| SURF'S UP |
 2007 - USADirector: Ash Brannon, Chris Buck
- Reviewed by Vickie
I love animated movies. Is anyone really shocked that I loved Surf’s Up, an animated movie about surfing penguins? Structured as a documentary (seriously) about teenaged penguin and wave-riding sensation Cody Maverick (voiced by Shia LaBoeuf) as he attends his first international competition, the film is fresh, fun and ridiculously adorable. It’s populated by a board-load of colorful characters and, like all the good computer-animated films before it, is very smartly written. The story follows Cody from his home in Shiverpool, Antarctica, to the Big Z Memorial Surf Off—named in honor of Cody’s childhood surfing hero—in Hawaii. Plucked from frozen obscurity by an anxiety-ridden, talent-scout plover named Mikey (voiced by the hilarious Mario Cantone), Cody bids adieu to nay-saying family and friends to join the ranks of other avian surfers like Chicken Joe (voiced by Jon Heder), a well-meaning simpleton from Sheboygan. (As an aside: by its very nature, the word “Sheboygan” is comedy gold.) The contest is run by a hyperkinetic showman and gloriously coiffed otter named Reggie Belafonte (voiced by Jamed Woods), and Cody’s main competition is a self-absorbed, behemoth champ named Tank Evans (voiced by Diedrich Bader). It’s David vs. Goliath...only, you know, in the water, on surfboards and with more feathers. Helping Cody hone his hang-ten skills are a comely penguin lifeguard named Lani (voiced by Zooey Deschanel) and her hermit-like, overweight uncle Geek (voiced by Jeff Bridges), who may have more tricks up his flipper than anyone realizes. What follows is a terrific sports movie and hilarious mockumentary—complete with interview segments, wandering boom mics and a film crew visibly capturing the proceedings as they go down à la The Office—packaged as a charming kid flick. But, like Finding Nemo or Ice Age or Cars, it’s clearly been written with an adult audience in mind. The jokes are funny, the puns are clever, the in-jokes plentiful and the trio of fuzzy penguin toddlers provide a level of cute not seen since the singing slugs in Flushed Away. [Though, to be fair, I should state that my absolute favorite character in the film is Mikey, whose spindly legs and manic personality instantly won me over.] The voice actors are all wonderful and distinct, and the film is visually stunning. Water is one of the hardest things to replicate using computer animation, and this film—which takes place almost entirely on, in or near water—achieves the most realistic fake H2O I’ve ever seen. Half the time I was thinking, “That beach is beautiful! I wish it was real!” Despite the recent plethora of movies about penguins, this one carves its own niche worthy of high praise. Like the most choice wave, it’s swell. |
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I love surf movies.
