'Disappearances' opens a new chapter on the literary film "Paprika:" So many intriguing paths, and the director took none of them "Crazy Love:" You won't be humming the theme song to this 'odd couple' The thing that makes the animated penguin comedy "Surf's Up" fresh is not the animation or the penguins but the fact that it's really about surfing. Most of the characters - including Cody, who has Shia LaBeouf's empathetic voice and who longs to be a surfing champion - are penguins. But the movie is, cleverly, a fake documentary about surfing, complete with grainy, weathered "archival" cartoon footage of past champs, faux awkward interviews and stunning images of big waves.
"Surf's Up" deftly captures the surfing culture, from the obsessive fans and participants to a graceful shot of wood curlicues falling off a surfboard as it's being planed and another beauty of a penguin riding in an emerald tube of water as the orange sun sets behind him. In addition to being pretty, "Surf's Up" is pretty funny. Too often, animated films go for big-name actors instead of actors who are right for their parts, but "Surf's Up" has a great cast, including Jeff Bridges as a bitter surfing legend who takes Cody under his wing in a story that resembles "The Color of Money" and Zooey Deschanel, who brings her loopy appeal to the role of a love interest for Cody.
The big waves are as perilous as spending three foodless, frigid months with an egg balanced between your legs, but "Surf's Up" doesn't make much of the fact that its characters are penguins.
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