Surf’s Up DVD

Surf’s Up
Voices by Diedrich Baeder, James Woods, Shia LaBeouf
Jeff Bridges, John Heder
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2007
85 minutes

If you are an adult and live nowhere near a beach Surf’s Up by Sony Pictures Animation is a cartoon you watch just to enjoy the animation skill and tricks used in this DVD and the various inside jokes sprinkled here are there to keep the adults interested while the kids enjoy the cool cartoon.

Surf’s Up is CGI animation for the kids all the way and I am sure the little ones will enjoy the DVD and the story of Cody Maverick a young guy, well, penguin, overcoming great odds to reach his dream of doing like his surfing idol the legendary Big Z and competing in the Pen Gu Big Z Memorial Surf Off. It is also a really visually interesting movie.

Penguins seem to be the flavor of the day in Hollywood so the idea of a surfing penguin may be a bitch far fetched. Then again, a surfing chicken, and the fact Surf’s Up is set up as an animacumentary are just as believable once you go along for the ride.

Some viewers will want to give the DVD the ten minutes or so it takes to set itself and the story up but then the conflict between little guy Cody Maverick and reigning surf champ Tank Evans starts, all the characters and pieces are in play, so you can chill, man.

There’s a lof of slapstick comedy here and Chicken Joe, Cody’s new friend, is also good for a few funny moments. Sports fans will be a little more aware of the various sports celebrities cameoed here such as Don King and the ESPN references. There is also a love interest for Cody.

Of course, Surf’s Up being a kid’s movie DVD there’s got to be a message, and there is but revealing it is also a spoiler.

A couple of parents might object to a verbal joke here and there but it’s not like the kids will get most of them in the first place.

Others might object to the scene where Geek (Jeff Bridges) cures Cody after he stepped on a fire urchin.

Extra features in the Surf’s Up DVD  include two animated shorts, The Chubbchubbs, which for some reason won the 2002 Academy Award, a new one titled the Chubbchubbs Save Xmas, a couple of simple DVD remote based games for the little kids, and the usual made up behind the scenes associated with animated movies.

Related Posts