Surf's Up: Movie Review (2007) by Christopher Smith

8/30/2007 Posted by Admin

Riding the penguin wave

Apparently, everything is coming up threes at the box office this season. Before last week’s “Ocean’s Thirteen,” audiences saw a third "Spider Man" hit theaters, a third “Pirates of the Caribbean,” a third "Shrek." By summer’s end, a third “Rush Hour” will have opened, as will Matt Damon's third film in the “Bourne” franchise, "The Bourne Ultimatum."

Safety in numbers? You could say that, especially from a financial standpoint, but it's too bad that so many of these movies have been as critically popular as a third nipple.

Now, the trend continues, albeit with a twist.

After the Academy Award-winning "March of the Penguins" and "Happy Feet," Hollywood is serving up a third helping of penguins in Chris Buck and Ash Brannon’s computer-animated “Surf’s Up.”

This time out, the tuxedoed critters are featured in a movie in which the blistering cold of the Antarctic is replaced by the blistering heat of a tropical island. There, they ride towering waves--and run up against some towering egos--in heated competitions.

The movie is the slightest of the recent penguin lot. Unlike “Happy Feet,” for instance, which was designed to encourage its intended audience of tots to consider their place in the global community and how they might affect it, for better or worse, with their own actions toward their peers and the environment, “Surf’s Up” has nothing more pressing on its mind than to be entertaining. In this case, that’s enough.

The film follows the teenage penguin Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf) through a tumultuous time. In the wake of his father’s death--he was eaten by a shark, poor penguin--Cody is followed by a crew of bumbling documentarians as he fulfills his dream of becoming a champion surfer.

Helping him to that end are his friend, Chicken Joe (Jon Heder); Cody's potential love interest, Lani (Zooey Deschanel); and especially Big Z (Jeff Bridges), a surfing legend who influenced Cody as a youth, and who now reluctantly agrees to help him train to win against the reigning surfing champ, Tank Evans (Diedrich Bader).

Beyond Bridges' smooth, laid-back performance, which is a highlight, what makes the movie so appealing is the inspired decision to shoot it like a mock documentary--complete with unsteady camerawork and boom microphones that dip into the screen. It's an approach that allows for spontaneity to flourish, such as when the characters suddenly bark out their feelings and frustrations at the cameras, or when three baby penguins neatly steal the show with their clever asides.

Also top-notch is the animation, which is fresh and innovative. From the beautiful rendering of water imagery to the lively expressions of the characters faces, “Surf's Up" manages to skirt what could have sunk it--familiarity--by consistently finding new ways to work within a movie that easily could have felt fatigued.

Grade: B+