What Do The Critics Say?

"Penguin lovers, rejoice. Your favorite flightless fowl have returned in what just might be one of the more innovative animated films to grace the multiplex in recent years." Peter T Chattaway CHRISTIANITY TODAY "Wipeout! Surf's Up is terrific entertainment for all the family." Mark Adams SINDAY MIRROR UK "Even if you've never been on a surfboard, you'll want to paddle out to this one." Linda Cook QUAD CITY TIMES "Enjoyable, superbly animated comedy with likeable characters and an original approach to the story." Matthew Turner VIEWLONDON "Cartoonishly surging with liquid color, digital waves and jokes that even include gefilte fish, Surf's Up never forgets to have fun." David Elliott SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

"It's the first time in a long time where I felt like I was watching a story unfold instead of a commercial for future sequels and merchandising." Brian Orndorf OHMYNEWS.COM "Surf's Up! has a jokey-serious tone that engages both children and adults." Carrie Rickey PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER "May be the best penguin movie yet." Fred Topel CAN MAGAZINE "Watching the penguins ride inside the tube of a wave, or plunge under the surface, you may find yourself wanting to cheer." Liam Lacey GLOBE AND MAIL "Guess what. It's pretty good. Fast, funny, nicely animated, and -- gasp -- it's not a sequel! In fact, you could almost call it original." Gary Thompson PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS

