Surf's Up is a 2007 American computer-animated mockumentary family comedy film directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. It stars the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel and Jon Heder among others.
In production since 2002 at Sony Pictures Animation,
it was the studio's second theatrical feature. The film premiered in
the United States on June 8, 2007, and was distributed by Columbia Pictures.
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.
Plot
A documentary crew follows the events of Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), a teenage rockhopper penguin who has wanted to be a professional surfer
ever since a visit from surf legend Zeke "Big Z" Topanga several years
ago. When a scout arrives to find entrants for the "Big Z Memorial"
surfing contest, Cody jumps at the chance despite lackluster support
from his family. Enroute to the contest, Cody befriends another entrant,
Chicken Joe (Jon Heder).
The entrants arrive at Pen Gu Island, the site of the contest, where Cody meets -- and immediately falls in love with -- Lani (Zooey Deschanel), a female penguin who is a lifeguard. He also meets Tank "The Shredder" Evans (Diedrich Bader),
an egotistical penguin who has won the Big Z Memorial nine times since
it was held after Z's disappearance during a previous match.
Cody sees Tank disrepecting Big Z's memorial shrine
and immediately challenges him to a surfing duel, which Tank easily
wins while Cody nearly drowns. Lani rescues Cody and takes him to her
uncle, the "Geek" (Jeff Bridges),
to help Cody recover. Cody wakes up and panics when he can't find the
souvenir necklace he got as a kid from Big Z. Geek downplays the
necklace, but decides to return it when he later finds it in his hut.
Geek finds Cody sitting on an koa
log and offers to teach him to 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
away from the contest. When Cody gets to the beach, he discovers that
Geek is Big Z, the same surfer he had idolized all those years, and asks
Z to teach him to surf. Reluctantly, Z agrees, but says that Cody has
to make his own board first.
The attempt doesn't go well, however, as an impatient Cody doesn't
listen to Z's advice about using long, smooth strokes and makes a board
that shatters as soon as he tries to enter the water. Frustrated, he
storms off, running into Lani, who eventually persuades him to return.
That night, a calmer, more patient Cody works on a new board, finishing
it by morning.
Z compliments Cody on his board, but when Cody is eager to start
training, Z instead has him do seemingly menial tasks unrelated to
surfing. Only after Cody tells Z he's "having fun" does Z finally take
him into the water, telling him to surf the waves with long, smooth
strokes, just like making the board. Cody then asks Z if he'll come
watch the contest, but Z refuses, saying he faked his disappearance
because he realized he couldn't compete with Tank. Upset that Z just
gave up, Cody leaves, meets up with Chicken Joe, and gets back to the
contest just as it begins.
Tank easily makes the finals, as do Cody and Joe, the latter turning
out to be a natural born surfer. During the finals, however, Tank tries
to cause Joe to wipe out. Cody intervenes at the last minute, sending
him and Tank out of bounds. Tank wipes out and is rescued by Lani while
Z, who had been secretly watching Cody's performance, helps Cody get
back to the beach.
Z and Cody find out that Chicken Joe won by default since Tank and
Cody were disqualified. Cody no longer cares about winning, however,
having decided he'd rather just have fun instead. Z reveals himself to
the audience and invites all the spectators to surf. Cody finishes his
interview and joins the rest of his friends in the water.
During the end credits, the film crew interviews Cody's mother and
older brother Glenn. Cody's mom says she doesn't mind that Cody didn't
win, but Glenn still sees Cody as a loser, causing his mom to lecture
him. In disgust, Glenn ends the interview, and is later seen carelessly
tossing the crew's expensive equipment out the window, saying "Go back
to Hollywood!"
Voice cast
- Shia LaBeouf as Cody Maverick - A seventeen year old Northern Rockhopper Penguin who is determined to win the tenth annual Big Z Memorial Surf Off.
- Jeff Bridges as Ezekiel 'Big Z' Topanga/Geek - The uncle of Lani and a former surfer who Cody first met when he was a young penguin. After been beaten in surf off with Tank Big Z went into hiding and went under the name of Geek but at the end of the film came back into the public eye.
- Zooey Deschanel as Lani Aliikai - The niece of Big Z and Cody's love interest who works as a lifeguard.
- Jon Heder as Chicken Joe - A wannabe surfer who befriends Cody when they go to the Big Z Memorial Surf Off.
- Mario Cantone as Mikey Abromowitz - A talent scout who is sent out to find wannabe surfers.
- James Woods as Reggie Belafonte - an otter who used to manage Big Z but later managed Tank. His character is loosely based on boxing promoter Don King.
- Diedrich Bader as Tank "The Shredder" Evans - The main antagonist. A surfer who has won the Big Z Memorial Surf Off nine times and was the reason Big Z went into hiding.
- Rebecca Honig as Mila Savanah
- Dana Belben as Edna Maverick - Cody and Glen's mother.
