Surf’s Up

Posted by Nathan Deen (nathan@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 13, 2007

This is where I’m drawing a line between good and mediocre animated movies. The only reason I’m giving a thumps up to “Surf’s Up” is its spectacular animation, which might even be ground breaking. However, when one considers the humor of “Surf’s Up,” the movie seems very run-of-the-mill. Speaking in terms of mediocrity, it doesn’t really help when 80 % of your film’s characters are penguins either (I laughed out loud when the TV spot for “Surf’s Up” said it was the most original animated comedy in years. Uh, “Happy Feet” anyone? I never saw the 2006 Academy Award winner so if your tired of hearing comparisons in every review you read, breath easy). But when it comes to the film’s beautiful animation of waves and surfing sequences, which there are a lot of, the film is worth seeing at least once.

For me “Surf’s Up,” has set a new standard in animation and from now on, animated films are going to have to do more than just wow me with visuals. They’re going to have to combine those visuals with cleverness and big laughs. The surfing premise of “Surf’s Up” is clever but the film doesn’t execute the laughs part very well. I can’t recall a part that was uproarious. Most of the jokes were worth just a smirk and only a few earned a couple of chuckles. Some were not funny at all.

The Penguins used in “Surf’s Up” are cute and cuddly and are far from the looks of regular penguins. With their colorful tattoos and yellow spiked hair, the animators have done a nice job of giving the penguins a surfing personality and look. Most of the film is shot like a reality TV show, which is a clever premise so you have to give some credit to the writers for trying to be original. It’s still penguins though.

Cody (Shia Labeouf) is an undersized penguin that lives in Shiverpool, Antarctica. He tells the story of the day when Shiverpool was visited by penguin surfing legend Big Zeek (Jeff Bridges, “The Big Lebowski”) and Zeek gave Cody one of his handmade engraved shell necklaces. Ever since that day he’s dreamed of being a famous surfer. Unfortunately, he’s stuck on a block of ice with his family who tells him he’ll never be able to do it.

One day, a surfing talent scout named Mikey stumbles upon Shiverpool and lets Cody tryout. Unimpressed, Mikey leaves but is pursued by Cody, not taking no for an answer. They head to a tropical island where the Annual Big Z Memorial Surf Contest is held. Big Zeke was killed in the event and the it was named after him. Cody makes friends with Joe, a chicken surfer from Lake Michigan who is fried, if you catch my drift. He’s voiced by Jon Heder (“Blades of Glory”). He also meets the cute lifeguard, Lani, voiced by Zooey Deschanel (“Bridge to Terabithia”).

Cody picks a fight with nine-time champion Tank Evans (Diedrich Bader, “The Drew Carey Show”) and challenges him to a one on one surf contest in which Cody falls flat on his face and nearly gets killed had it not been for lifeguard Lani. Embarrassed, Cody spends the next few days in the jungle, away from the crowd, where he gains a mentor that looks just like Big Zeek and goes by the name of Big Geek (clue). Cody takes lessons from Geek to help him win the contest.

The biggest con “Surf’s Up” has is the lack of laughs. You could say it’s about as funny as “Shrek 3” or “Robots” without Robin Williams. There are a couple of jokes that are aimed at adults that just come off the wrong way and adults have to wonder if it’s even appropriate for a kids movie. There’s a scene with Tank making out with the trophies he’s won, each of which has a name. Weird. And we’ve seen and heard the ‘never give up your dream/you can do anything you put your mind to’ theme before.

But again, the visuals of waves and the ocean itself in this movie are absolutely stunning. The surfing sequences are well done and the visuals just make it that more exciting. These attributes by themselves are worth the price of admission. It seems like animated movies have done all they can do with visuals. They’re going to have to throw in elements like big laughs and original, well executed storylines from now on. An exception can be made for “Surf’s Up” but “Ratatouille” might not be so lucky.

| | Read more articles by Nathan Deen