The Inside Story "Surf's Up" is a fresh, fun animated comedy that immerses audiences in the competitive world of surfing penguins. For producer Christopher Jenkins, who up till now has worked an Effects Animator on films such as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Beauty and the Beast", "The Lion King" and "Pocahontas", that hilarious starting point led to a breakthrough in how to present the story of up and coming surfer Cody Maverick. "The notion of surfing penguins really got me thinking. What if, instead of being a straight forward fantasy narrative, "Surf's Up" went into the world of animation with a hypothetically authentic camera, as if it were taping live interviews and ostensibly no script?" says Jenkins. "What would these surfing penguins tell us if they were given a chance? From there it was a short step to realizing the potential of this coupling; the imagination of animation paired with the realism and immediacy of today’s real-life video." Directors Ash Brannon (co-director "Toy Story 2") and Chris Buck (director "Tarzan") quickly realized the cleverness in the idea: relying on the conventions and style of reality television and documentary filmmaking, Surf’s Up would have an immediacy and relevance that set it apart from the pack. Using that technique, the directors brought into focus the characters, story, and art direction; the heart of the film. That intimate cinematic style perfectly supported the story that developed from the inspiring concept of surfing penguins devised by veteran animation executives Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman Cox. At the centre of the story is young Shiverpool surfer, Cody Maverick. His hero is the legendary surfer Big Z. "Having lost his father, Cody is clearly looking for a father figure, and the legend of Big Z had filled that void; because Z was a champion, that’s what Cody thought he wanted to be, too," says Brannon. To absorb audiences into Cody’s world, every detail had to be appropriate to the experience. "One of our main goals was to take the viewer to a tropical location," said director Chris Buck. "We wanted to recreate that feeling you get when you step off the plane in a place like Tahiti or Hawaii, and you’re hit by that amazing scent and air and even by how different the light is. You really know that you’re somewhere special." Because of the behind the scenes nature of the film, it was necessary that the characters speak in a natural way; including improvised and overlapping dialogue. In a typical animation voiceover session, actors are alone in the booth as they record their characters' lines. This allows the animators, editors and sound designers more flexibility in splicing together different performances. For Surf’s Up, the filmmakers made the highly unconventional choice to record many scenes with several actors in the booth at once. "A performance is completely different when you have the other actors there in the room with you; you get a sense of what they’re doing and react to each other in a natural way," says Shia LaBeouf who voices Cody. "For a movie like "Surf’s Up", which is supposed to go behind the scenes, showing what happens in the natural environment; it was essential, and I’m glad we had the creative freedom to find the magic." Jeff Bridges notes that when he was acting in the recording booth alongside LaBeouf, the two could not help but mirror the relationship that their characters have on-screen. "I have daughters that are Shia’s age. I think because of that, I naturally kind of fell into that. Also, when I was his age, I was an actor. I had a lot of the excitement he’s going through now. It was terrific to work with him; he’s a great improviser and he was having fun doing it." This technique paid off in several scenes, especially when Big Z and Cody Maverick cooperate on shaping a surfboard. "The actors were more comfortable recording dialogue with other actors in the film, and it comes through in the performance," Buck said. "Jeff, Shia, and Zooey were brilliant in playing off of and working with each other. They really took ownership of their characters." The result is a film that reinforces Sony Pictures Animation’s philosophy of promoting the filmmakers’ creativity and vision. Following the division’s successful launch last fall with the animated hit Open Season, Sony Pictures Animation has proven to be a home for great talent. "As a surfer and a dad, I knew how much fun it would be to share those experiences with an audience in our film’s unique style," says Yair Landau, President of Sony Pictures Digital and Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Sandra Rabins, Executive Vice President of Sony Pictures Animation notes that "Surf’s Up" is a "gorgeous production that enables audiences to share the lives of delightful characters. Every detail of their world can be seen and enjoyed, from the smallest grain of sand to the magnificent beauty of the setting sun. It’s like going to the beach without getting wet!" David Schaub, the film’s senior animation supervisor, points out that even though the animators of "Surf’s Up" use a computer instead of a pencil, the film is no less hand-crafted. "What appears to be spontaneous in animation is a result of creating each performance down to the last little eye-dart. Every little nuance and detail is toiled over to assure that the message and performance come across clearly." The heart of the film, according to LaBeouf, is the relationship between Cody and Big Z, the onetime great who took his chance to disappear from the rest of the world. "They’re two loners who become best friends when they’re forced together," the star of "Transformers" says. "It’s reciprocal; Big Z can teach Cody about the joy of surfing, but Cody can also show Z the path back to the life he’s missed out on." And his thoughts on his character and working in animation? "Creating a character that’s fifty percent me, fifty percent the animator, was an interesting experience," says LaBeouf. "I’m proud of how Cody came out; and it’s completely a dual effort. To see him move; with detail from feather to feather; he comes to life." The world of surfing had no bigger star than Big Z. His name was synonymous with surfing until his last competition ten years ago, when he went out for his final wave and never came back. Since then, Z has grown from a star into a legend, thanks to the marketing genius of scheming talent manager, Reggie Belafonte. Four time Academy Award nominee and three time Golden Globe nominee Jeff Bridges ("Starman" and "The Fisher King"), the voice of Big Z comes with a surfing background. "I surfed quite a bit in high school," says Bridges. "Then I stopped for about twenty years. I’ve just started to take it up again. I’m fair; my chops are coming back. At first, the thing that I feared was the temperature; the water is so cold out there; but with the wet suits they have today, the cold is no problem. It’s the paddling; I have about 10 paddles in me and I have to rest for awhile." Bridges whose role in "The Big Lebowski" stunned critics and cinemagoers has worked on animated before. "I’ve done animated films in the past, and usually you’re in front of a mic alone," he says. "For this film, we got to play together." Like the rest of the cast, Zooey Deschanel, who plays Lani (a beguiling young gentoo penguin), enjoyed the unusual recording sessions. "For the scenes where Lani is carrying Cody, the directors had sandbags for me to carry; you can hear the exertion in my voice. It was very aerobic." Was there any one aspect of "Surf's Up" that grabbed her attention? "One of the things that made me so excited about the movie was how real the waves looked," Deschanel says. "It’s so fresh; it reminds me of "Step into Liquid" and "Endless Summer" and the other great surfing documentaries. I’ve never seen anything like it in animation." Chicken Joe just might be the only Midwestern farm rooster with a shot at winning the 10th Annual Big Z Memorial Surf Off. Jon Heder is the voice of this lighthearted surf nut. Despite his laid-back demeanor, Chicken Joe’s the one who’s got it all figured out. "There’s much more than meets the eye to Chicken Joe; he’s a smart chicken," says Heder. "He’s got his act together; he’s there to have fun. He just loves to surf; he doesn’t really care about competition. There’s a certain carefree feel to Chicken Joe that I relate to. I remember being a kid on the basketball court. I just wanted to goof around and have fun shooting the ball, but all my friends just wanted to win. They all got mad at me." Was there anything Heder found wierd about working on "Surf's Up"? "It’s always a weird experience to sit in a booth with the headphones on and imagine yourself in a place as serene as Pen Gu, and as a chicken." For Mario Cantone, the chance to play the hapless shorebird was "a blast. He's impatient and miserable and hilarious; a great character to investigate." Cantone spent a lot of time in the booth with James Woods. "He has so many stories," says Cantone. "You just want to sit there and listen, even though it’s intimidating." Why intimidating? "Because it’s James Woods! It finally got to the point where I was comfortable, but he has a presence, he’s brilliant, and he’s James Woods; intimidating." Winning is everything to the swaggering emperor penguin known as Tank 'The Shredder' Evans. In fact he's won the last nine Big Z surf offs. Diedrich Bader, who played Jethro Bodine in the 1993 film "The Beverly Hillbillies", is the voice of Tank Evans. He took his role so seriously he enrolled in a surf camp in Malibu. How did he fare? "I learned just how difficult surfing is," he says. “I was up for maybe two or three seconds. That was good enough for me; been there, done that!" Champion surfers Rob Machado and Kelly Slater, along with renowned sports commentator Sal Masekela, appear in "Surf's Up" as themselves in penguin form. Artists captured their personalities and mannerisms, but Rob, Kelly, and Sal provided their own voices for total authenticity. As for those stunning waves, production designer Paul Lasaine notes: "With the title of "Surf’s Up", we knew we had to create a wave that will make surfers ache to get back into the ocean." They sure did! Synopsis