- Brian Posehn as Glen Maverick - Edna's son and Cody's older brother.
- Kelly Slater as Himself
- Rob Machado as Himself
- Sal Masekela as SPEN Announcer
- Reed Buck as Arnold
- Michael McKean as Rock (deleted scenes) (uncredited)
- Jane Krakowski as Sheila Limberfin (deleted scenes) (uncredited)
- Mindy Sterling as Doris Flipkitz (deleted scenes) (uncredited)
Box office
The film opened at number four and grossed $5,804,772 at the box office on its opening day in North America.
It grossed $17,640,249 in its opening weekend. The film eventually
grossed $58,867,694 in North America and $90,176,819 in the other
territories, making the total worldwide gross $149,044,513.
Critical response
Surf's Up has received generally positive reviews from critics, and the film is 'Certified Fresh' on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 77% approval rating among reviews. Some noted that in spite of it coming so soon after many films featuring penguins (The Pebble and the Penguin, March of the Penguins, Madagascar, and Happy Feet), it was able to stand out on its own. This was an improvement from Open Season, Sony Pictures Animation's previous film, which received mixed reviews.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in January 2008. While Ratatouille (the eventual winner) and Persepolis were widely regarded as being certain nominees, some thought that the third nominee in this category would be The Simpsons Movie.
Awards
Surf's Up was nominated for 10 Annie Awards including two won. It lost all other awards to Ratatouille. The nominations including:
- Best Animated Feature: Sony Pictures Animation
- Animated Effects: Deborah Carlson(won)
- Animation Production Artist: John Clark (won)
- Character Animation in a Feature Production: Dave Hardin
- Character Animation in a Feature Production: Alan Hawkins
- Character Design in an Animated Feature Production: Sylvain Deboissy
- Directing in an Animated Feature Production: Ash Brannon & Chris Buck
- Production Design in an Animated Feature Production: Marcelo Vignali
- Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production: Denise Koyama
- Writing in an Animated Feature Production: Don Rhymer and Ash Brannon & Chris Buck
It was also nominated for the 80th Academy Awards for Academy Award for Best Animated Feature but lost to Ratatouille.
Promotion and merchandise
- To promote the film's release, surfboard wax bearing the film's logo and a rendering of Cody was given out at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con
- On June 8, McDonald's issued eight Surf's Up toys in their Happy Meals for one month. In the Australian market, a few small plush characters of Cody, Lani, Chicken Joe, and Geek replace some of the toys in the US lineup.
- There was also a tie-in with the candy Air Heads which introduces a "New Wave" flavor (pineapple) and four collectible lenticular motion surf board shaped pieces.
- Build A Bear stores sold plush toys of the film's protagonist, Cody Maverick. Patrons could "build" their own Cody as well as dress him up in an array of surf-themed clothing and other accessories in Build A Bear workshops. They could also purchase Cody and accessories at the official site.
- Several plushes from Nanco intended for claw machines can also be found and purchased in varying sizes (from 6 inches to 11 inches to 17 inches). Characters available: Cody, Lani, Tank, Geek, Big Z, Chicken Joe, and Reggie Belefonte. A rare set of larger (Geek measures 15 inches) and higher quality plushes had been made available at the premiere's after party. Won either through available games, or given away with gift sets for attendees. Cody, Lani, Arnold and Geek were created and so far no plans for the dolls to be sold commercially have appeared.
- A series of children's 100 piece puzzles are available as well depicting various characters and setups.
- Five inch waterproof plush tub toys released by Jakks Pacific in minimal quantities to most major retailers. Five characters were produced, including Cody, Tank, Big Z, Arnold, & Chicken Joe. Each character has an attached washcloth/surfboard, but sport questionable likenesses (and in the case of Chicken Joe, entirely off model, bearing more of a resemblance to Mikey).
- Along with the release of the film, a companion Surf's Up video game was released for all the current video gaming systems on the market. All versions of the game are the same with mild graphical differences, with only the Nintendo DS version changing the overall format.
Home media
Surf's Up was released on high-definition Blu-ray Disc, PSP UMD Video and DVD in the United States on October 9, 2007. It is sold in both Widescreen and Fullscreen versions.
- Wal-Mart had copies of the DVD paired with an exclusive "soundtrack CD sampler" and plastic Big Z necklace.
- Toys R Us received select copies of the DVD with a "create your own surfboard" kit.
- Best Buy sold a box set that included the widescreen DVD and four character figurines. Cody, Lani, Chicken Joe, and Geek stand about three to four inches and have rolling "surfboards."
- Circuit City had a box set including a plush Cody, fullscreen DVD, and wrist band.
- Vons supermarkets, a division of Safeway, had a promotion during October, 2007 (the release of the DVD) in which one purchases $50 of select items and the customer receives a free DVD of Surf's Up
- Blockbuster had copies of the DVD that came with Surf's Up boxer shorts.
- The DVD release includes The ChubbChubbs! and The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas.
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