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Surf's Up (2007)

Director: Ash Brannon, Chris Buck

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Synopsis

Animated tale about surfer penguin Cody Maverisk, who travels from Shiverpool, Antarctica to Pen Gu island to compete in his first professional competition.

Movie review

From Time Out Chicago

Pixar alumnus Brannon (Toy Story 2) and Walt Disney veteran Buck (Tarzan) cash in on the vogue for waddling avian aquanauts sparked by March of the Penguins. Mellower than Happy Feet and a raft of other recent hyperanimated films, this CGI comedy about a teen misfit who wants to blow his Antarctic ’berg for surfing glory has plenty of beguiling characters for young audiences, and enough sight gags and inside jokes to hold adult interest almost to the end.

The movie is framed like a mockumentary, with a media crew following tufted hero Cody Maverick (LaBeouf) as he goes up against a nine-time champion (Bader) in an annual competition memorializing the kid’s idol Big Z (Bridges), who wiped out a decade ago off Pen Gu Island and hasn’t been seen since. Proving he can chew even more scenery than he does on TV’s Shark, Woods voices a sleazy sports-promoting otter, while Heder channels a long wake of sun-dazed dudes as a rooster so blissed out he wouldn’t recognize cannibals if they threw him in a hot pot.

Visuals are outstanding, from facial modeling to the rendering of plumage, but best are the myriad pounding waves. Animators’ details help sell the laid-back humor, whether parodying the surface glitz of cable sports packaging, or mimicking the grain of faded 16mm footage.

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Time Out Chicago Issue 119: June 7–13, 2007

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