SURF'S UP
Reviewed by Sam Hatch
Just when you thought the world had grown tired of cute penguin movies (Madagascar, March of the Penguins, Happy Feet, etc.), yet another comes waddling over the cinematic floe. This time it's Sony Pictures Animation (Open Season) having a go at the insta-hit genre. Refreshingly, they don't rely solely on the cuteness factor and opt for a faux-documentary feel more akin to Bruce Brown's Endless Summer series than any film about tuxedo-furred fish eaters.
Surf's Up is a pseudo-doc about teenaged Rockhopper penguin Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), a young wannabe who works on ‘the docks' of Shiverpool, an antarctic wasteland where real men stand around in huddled masses guarding eggs with their feet (in an obvious nod to the plight of the male Emperors in March of the Penguins). Cody's father shuffled off the iceberg long ago as a snack for a shark, leaving the youngster behind with his overly busy mother and unsupportive big brother (Dana Belben and Brian Posehn, respectively). He practices surfing whenever he can (astride a shaved piece of ice), even though there aren't any killer waves in the area.
Cody's thirst for success is mainly a comment on the traditional ‘gotta get out of this small town and make it' youth mindset, but his particular love for surfing arises from a chance encounter as a youngster with the world famous Big Z. In a scene found in countless other likeminded films, the importance of Z's visit (and the ‘one of a kind' shell necklace he gives to the kids) is exaggerated by his young fan. He even gives Cody a trite ‘don't give up' type of speech, which fans the kid's flames even more.
The ‘historical' segments of the film are great, giving a brief penguin-ized view of the history of surfing, a la the Summer films, Stacy Peralta's Riding Giants or Dana Brown's Step Into Liquid. We see versions of classic longboards as well as more modern equipment such as Laird Hamilton's foilboard. Only, y'know, ridden by penguins. It's also refreshing that the real surfers lending voice talent to the project appear onscreen as themselves, so Kelly Slater is a penguin of the same name instead of Belly Skater or something along those lines. The world of the film is an almost entirely fowl one, save for Reggie Belafonte (James Woods), an oily sea otter with Don King hair who promotes surfing competitions on SPEN (the Sports Penguin Entertainment Network)
Reggie doesn't see a difference between a smashing victory and a grisly death, and only cares if it makes entertaining television. He represents the death of the sport's soul when it sells out to corporate money (as seen in Tony Alva's lure to the green side in Lords of Dogtown), and his star of choice is Tank Evans, an oafish lunk whose multicolored feather patterns resemble tribal tattoos. Tank is the next generation of surfer, a success-minded automaton who possesses superhuman maneuvering skills and takes delight in making junior surfers wash out in his wake.
The crux of the story is the upcoming Big Z memorial ‘Penguin World Surfing Championship' (the giant Zed wiped out into the afterlife years ago, leaving behind his zorro-marked handmade surfboard as a makeshift grave marker) on the tropical isle of Pen Gu, and Reggie needs fresh faces to lose against Tank. Reggie's spindly-legged sandpiper sidekick Mikey Abromowitz (Mario Cantone) is the one who really makes the operation work, and he routinely sails out on the back of a huge whale in search of untapped talent.
When Mikey arrives in Shiverpool, he's less than impressed with Cody's skills, but is willing to let the spazz have a shot following an entertaining chase scene in which the youngster refuses to give up his chance at stardom. Also onboard the whale to fame is Jon Heder's Chicken Joe, a burnout clucker who comes from a long line of KFC 6 piece meals. He immediately forms a lifelong bond with Cody and spends much of the film wandering the jungles of Pen Gu looking for his missing friend.
Cody's absence occurs following an early altercation with Tank, which leads to a hilarious surf-off scene in which Cody's spectacular wipeout is played back from numerous angles and speeds. After realizing that tropical surfing is not quite the same as antarctic surfing, he is repeatedly battered by relentless waves until Zooey Deschanel's Lani Aliikai is forced to pull his inert body from the ocean floor. Lani is the token Baywatch lifeguard girl (who uses a red squid as a rescue buoy) who spends most of her time saving the life of the adorable and accident-prone Arnold. Arnold and his two friends Kate and Smudge are the cuddly peanut gallery of the film, as the documentary crew often cut to their nonsensically hilarious musings to inject life in the storyline.
