Starring Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Jon Heder, James Woods, Zooey Deschanel, Diedrich Bader
Written By:
Directed By: Ash Brannon, Chris Buck
Studio: Columbia/ Sony
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If there’s one thing that I remember this summer, it’s how many times I’ve seen the trailer for Surf’s Up in a matter of a month. I think I saw it 50 times the month before it came out. I saw a lot of summer movies and the trailer for Surf’s Up just happen to play for almost every single one. I guess that’s because the movie targets most audiences since it’s a family yet adult oriented animated movie. I waited to check out the movie because it looked amusing to me, and it boosted a decent cast as well.

Surf’s Up is set up like a documentary movie and it’s all about penguins. Yes, I know..another penguin movie! But, come on folks, this one is TOTALLY different because..well it’s about penguins surfing. See, I told you it was different! The movie is about Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), a young surfer penguin who wants to be the best surfer and sets out to compete in the Big Z Memorial competition. Along the way of trying to be a great surfer, he meets up with a chicken surfer (Jon Heder) who becomes his friend, and a lifeguard penguin (Zooey Deschanel) who Cody falls for. Of course, in any movie like this, you have the bully bad guy, or penguin; and it’s Tanks Evans (Diedrich Bader), the current champ of the surfing competitions. So Cody goes up against him but quickly fails and goes back to the drawing board. He gets help from an old, washed-up pro surfer named Geek (Jeff Bridges), who is secretly Cody’s idol growing up. Cody learns the proper way of becoming a surfer and becoming a grown-up before tackling Tank Evans and the waves.

I like the documentary approach with this movie. I’m not sure kids will like it or get the reasoning behind it though. I thought it was a nice change for an animated movie, but the acting for it starts to sound too phony. Like you know you are watching a movie, and its suppose to be a documentary but its the way the actors say the lines that bugs me a little. But maybe I shouldn’t be this critical for a kids movie. There were some jokes and references in there that some kids won’t get and I like movies like that. Shrek and Toy Story are movies like that, that are geared for both children and adults. It has proved to be successful in the past. I’m not sure how well this movie did at the Box Office but I’m sure it will get it’s money back from the DVD sales. I don’t think this movie is bad all, I thought it was entertaining. I thought the voice acting was okay, nothing too special. It was cool to see Jeff Bridges playing another Dude type character, ala Big Lebowski. Shia LaBeouf was okay, I think his acting bugged me the most in this. I usually like his acting.

If you get Surf’s Up on DVD, you’ll have a decent amount of extras to watch. There’s deleted scenes, some games, featurettes, music videos and more! Overall this movie isn’t great but it’s not bad either. The animation really impressed me and I loved the old camera footage look as well. Besides the animation, there’s a lot of good actors in this movie as well. The story is somewhat generic but if you’re looking for another animated penguin movie to watch; look past the negatives and just enjoy yourself.

Features:
Save Xmas short
Games
Lost Scenes
Music Videos
Voice Sessions
Featurettes and more!

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
SPANISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: I like when Cody called Tank Peckerface. and liked all the surfing scenes
Rating: PG
Running Time: 85 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: