'Surfs Up' - Penguins Win Again!
By: Tim - aurora - Dunn

Before you stop reading this thinking that 'Surfs Up' is just a movie trying to ride the wave created by 'March of the Penguins' and last years 'Happy Feet' you should know a couple quick facts. One 'Surfs Up' started as a project five years ago, long before penguins became the 'In' character of the decade. Two, there is way more to this movie then just the penguins. In fact the major main pluses in this story is the story styling itself and the medium the story deals with. While 'Surfs Up is guaranteed to be a huge hit with the kid crowd this movie has an alternate persona that adults, at least in the CG industry will appreciate immensely. This movie is modeled entirely as a surfing documentary centered around 'The 10th Annual Big Z Memorial Surf Off'. The third major fact is that the best character in this story is the water! Not that Cody, Big Z, Chicken Joe and the other characters are bad, its more that the water is extremely impressive with lighting falling an extremely close second to the water.

'Surf's Up' starts off with a quick documentary styled look into the history of surfing opening the viewers awareness to the style of this movie perfectly from the very first frame. We soon meet young 17 year old Cody at home where he is being interviewed. Just to make the point clear that this is not a riptide 'Happy Feet' movie the interviewer asks Cody if he has any skills other then surfing. Cody replies, 'Any other skills? Like what, singing and dancing? Ha ha, naw.' Least you think your now setup for lots of movie slams like we are so used to from Shrek, don't fear that's the end of the movie spoof offs.

When Cody was young he meet Big Z the big kahuna in the penguin surfing world. Z gave young Cody a necklace and some advice which if uttered by anybody other then Big Z(voice of Jeff Bridges) would have come off corny and ruined the movie from the start. But as with the real surfing world most of the lines and gags are so laid back that they work without being cheesy in anyway. That's the brilliance of this movie, to make something old and used and make it new and fresh. These words of advice and treasure from Big Z sets the foundation for Cody's dream, to be just like Big Z. Sadly however it appears that Big Z is no longer with us as he took the big tube ride to Paradise in a competition with newbie to the circuit Tank.

Just when it seems Codys dreams are about to come true when a talent scout walks into his community looking for the next great surfer he finds himself rejected. Taking Big Z's words to heart Cody strikes off to prove he can surf and hitches a ride on the whale transport leading to the 'Big Z Memorial Surf Off' just days before the competition starts. Cody quickly runs into Tank and challenges him to a quick mono-on-mono surf off where Cody bites it and bad. From here the story branches off into a rather predictable story where Cody must learn to overcome himself and his desires to be the real winner.

Happily as predictable as the story and characters maybe its not so much about the story itself as it is with the way its presented as a documentary story that makes this a great movie. In the opening history scene the clips shown look as if they really came from some dank forgotten footage vault. The constant interview breaks, and documentary flub-ups mixed perfectly through-out really change this kiddy movie into something much better. Yet the documentary styling still plays second fiddle to the CG in this movie. True its a CG animated summer movie to start with but the water and lighting in this movie are truly something amazing.

To start with this is a surfing movie so what do we need? Yep waves, big waves, huge waves,  as well as little waves, plus some spray, heck lots and lots of spray, crashing waves, smooth calm waves. If the water is the heart of this movie then it's waves are its heart beat. As an animated movie we are not looking for photo-real looking water, but happily we get it anyways. But unlike something from Pirates 3, massively complex LBM fluid calcs where not needed for this movie. All the waves were done using a special wave rig composed of blend shapes using high density NURBS surfaces. A huge library of these blend shapes allowed for choreography of each wave individually by the animators to create the perfect wave as needed for each scene. Added to the waves comes some nicely comped particle sprays that add a nice icing to the waves look. We also get added realism with a nicely done haze effect induced from the ocean and its waves.

But the final touch that really breathes life into the water and waves is some tremendously gorgeous lighting. With a view from the outside looking into a nice wave curl tube you see brilliant blue sky light shinning through. On the inside of the tube the light looks just as if the ocean water absorbed the blue and glows with vibrant greens. Better yet a couple sunset scenes provide vivid oranges and yellows to mingle in with crystal clear water. In fact the lighting all the way through this movie is very much an enjoyable thing to watch. Take for instance a stormy night as the documentary film crew trudges through the jungle with a spotlight as the light source. The final lighting in that scene looks better done in CG then many less brilliantly produced live action movies.

Other great CG highlights in this movie are a pretty impressive particle generated waterfall, wickedly glowing lava lite lave tubes, and luminescent glow warm dung. The hair styling on the various penguins and other creatures are pretty cool as many have unique hair stylings. The feathers on the penguins are also another step up the CG ladder as well. Plus the waves are not the only things that curl in this movie. The same type of setup used to create the waves were used to create wood shavings as Cody finds his own board hidden inside a log.

While a lot of great things are seen in this movie its not perfect. Some of the dynamics, especially dealing with plants are way to stiff. In my opinion some of the texturing could have been pushed up another notch or three. Chicken Joes character could have used a bit more treatment especially with his relation with Cody considering the roll he, Joe, plays in the end. And while its a pretty well known fact that urine does help dissolve and neutralize the effects of sea urchin induced injuries we probably could have done without that scene. You knew it was coming and it just never got the laugh they probably wanted. Well OK one little boy somewhere behind me was giggling. I feel sorry for his mom this weekend.

Conclusion:
Over all this is a pretty decent movie as a movie. As a unique creation with the documentary styling and the wonderful CG effects this movie is a true standout. I'd even dare say this will be a major contender for best animated feature in next years award races. But as the story proves its not winning that makes a winner its the manner and intent of the ride that counts and that's what makes this movie a real winner.

Ratings:

- For a movie going experience I give it: 3 out of 5 stars.
The story itself is decent enough but the story being told as a documentary transforms this movie into a gem.

- For a technical piece of CG and VFX work I give it: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
The CG effects, namely the water and the lighting are the true strengths in this movie. If you do animation or effects work this should definitely be added to your list of movies to study.

Credits:

Cast:
Cody Maverick - Shia LaBeouf
Big Z/Geek - Jeff Bridges
Lani Aliikai - Zooey Deschanel
Chicken Joe - Jon Heder
Reggie Belafonte - James Woods
Tank Evans - Diedrich Bader
Mikey Abromowitz - Mario Cantone
Kelly - Kelly Slater
Rob - Rob Machado
SPEN Announcer - Sal Masekela
Glen Maverick - Brian Posehn
Edna Maverick - Dana Belben
Arnold - Reed Buck
Kate - Reese Elowe
Smudge - Jack P. Ranjo

Directors - Ash Brannon, Chris Buck

Writing credits - Lisa Addario, Christian Darren, Don Rhymer, Joe Syracuse

Producer - Christopher Jenkins
Co-Producer - Lydia Bottegoni

Original Music - Mychael Danna

Cinematography - Andres Martinez

Art Direction - Sylvain Deboissy, Ron Lukas, Marcelo Vignali

MPAA:Rated PG.
Runtime: 85 min