Surf's Up

Introduction

Surf's Up is a documentary which follows Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf) from Shiverpool, Antarctica who, from an early age, has idolised the surfing legend Big Z after he came to his colony, and gave Cody a 'Z' necklace. Inspired, Cody took up surfing, much to the amusement of the other penguins and was deeply saddened by the death of his hero in a competition against then up and coming Tank Evans (wonderfully voiced by Diedrich Bader). When the colony is visited by Mikey Abromowitz (Mario Cantone), the assistant to the organiser of the Big Z Memorial Surf Off, Cody volunteers but makes a laughing stock of himself when trying to impress. Nevertheless he chases after Mikey and catches up to the whale that is transporting them to the competition on Pen Gu Island and, in doing so, earns a place and the friendship of Chicken Joe (John Heder).

On the island he overhears Tank, now the current champion, insulting the memory of Big Z and to stop them fighting the event organiser Reggie (James Woods) organises a surf off between the two but Cody wipes out and nearly drowns. He has to be rescued by the lifeguard, Lani (Zooey Deschanel) who resuscitates him but he instantly collapses and so Lani carries him into the forest where he is treated by Geek, the local hermit (Jeff Bridges).

Geek and Lani help Cody regain his confidence so he can take part in the competition and face Tank again.

Video

The picture is intentionally grainy, giving it a 'rough and ready' documentary look which adds to the camera's interaction - water and dirt hit the lens and the cameraman is occasionally hit by objects and falls over. The documentary feel continues as the characters address the camera and even have captions with their name and flashbacks to friends and family who talk about the events depicted.

The animation is superb and some of the scenes look absolutely beautiful with the stunning colours and landscapes of a tropical island. The design is excellent; the penguins look fantastic with great detail in their fur, the extensive work that went into the waves- including seeking advice from champion surfer Kelly Slater who, along with Rob Machado, appears as penguin versions of themselves - pays dividends.

*The pictures contained in this review are for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect the image quality of the disc.*

Audio

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is excellent with clear dialogue and good use of the surrounds, particularly during the surfing scenes and the underground 'lava luge' sequence. There is also an English Audio Descriptive track.

There are English (and English HoH) subtitles as well as Hindi; the English is beautifully clear and well written. I can't comment on the Hindi track.

Extra Features

The filmmaker's commentary features directors Ash Brannon and Chris Buck and producer Christopher Jenkins and the visual effects commentary features effects supervisor Rob Bredow, senior supervising animator David Schaub and layout supervisor James C.J. Williams. These are informative and well delivered, complementing each other; I expected the visual effects team to provide a rather dry and technical track but theirs is the more revealing and enjoyable of the two.

There are 4 'lost scenes' with optional introductions by directors Ash Brannon and Chris Buck and producer Christopher Jenkins - the scenes are at various stages of animation and none are greatly missed from the finished film.

Arnold's Zurfinary is aimed squarely at children, showing how to speak like a surfer, using words like 'dude'.

In the Lil' Chris Live From The Blue Carpet featurette, a music artist of whom I know nothing - maybe younger viewers will know something of the interviewer - talks to the voice cast. Lil' Chris also provides introductions to all the featurettes - I found him annoying but that didn't detract from the material which is listed below and is mostly self explanatory.

• All Together Now: Surf's Up Voice Session
• Surf Like A Pro
• Not a Drop of Real Water
• Meet the Penguins
• Progression reels

The two Chubbchubbs short films are very good but not Pixar good, to describe them would be to spoil them. I preferred the Oscar-winning The Chubbchubbs!to the more recently made The Chubbchubbs Save Xmas.

• 2 Art galleries (Characters and Locations)
• Lose Myself music video by Ms. Lauryn Hill
• Trailers for Open Season, Daddy Day Camp and Monster House

The back of the box mentions 'Surf's Up Games' which I couldn't find on the menus so they must be for your PC or not on the disc.

I found two Easter eggs, the first of which only makes sense if you've seen the short film. They can be found whenever the menu is onscreen and either pressing up twice or up and then right.

Conclusion

There have been several pretenders to Pixar's crown - Dreamworks, Blue Sky Studios and, with this, Sony Pictures Animation but none have come close to dislodging Pixar as the undisputed masters of CG animated features. Sony had some success with Monster House and Open Season, and Surf's Up is a perfectly watchable and likable movie but it doesn't have the class or magic that stands Pixar apart. The film has pedigree with both directors Pixar and Disney alumni - Ash Brannon directed, animated and was a member of the writing team on Toy Story 2, in my opinion the greatest CG animated film yet made.

Surf's Up is an extremely likeable film with some very funny moments, great voice acting and innovative direction which really gives it a documentary look and feel. The characters are well rounded, helped by the style in which the voices were recorded. The voice sessions featurette shows that, unlike most animated films, the actors were in the studio together and were allowed to improvise; this shows the extent to which they ad-libbed and what a laugh they had.

This is a film with great longevity and is presented in a extremely good package - highly recommended for all ages.