Flicks-a-saurus Rex

Surf’s Up

Director: Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Voice Actors – Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Dechanel, Jon Heder, and James Woods

MPAA - PG for mild language and some rude humor

Surf’s Up is a witty and entertaining flick proving Disney/Pixar does not hold the monopoly on fun kid’s flicks. It is a little cruder than its Mousey counterparts, but still very suitable for a young audience. I wouldn’t feel bad letting any child watch this film, it is enjoyable, non violent, and supports good attitudes. Some children’s movies are just not suited for youngsters but this is one film that a 30-year- old father could sit down and watch with his 3-year-old, and both of them will find amusing scenes to keep them entertained.



One thing that is phenomenal about Surf’s Up is its attention to detail. It was like the animators at Columbia Pictures got royally sick of being one step behind Dreamworks and ten steps behind the Mouse/Lamp and decided to get their computering butts to work. I could see this movie as an easy competitor to its competitor Ratatouille (losing in 2008 to the aforementioned for Best Animated Feature Film). Each leaf came fully equipped, every wave was a masterpiece in digital art, and every grain of sand seemed life like. If for no other reason Surf’ Up is a must see for its visual brilliance.

The plot was a basic underdog story. Cody Maverick (LaBoeouf) is a young, small for his age, surfing penguin following in the footsteps of the great surfer penguin, Big Z (Jeff Bridges). He enters a surfing competition as the mega underdog, but is taken under the wing of an old surfer, and makes his way to the championship, learning on his way to live life to the fullest, and love the surfing, not the competition. A simple plot but packed with laughs, goof characters, and beautiful surfing sequences that are truly magnificent works of art.



What is interesting about this story is that it is a mocumentary style film. Like The Office, this film is made to look like a documentary, it is all made to look like it is filmed by a sports documenter and there are cuts, retakes, and random boom mics swinging into the shots. The story is told through interviews with different characters and has a lot of regular shots too that keep the movie moving. It is an interesting concept to have an animated movumentary, and it is a fun twist.

Surf’s Up is a lighthearted film, not to be taken too seriously, but one that still makes you feel happy about in the end. It is basic and tells a story that we seem to have seen in hundreds of kids movies before, but is still a lot of fun. A 7.5 out of 10, not amazing, but a visual treat that still made me laugh.



Sex/Nudity – A penguin urinates on another penguin’s foot as an antidote to the poison from a sea urchin. An otter gets out of a hot tub and there is fake digital blurring where genitalia might be.
Violence/Gore – there are a few frightening moments with large waves and surfers wiping out and possibly being harmed.

Profanity – One penguin starts to say something tastes like sh… but is then cut off. There is some name calling.