SURF'S UPI liked this, but was still a little disappointed.The movie is about a penguin who does not want to be an everyday normal penguin. His dream is to become a world champion surfer like his hero Big Z... so he leaves the comfort of his home and family to chase his dream and enters the biggest surfing contest.I quite liked the way this film was made. It was shot like a documentary. It felt like there was a camera crew just following this penguin as he goes on his adventure. There were interviews and other "real life" reactions from all the animals around. It was a really nice angle to take.I thought a lot of it was very predictable which was a shame. There were not many surprises in the movie, although there was one twist that I was not expecting that was good.The voice work was very good. Shia LaBeouf was the voice of Cody... the runaway penguin. Jeff Bridges was the voice of Big Z... the world champion surfer. Other voices were provided by Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder & James Woods.My favourite character was Chicken Joe. He was so funny and by far the best character. He could have easily had his own movie.The animation was very well done. It is amazing how good it is these days... but I do still miss the drawn animation.I thought the story was quite slow in places and was hoping for a little more. It was entertaining, but I thought compared to other kids films this one was quite forgetful. There was not a lot in it that would stick in my mind.I will give this film 6 out of 10."Dude, she's totally into you! She called you crap!"For more reviews, please like my Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ordinary-Person-Movie- Reviews/456572047728204?ref=hl

This is not the best animated movie I have ever seen(Beauty and the Beast) or the best penguin movie(March of the Penguins), but I really enjoyed Surf's Up. It could have been longer perhaps, but Surf's Up is beautifully animated with the bright colours particularly impressive. The music is hip and cool. The writing is both funny and smart, and the story is briskly paced and interesting. Surf's Up also has some likable characters that are further advantaged by some top notch voice acting with special mention going to Jeff Bridges who is simply marvellous. All in all it is a fun and beautifully animated film, that manages to be smart and likable as well. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Almost a year after the release of Happy Feet, this film also starring penguins came out, and I was quite keen to see it after seeing a trailer, so I did when I got my chance. Basically it is played out as a documentary, with slightly wobbly cameras and "stock footage", focusing on rock-hopper penguin Cody Maverick (Shia ) from Shiverpool in Antarctica. He is determined to become the new champion at the "Big Z Memorial Surf Off" competition on Pen Gu Island, both for his personal pride, and to honour his hero from childhood, the now supposedly deceased Zeke 'Big Z' Topanga (Jeff Bridges). He gets the support from his new friends, lifeguard Lani Aliikai (Zooey Deschanel) and fellow surfing enthusiast Chicken Joe (Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder), and he has a rival in egotistical champion Tank 'The Shredder' Evans (Diedrich Bader). When Cody gets himself washed up by a big wipe out where he ends up near a jungle where Lani takes him to her friend 'Geek', who seems to know a lot about surfing and the boards to use. As time goes by Cody realises that 'Geek' is in fact Big Z still living and a little chubbier, hiding from the surfing world and feeling like he can't come back. After creating the perfect surf board and learning some new tricks with the help of Big Z, Cody seems ready to take part in the competition and go against Tank, originally Big Z's rival. Cody starts having a strong bond with Lani, but he wasn't able to convince Big Z to come back and face the people he seems to have abandoned, but he sneaks his way back to watch Cody. In the end, Cody sacrifices becoming the new champion of the waves to help Chicken Joe to win against Tank, and Big Z does come back to reveal he is alive, and Cody and Lani are happy together. Also starring James Woods as Reggie Belafonte, Mario Cantone as Mikey Abromowitz, Kelly Slater as Kelly, Rob Machado as Rob, Sal Masekela as SPEN Announcer, Ash Brannon as Filmmaker, Chris Buck as Filmmaker, Brian Posehn as Glen Maverick and Dana Belben as Edna Maverick. The casting is really good, with LaBeouf as a great lead character, Bridges, Deschanel and Heder as great support, and it boasts some really cool animation effects, but it is the documentary feel that is quite original, so a fun family computer animated comedy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year. Good!

This is simply a very entertaining computer-animated cartoon about a bunch of surfing penguins. It's shot in a unique "mockumentary" style which makes the movie look fresh and surprisingly, and also allows the filmmakers to adhere less strictly to story development, and allows them to load the movie with a joke per second (NB, the movie also delivers a solid, intriguing, well-developed plot, but the mockumentary style allows the storytelling to be a lot faster, sharper, more off the cuff.Paradoxically, to reproduce the -- usually undesirable -- "wobbly hand- held cam" effect in CGI, the studio had to go to fairly extreme length, with a cameraman filming the CGI framework off a large screen with a specially revamped hand-held camera.Anyway, the result is a very fresh, very funny cartoon that looks simply amazing (those waves look wayyyy better than in reality). The voice artists also did an amazing job. This one probably caters more to adult viewers, but kids will certainly get a hoot out of it, too. I can highly recommend it!PS: try this if the also penguin-themed "Happy Feet" bored your socks off.