Customer Reviews

Surf's Up

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anyone who has watched ESPN sports commentaries/specials will find that SURF'S UP has copied their format and taken it over the top in yet another installment with the beloved penguins. This film is delightful fun and pure entertainment, but the style in which it is done is new to the "penguin genre" and totally works. The characters and characterizations are endearing and extremely clever.

Cody Maverick (Shia LeBoeuf) is a teenage surfer whose hero,champion surfer Big Z (Jeff Bridges), has been gone for ten years. Cody longs to be like Z and leaves the Antarctic for warmer clime in order to surf in the Big Z Memorial Surf Championship covered by the SPEN network. On his journey he encounters surfer-dude Chicken Joe (Jon Heder-who else) who is also on his way to the surf-off.The two arrive to discover that the reigning champ, Tank Evans is currently looking to win this Memorial again. I must say that for a villain character, Tank is absolutely one of the cutest and most cleverly fleshed-out animated penguins to date.You will hate to love him!

The rest is up to you. The film is very formulaic and adults and children will be delighted. Some of the humor is rather adult, so parents may need to do some explaining.There are good lessons taught without being heavy-handed or preachy.

The soundtrack by Mychael Danna (WATER,THE SWEET HEREAFTER) is outstanding in both the instrumental and vocal numbers.

The film is striking for it's vivid colors. Visually it is very lush and rich... and best of all I smiled and laughed for 90 minutes!

Excellent companion films would be MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, HAPPY FEET and BLUE CRUSH.

This movie is family-friendly, and outrageously funny. It's a classic story of redemption that's 'shot' in documentary fashion, like the surf movies of old, minus the narrator. I'd recommend it highly, especially to parents of 4-10 year old kids having family movie night.

children. Teaches about not giving up on dreams. A new generation kid learns from the old generation some new tricks and becomes a better penquin for it.