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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Since 1996 |
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Surf’s Up Stars (voices of): Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, James Woods, and Jon Heder Directors: Chris Buck and Ash Brannon Scriptwriters: Joe Syracuse, Christian Darren, Don Rhymer and Lisa Addario Sony Pictures Animated Rating: PG Running Length: 90 minutes Surf’s Up ends up being a travelogue for surfin’ the South Seas. Using penguins (again!) as the main characters, the story centers on a surfing star (Big Z voiced by Jeff Bridges) who was “lost at sea” and memorialized in a championship surfing competition. Of course, there has to be a young surfer who wants to make his mark (Cody Maverick and voiced by Shia LeBeouf). In-between Cody learning the tricks of the surfin’ trade and meeting new friends, there is surfing music to stretch the film length to 90 minutes. Ho hum. If you wanted to explore the world of previous penguins, there is March of the Penguins, Happy Feet, and Danny DeVito as “The Penguin” in Batman Returns. Enough already. Surf’s Up is interesting in that it begins with a film crew interviewing Cody. Thus, Cody’s story comes out as a flashback. We see that Cody and his very large brother and their Mom lived in an igloo. Dad, as with most of the penguin Dad’s, is no more, having met his demise due to a killer whale. Cody lives to surf and graduates from slivers of ice as a surf board to a genuine wood board. On his way to a major competition, Cody meets Chicken (voice of Jon Heder) and a lady life guard (Zooey Deschanel) and they become fast friends. The competition is dominated by the reigning penguin surfer of the day, who has no girlfriends, but talks to his trophies. Cody is inexperienced and eventually is taught by a stranger he meets. Also, Cody meets a slick agent (James Woods). The day of the competition approaches and is Cody ready? The waves are huge and there are sharp rocks for the unwary. Animation in Surf’s Up is quite well done. From the kingdom of ice where we first meet Cody, to the tropical isles where the water is turquoise colored, it is an exquisite setting. Humor is aimed for adults and has some crude parts. Children would appreciate the smaller animal children, who stretch the word “cute.” Not all whales are killers and some can be used for transportation. Surfing is a lot of work and requires balance and precision, plus the mindset of how-can-someone-stand-on-a-wet-board-heading-toward-shore anyway? This is part of the humor in Surf’s Up plus a budding romance between Cody and the lady lifeguard and the competition between Cody and the lead surfer. The stranger dispenses sage advice, though seems too large to get on a surf board. Besides all this, Chicken is having his own adventure with natives on the island who live next to a large cooking pot. Surf’s Up gets long at about the 45 minute mark. This idea would have made an adequate television special of one hour. Cody Maverick is a cute character, but the idea of a film crew with him is tiresome after a bit. The script didn’t seem to know which direction to go---children’s film or animated travel film. Just when the kids are cute, the story moves to adventure and then back to cute. Like riding a pipeline on an uneven board. Copyright 2007 Marie Asner
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