Surf's Up DVD Review

Animation films more than any other genre or type of film seems to come in pairs. Competing studios must realize how impressionable children are, knowing that if they like an animal once, they are sure to buy it a second time. There was A Bug’s Life and Antz, just like there is a Surf’s Up to follow the success of Happy Feet. What is interesting are the changes made to the reality in the second film to be released. Finding Nemo had fish acting like fish, for the most part, whereas A Shark’s Tale had fish acting like humans. Likewise, Happy Feet was more realistic to make certain the environmentalist message was hear whereas Surf’s Up is about man’s love for surfing, using the conveniently popular animal as a basis. Although the second film also tends to be far worse than the first, Surf’s Up manages to stand apart slightly by the style in which the film is presented. Filmed, or drawn, like an animated surf documentary, Surf’s Up has a unique and occasionally overwhelming energy with pop culture overload different from Happy Feet.

The documentary is about a competition, as so many documentaries are these days, whether bull riding, spelling, or crossword puzzles. In this case it is animated penguin surfing and young surfer Cody (Shia LaBeouf) from Shiverpool, Antarctica is the focus of the animated mockumentary, determined to compete even though nobody believes in him. Able to talk his way into the competition he leaves without so much as a goodbye to his family and joins a group of other surfers, including a chicken (Jon Heder) that surfs. The group all head to the competition on Pen Gu Island, where Cody meets a penguin lifeguard named Lani (Zooey Deschanel) and a retired surfer named Geek (Jeff Bridges). With the help of Cody’s new friends he hopes to win the competition.

As usual, a lesson occurs somewhere during one of the montage sequences, which are covered with some pop or rock song sure to make the film dated not five years from now. It isn’t that the film is bad, or even that it is so much worse than Happy Feet, but the disappointment in what clearly looks like an effort to turn a quick profit. The best that can be said about the DVD is the inclusion of ChubChubbs short films, including the Academy Award winning short and a new “The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas” short. There is also a three-part documentary going into the technical aspects of the film and a commentary track by the filmmaker. There are also features for kids including three interactive games and a featurette about surfing directed at kids. There is also a music video by Lauryn Hill and some deleted scenes.