Over the past two decades, animated films have consistently provided Hollywood with its most innovative and interesting fare. Movies like Toy Story, Chicken Run, The Incredibles and the first Shrek were not only highly entertaining, they were wholly original. Unfortunately, as the genre matures, creativity is more and more often losing out to marketing, with lame efforts like Shrek the Third threatening to become the norm.
At first glance, Sony's surfing penguin flick Surf's Up looks like another example of this disheartening trend. After all, we've seen penguins before, in both the animated (Happy Feet) and documentary (March of the Penguins) realms. And let's face it: talking animals have been a cartoon mainstay since Steamboat Willie.
What separates Surf's Up from the rest of the pack is its unique "mockumentary" approach, which mimics live-action flicks like This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman and other classics from Christopher Guest and pals. The style, complete with its shaky, hand-held camera work and other cinema verite effects unique to documentary filmmaking, makes Surf's Up a surprisingly enjoyable experience.
The story centers on Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), a precocious, undersized penguin who relieves the tedium of his native Shiverpool, Antarctica, by riding the waves on a surfboard carved out of ice. Inspired by his idol Big Z, a surfing legend who vanished after an wiping out during a big-wave surfing competition, Cody dreams of one day leaving Shiverpool and touring the world as competitive surfer. And when he's chosen to compete in the "Big Z Memorial Surf Off," the world championship of penguin surfing, Cody thinks his spot in the surfing hall of fame is all but sealed.
Like a lot of 17 year-olds, Cody has a bit of an outsized ego, and when he unwisely challenges cocky reigning champ Tank (Diedrich Bader) to an impromptu one-on-one surf-off, he's beaten soundly and left thoroughly humiliated. But aided by his two new pals, Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), Lani Aliikai (Zooey Deschanel), and a burned-out island hermit (Jeff Bridges), Cody regains his confidence just in time for his epic rematch with Tank. In the process, he also learns that there's a lot more to life than winning a surfing competition.
Though Surf's Up suffers from a relatively conventional "underdog sports movie" storyline, LaBeouf, Bridges and the rest of the cast make the most of the uninspired material. Whereas a typical animated production involves actors reciting their dialogue in virtual solitude, ensconced in a recording booth, with the post-production team tasked with melding it all into one coherent piece, the cast of Surf's Up recorded all of their dialogue together. The result is performances that seem less jokey and more natural.
But it's Surf's Up's unique approach, featuring subtle nods to classic surf documentaries like Step Into the Liquid and the Endless Summer films, that makes it a worthwhile watch. The first 15 minutes, in which we're given a short history of penguin surfing (complete with grainy, black and white footage of 50's-era "hang-sixers") are particularly fantastic. And while the rest of the movie may not hold up to the promise of the first act, Surf's Up is still the most entertaining animated feature I've seen in quite a while.
ReelzChannel Rating: 