Lani drags Cody's unconscious body into the realm of Geek, an overweight penguin guru voiced by Jeff Bridges (you guessed it… he's The Penguin Dude), who urinates on Cody's foot in order to neutralize a poisonous sting (one of many bodily function jokes – enjoy, parents!). He later reluctantly suggests that the pair work on building a board together, much to the delight of Lani - who has been trying to get the fat lug out of his shack for ten years or so. Cody is eager to learn contest-winning surfing skills from Geek, while the older and wiser Geek is trying to teach him the art of enjoying the sport. Soon enough, Cody learns important life-changing lessons about both his newfound guru and his childhood idol Z.
While this plays out, Chicken Joe wanders through the jungle until he stumbles across the native folk - the Pen Gu-ans. He's completely ignorant to the fact that they're a savage band of cannibalistic nomads intent on cooking him for dinner. His immersion into a cooking pot is misread as a sauna treatment, and the numerous flavorings they dump in with him are interpreted as a poolside food delivery. It's a gimmick that has been used multiple times (a variation most recently appeared in Ice Age 2) but works thanks to Heder's performance as Chicken Joe.
There are also a few interstitial moments with Tank, who takes us inside his super-secret lair where he has nine contest trophies that are all given women's names. When he's not conquering foamy crests with ease, he's cuddling up with his golden muses for a bit of smooching. This leads to the very adults-only gag in which 'trophy polishing' is discussed. This is one of many nods to the oldsters in the audience, and while I'm not entirely convinced of the necessity of such a tact (part of me thinks you should make a kids movie for kids, and the grown ups will also enjoy it just fine if it's made well enough) it made me laugh a few times.
Much like Cars' obsession with obsolete road-trip Americana and Route 66 lore, Surf's Up is a celebration of the sport's origins, and teaches its audience to be wary of the X-Games type of mindset. The idea to stage it as a documentary was an inspired one, and that concept alone places it higher in the animated-penguin food chain. The animation is beautiful (try not to get lost in the intricate fur patterns and detail), and the directors (Ash Brannon and Chris Buck, both Pixar and Disney veterans) don't shy away from ‘uglying up' their hard work through processing effects to make certain footage look superannuated and grainy.
The shots with camera crews following characters through the jungles of Pen Gu are amazing, and at times cross the line into truly photorealistic. For a film about monochromatic water fowl, the color scheme (largely driven by the island locale) is rich and potent. The water effects are also very well done, and the inner tube scenes are just as effective as in ‘real-life' surfing films such as 2002's Blue Crush.
And speaking of ‘real-life' it's interesting how this film comments on so many aspects of the surfing community while skirting around the presence of marijuana. There is a pall of weed smoke draped over this film, but just like That 70's Show the actual deed is never seen on camera. Chicken Joe is played off as naturally stupid, but he's gotta be packing a bamboo bong in his little travel satchel. Likewise, the Dude, er… Geek. You know the animators must have a secret reel somewhere in which he sparks up a bowl. (Hmm, perhaps they can make a sequel called Sparks Up!)
There's also an interesting strain of counterculture present in the film's message. For while on the surface it plays as a diatribe against modern competitive sport in favor of the pure experience (which is also brilliantly argued for in skateboarder Mike Vallely's great short film Drive), there's a subtext that says "Kids – drop out, quit yer job, and live on the beach smoking doobs and catching waves!" It's kinda like when Jimmy Buffet stepped into the kids film Hoot to espouse upon the beauty of nature when you know what he really wanted to say was "I wanna get stoned outta my freakin' gourd!"
There are some elements that work best if you don't think too much about them. The nature of the documentary crew being one of them – they apparently follow Cody from a period before he gets famous, but why would they? There's also the convenient fact that one small documentary team is suddenly capable of being everywhere at the same time. In the end it doesn't matter much, since in the case of Surf's Up, the gimmick is worth it.
The only major thing I would have changed is the fact that Cody's Shiverpool surfing skills are completely useless on Pen Gu. There's a scene in the opening that shows his ability to weave in and out of scattered iceberg growlers, and I thought for sure this would later evolve into him being the only person to successfully navigate the dangerous, rocky shore known as ‘The Boneyard'. Still, it's a small complaint overshadowed by the numerous things this film does right. (And given the fact that the script was written by so many people, perhaps it was inevitable that certain elements would slip through the cracks.)
The laughs aren't so much that you'll be gasping for air, but the characters are delightful and the story gets better as it progresses. It also manages to tread formulaic waters while still making them feel interesting. And those kid penguins are just so darned cute! Just tread lightly when you have to explain to your kids why chickens have bloodshot eyes and talk slow.