Surf's Up (2007)

June 8, 2007

June 8, 2007

Surf's Up is a 2007 American animated mockumentary comedy film directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck, and written by Brannon, Buck, Don Rhymer and Chris Jenkins. The film features the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, and James Woods. It is a parody of surfing documentaries, such as The Endless Summer and Riding Giants, with parts of the plot parodying North Shore. Real-life surfers Kelly Slater and Rob Machado have vignettes as their penguin surfer counterparts. To obtain the desired hand-held documentary feel, the film's animation team motion-captured a physical camera operator's moves.

Surf's Up was released in the United States on June 8, 2007, by Sony Pictures Releasing, and received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the animation, humor and unique mockumentary setup. The film grossed $152 million against a budget of $100 million, and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 80th Academy Awards. A sequel, Surf's Up 2: WaveMania, was released in 2017. A TV series is in development at Atomic Cartoons.

Storyline

A documentary crew arrives in the penguin community of Shiverpool, Antarctica to document the life of teenage northern rockhopper penguin Cody Maverick, living with his mother Edna and his older brother Glen. Cody has dreamed of becoming a professional surfer ever since meeting the famous surfer emperor penguin Zeke “Big Z” Topanga many years ago. When talent scout shorebird Michael Abromowitz arrives to find entrants for the Big Z Memorial surfing competition on Pen-Gu Island, Cody manages to prove his skills to enlist in the competition. En route to Pen-Gu Island, Cody befriends another entrant, Chicken Joe, a chill rooster surfer from Sheboygan, Wisconsin who has much in common with Cody. Chicken Joe and Cody soon become the best of friends.

The entrants arrive at Pen-Gu Island, where Cody meets and immediately falls in love with Lani Aliikai, a female gentoo penguin who is a lifeguard. He also meets the mean-spirited king penguin Tank "The Shredder" Evans, who has won the competition nine times since its creation after Big Z's death a decade ago. Cody sees Tank vandalizing Big Z's memorial and furiously challenges him to a duel. Tank wins, while Cody nearly drowns and is stung by a sea urchin named Ivan, getting a poisonous spine stuck in his foot. Lani rescues him and takes him to Geek, a recluse who lives in a tree in the middle of the island, to help Cody recover from his injuries. Cody wakes up, but cannot find the souvenir necklace given to him by Big Z when he was young. Geek leaves Cody at the pathway leading back to the beach, then finds the necklace in his hut, but is hesitant on returning the accessory.

Cody is hesitant to return, still embarassed by his earlier wipeout. While returning the necklace, Geek finds Cody sitting on a koa log and offers to help him make a surfboard. They attempt to take the log back to Geek's house, only to lose control of it and end up on a beach far away from the house. When Cody gets to the beach, he discovers a shack full of old trophies and surfboards, which used to belong to Big Z. After observing Geek walking solemnly into the shack, he realizes that Geek is Big Z himself. Excited, Cody asks him to teach him how to surf. Big Z reluctantly agrees, but tells Cody he has to make his own board first.

The attempt goes disastrously, however, as an eager Cody refuses to listen to Big Z's advice and crafts a rough and unstable board that shatters upon hitting the water. Exasperated, Cody storms off and runs into Lani, who reveals that Big Z is her uncle, and Cody is eventually persuaded to return when Lani admits Cody is the only one who has been able to get Big Z out of his hut. Cody spends the night working patiently on a new board.

Big Z compliments Cody on his new board, and Cody is ready to start training. Big Z instead has him perform menial tasks that are seemingly unrelated to surfing. Finally, when Cody starts having fun and understands the essence of surfboarding, Big Z and Lani teach him how to surf the waves. Afterward, Cody asks Big Z if he will come to watch the competition, but he refuses, revealing that he faked his death because he realized he couldn't compete with his then-new rival Tank, and refused to show his face in front of his fans as a loser. Angry that his own idol gave up, Cody throws the necklace into the sea, meets up with Joe, and gets back to the competition just as it begins.

Cody makes it to the finals, as do Tank and Joe. In the first wave, Tank battles with Cody, with Tank trying to knock him off his board, but Tank falls off his own board and does not score any points. During the final wave, however, Tank appears and tries to throw Joe off his board. Cody intervenes at the last minute, sending himself and Tank into an area of the beach known as the Boneyards, which consists of dangerously sharp rock outcroppings and has killed many surfers who have ventured there. Tank punches Cody off his board before crashing and is rescued by Lani. Big Z, who had secretly been watching Cody's performance, rescues Cody from a gigantic wave and helps him get back to the beach safely.

Big Z and Cody find out that Joe won by default since Tank and Cody were disqualified. However, Cody accepts the loss, having decided he would rather just have fun instead. Big Z reveals himself to the spectators and invites all of them to surf at his beach, where he joins Cody in tube-riding. Cody finishes his interview with a reflection of the past events and then joins the rest of his friends in the water.

Also See

Movie Trailer

  • Surf's Up (2007) (Trailers)

Sound Effects Used

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Audio Samples

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