![]() Even real life giant surf looks weird when flipped from land to water angles, check any GoPro nose footage and even XXL Jaws looks slightly overhead. In fact, in an apparent chilling prophecy of state of the art surf action to come, the Boneyards scenes bear an uncanny resemblance to John John’s Himalayas waves from Maps of Home.Īnimation allows for cartoon-like waves to look impressive from all angles, as opposed to splicing a head dip onto library footage of the Eddie. Surf’s Up almost certainly offers the finest rendition of surf action of any piece of surf cinema in history, even today nearly 15 years since its release. Alas, the curse of the dedicated surfer is the compulsion to immediately point these infringements out to non-surfing company who perhaps hadn’t noticed, an interaction nobody gains from. Lefts become rights, Bell’s become Waimea, Cornwall the Canaries. Surfing cinema plagued with a basic continuity problem that anyone who’s surfed more than a little bit can whiff a mile off when the tight water shots of the actor paddling in the lineup flip to the pulled back action that depicts clearly not the same spot/human/day/continent. Think the cozy indulgence of North Shore mixed with Creature Comforts quirks, and even a touch of Lebowski.īizarrely, the surfing action is really, really good. In it, a young northern rockhopper penguin named Cody Maverick, maligned and misunderstood in his home of Shiverpool, Antartica sets out to chase surfing fame and fortune in Pen Gu Islands’s Big Z Memorial Surf Contest, where he must overcome the evil 9 x Big Z Champ Tank ‘The Shredder’ Evans, as well as his own crushing big wave inhibitions. Released in 2007 as part of a wave of penguin films, Surf’s Up delivers clever animated quirks, without the often too-fast-for-human-comprehension Pixar pace, while A-listers Shia LeBoeuf, James Woods, Jeff Bridges and Zooey Deschanel voice a funny, clever script. From Gidget to Big Wednesday, North Shore to Point Break to Blue Crush and much between, beach culture seems to capture the scriptwriters’ imaginations, or rather, the studios bean counters’ budgets more often than other leisure pursuits. Surf’s Up is part of a long, oft maligned line of mainstream cinema’s surf themed features. Like I said to the floor sweeper when he asked me, "Was it any good?" It had it's moments.The 2007 animated tale of a stoked penguin named Cody Maverick might just be Hollywood’s finest ever depiction of wave riding. Urinating and flatulent penguins just aren't that funny. Hey, leave it alone and let the movie go. It's as if they are afraid the movie won't hold up on its own without a bit of naughty and disgusting jokes. As for the penchant of "children" movies using poop and pee for laugh lines-I ask why? It didn't add to the movie, and it certainly lowers it. The voice talent is perfect: Jeff Bridges as the laid back Z, Shia LaBeouf the young hero in the making, Jon Heder as a stoned chicken from Michigan, and Zooey Deschanel as the good-hearted lifeguard who keeps secrets well. It's how it all gets there, is what we spend our $5.00 matinée for. The plot of little guy, big dreams, dream crash, dream re-found, and priorities set straight is definitely cliché. The water is surreal in how lifelike it is with all the variegation of color. Here I am old enough to be a grandmother and I love animated films. The previews drew me in, and when a rainy weekend coincided with Surf's Up coming to the local theater I went.
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