Surf's Up (2007)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 75

O Masterpiece (95-100)
X Excellent (75-94)
O Good video rental (60-74)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don't watch (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / June 15, 2007

Even though “Surf’s Up” is yet another penguin movie, and even though it’s not laugh-out-loud hilarious, it’s still excellent and worth seeing in the theater.

Few non-nostalgic movies can make me feel like a child again, but “Surf’s Up” did. Despite my sitting in a darkened theater, I felt a little self-conscious about my perpetual smiling, gleeful giggling and apparent delight. This movie is enjoyable from beginning to end. (Oh, and in case you’re sick to death of penguins, these characters don’t really seem like penguins for very long. Really, they could have been any animal.)

“Surf’s Up” has two primary strengths: It’s filmed as a “mockumentary,” which is a spoof of documentary filmmaking. (NBC’s “The Office” TV show is a good example of this.) The movie’s other ace in the hole is Shia LaBeouf and his superb delivery. I mean, where did this guy come from? He is on fire this summer. That kid is also excellent in “Disturbia,” which is still in theaters (if you haven’t seen that yet, go). I liked LaBeouf well enough in “Holes” (2003); he was OK. But he has given exceptional performances so far this summer. Let’s hope he keeps it up for “Transformers.”

An unseen documentary crew is making a film about the late, great surfing penguin, “Big Z” (Jeff Bridges), and a young penguin named Cody (Shia LaBeouf) who’s aspiring to be like his legendary idol. Cody has a whale of a time, but gets recruited by a scout who allows him to compete in the big kahuna of surfing competitions.

Along the way, Cody encounters a love interest, a Mr. Miyagi-type of mentor, a good pal named Chicken Joe (Jon Heder) and the jerky competition and reigning surf champion, Tank Evans (Diedrich Bader, the martial arts instructor from “Napoleon Dynamite”).

We occasionally hear questions from the behind-the-scenes documentarians, which is neat because the voices asking the questions are the actual directors, Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. The interspersed interview footage of the secondary and tertiary characters is amusingly complimentary.

And yes, parents, you’ll probably be disappointed to learn that this is one of those animated movies with subtle (and some not-so subtle) sexual innuendo jokes here and there. “Surf’s Up” even has a barely audible “d-word” and some double-edged name-calling. All of this is indeed unnecessary in what is an otherwise excellent family film.

All in all, “Surf’s Up” did a lot for me; namely, I no longer react violently when I see penguin paraphernalia.

Directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck
Shia LaBeouf / Jeff Bridges / Jon Heder
85 min. Animation / Comedy
MPAA: PG (for mild language and some rude humor)

Copyright 2007.
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