Surf's Up (2007)

After the success of movies like March of the Penguins and Happy Feet, it should come as no surprise that this - another movie featuring penguins - would be on the cards. But this time, it's penguins who love to surf.

Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf) is a young penguin who loves nothing more than surfing, much to the chagrin of his mother, brother and in fact the rest of his colony.

Since he was just a young chick, Cody has looked up to his hero, the greatest surfing penguin ever, Zeke 'Big Z' Topanga (Jeff Bridges), and wants to be just like him. Sadly, Big Z has been dead for ten years, and the biggest surfing meet, the Z Memorial, is coming up soon.

Promoter Reggie Belafonte (James Woods) is desperate to find the next big thing in surfing penguins, and with the help of his assistant Mikey (Mario Cantone), discovers Cody, and takes him to Pen Gu Island where the big event is about to begin.

Once there, Cody meets another great surfer, a chicken named Joe (Jon Heder), and the two become close friends.

Another champion surfer, Tank 'The Shredder' Evans (Diedrich Bader) - who was competing against Big Z on that fateful day - challenges Cody to a surf-off. A massive wave throws Cody from his board, and he is badly injured.

Lifesaver Lani (Zooey Deschanel) takes Cody to a mysterious medicine man (should that be medicine penguin) known as Geek, hoping he can recover in time for the championship.

The story is told in a documentary style, featuring 'interviews' with the characters as the story progresses. The script - by Don Rhymer and Ash Brannon & Chris Buck & Christopher Jenkins - is quite inventive in this way, rather than just being your typical animated movie.

The characters are all clearly defined and written, and the voice performers give their all in bringing these personalities to life. I think the best of the lot is probably Jeff Bridges, but Zooey Deschanel is also excellent.

Mychael Danna's music is good, though there isn't a great deal of original music in the film. The filmmakers instead have chosen to use several pre-existing songs, predominantly rock songs, and a few surfing anthems.

The quality of the animation is decent, especially the scenes featuring surfing; the detail in the moving water is great.

Directors Ash Brannon & Chris Buck have made a reasonable film here. I enjoyed watching it for the purposes of writing this review, and I think I would enjoy it again.

6 out of 10.