopher Guest mocumentary film ("Best in Show," "Waiting for Guffman") there's a unique humor to "Surf's Up" that spins the same old underdog storyline into something unusual and fresh that everyone in the family can enjoy.

The focus of this "documentary" is Cody Maverick (voiced by Shia LaBeouf), a rock-hopper penguin from Shiverpool, Antarctica with a dream of getting away from the south pole and becoming a premiere surfer like his idol Big Z. Cody's prayers are eventually answered despite the fact that he has nothing but an icicle surfboard and some serious ambition. He ends up being spotted by a talent scout and makes his way to Pen-gu island just in time for the penguin world surfing championship

When Cody gets challenged before the tournament and fails against the world's best surfer, Tank Evans (Diedrich Bader), he meets some unlikely friends like Joe the chicken (Jon Heder), a love interest in Lani (Zooey Deschanel), and Geek (Jeff Bridges) who helps Cody learn the waves so he can live his dream and compete in the championship.

There are jokes for the whole family here, which is "Surf's Up"'s most admirable trait. There's enough for the adults without too much material going over kids' heads and there's plenty of physical humor that kids will enjoy. The mocumentary style also provides a fresh set of laughs, even though the movie falls in the milder realm on the humor scale. There's also plenty of good values that one would expect from an animated movie focused on a sport: never give up, winning isn't everything, the value of friendship in picking us up when we fall.

The animation is also strong, though much more cartoonish than the penguin movie "Happy Feet." Most interesting is the way that the animation is meant to reflect what it would look like if the movie were being shot like a live-action documentary. One scene follows Lani carrying Cody through the jungle and it looks like a crew with a camera and one main source of light are following her. So it's very cool in terms of film-making, not just mere concept. "Ratatouille" and Pixar's brilliance aside, this would have won the Oscar in 2008 for its ingenuity.

The best way to describe "Surf's Up" is cute. It's unique, sweet and fun to watch. The films in the bad animation pile try and do too much with the humor and in executing grandiose concepts. This movie keeps the plot simple but shows it in a new and amusing way.

It's not the funniest animated movie you've ever seen -- most of the jokes are amusing, rather than laugh-out-loud -- but it does the job.

Sometimes the humor just seems to be "it's penguins doing human things -- get it?"

But it's fast-moving, colorful, and the voice cast is good. (Fortunately, they didn't give Jon Heder too much to do, so he wasn't out of his depth.)

Shia LeBeouf was very good (esp. considering how young he is). Several of us thought it was Bruce Willis doing the character of Cody. Snappy and smart. I liked Mario Cantone as the snarky sandpiper.

The animation is so deft you can actually see subtle emotions play over the faces of these birds. The waves sometimes look real, not animation.

There's a lot of stuff about surfing. Seemed like one of those old surfing documentaries sometimes. I didn't know if the kids could follow all that -- but the 3 little girls sitting in front of me pronounced the movie "fantastic" afterwards, so I guess it did its job.

10/10 for my friend Chicken Joe he was stoned af the whole movie

First off, I got the chance to watch the Hollywood premiere here in Hawaii with the cast being there to watch it too. Due to the recent release of penguin movies, a lot of people are turned off by them. Please do not judge it so. I admit, at first I was turned off by it being a penguin movie and I couldn't think of anything new. Although this type of story has been told before (what story hasn't?), it's always interesting to see how it will be presented. And I liked it. The characters and events keep you in the movie. Yes, you're gonna have to deal with penguins and their habitats, but it won't be for long. And besides, this is no happy feet, which I liked also. This movie has an amazing cast with enjoyable characters. So be ready to laugh your butt off because I pretty much was. Great family fun movie, or just a movie for you. Now I regret watching it so early (May 20, 2007) because now I have to wait until June 8 to watch it again. = (

I loved this movie growing up, and would recommend it for anyone who is looking for a well animated feel good movie. With cheesy humor and a great cast with tons of chemistry, there is nothing about this film that warrants any negative feedback. That being said, there just isn't anything all that special about this movie. I mean sure there are tons of surfing penguins and some pretty good underlining themes but nothing that we've never seen before. The animation was solid and I am always baffled at the clear small waves they create but still just nothing revolutionary, However I must admit I did love the documentary style approach they took, this added a little extra depth to the story telling medium.

I am going to give this movie a 7/10 because despite being a feel good movie there is a tone of mediocracy that can not be overlooked.