Teenage Rockhopper penguin, Cody Maverick, an up and coming surfer, leaves his family and home in Shiverpool, Antarctica to travel to Pen Gu Island for the Big Z Memorial Surf Off. Everyone thinks Cody is a surfing fool but he's determined to win the most important competition in the world of penguin surfing in honor of "Big Z", a deceased surfing legend whom he has idolized since childhood. Along the way, Cody meets surf nut, Chicken Joe; famous surf promoter, Reggie Belafonte; surf talent scout, Mikey Abromowitz; and spirited lifeguard, Lani Aliikai, all of whom recognise Cody’s passion for surfing, even if it sometimes goes too far. But the waves in Pen Gu are different than in Shiverpool, and the competition is steep and the current champ, egotistical Tank Evans isn’t about to let this little penguin knock him from first place without a fight. When Cody wipes out and encounters Geek, a recluse living in the jungle, he learns some important lessons about life and surfing, and even teaches Geek a thing or two.

The Verdict "It's obvious cinemagoers are going to make comparisons with "Happy Feet" but forget that chesnut, because "Surf's Up" is in a world of it's own. The animation is crip and clean except for the leadin and the final scene. The waves will leave have surfers in the audience licking their lips and the surf action is first class. Younger audiences won't get the message the film is trying to send but they will enjoy the onscreen antics especially when Chicken Joe is involved. I'm sure that if they'd left the final scene with Cody's brother Glen and his mother Edna out, "Surf's Up" would have been a much better product. What the production team has done totally destroys the terrific atmosphere built up in the latter moments of what has, up until this point, been reasonably good fun. 3 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "SURF'S UP" stars the voices of .......
Shia LaBeouf ["Bobby", "Disturbia" and "Transformers"]; 1990 ShoWest Male Star of the Year Award winner Jeff Bridges ["K-PAX", "Seabiscuit" and "The Door in the Floor"]; 2003 Mar del Plata Film Festival Best Actress Award winner Zooey Deschanel ["Elf ", "The Good Life" and "Bridge to Terabithia"]; Jon Heder ["Napoleon Dynamite", "The Benchwarmers" and "Blades of Glory"]; Diedrich Bader ["The Beverly Hillbillies", "Office Space" and "Napoleon Dynamite"]; Mario Cantone ["Mousehunt", "Searching for Bobby D" and "The Last Request"] and two time EMMY Award winner James Woods ["Riding in Cars with Boys", "John Q" and "Be Cool"] as Reggie Belafonte.
"SURF'S UP" was .......
directed by Ash Brannon ["Toy Story 2"] and Chris Buck ["Tarzan"]; production design by Paul Lasaine ["Surf's Up"]; cinematography by Andres Martinez ["Surf's Up"]; original music by Mychael Danna ["Shattered Glass", "Where the Truth Lies", "Capote" and "Little Miss Sunshine"]; produced by Chris Jenkins ["Surf's Up"]. Who's Who?

Shia LaBeouf Jeff Bridges Zooey Deschanel Jon Heder James Woods Diedrich Bader Mario Cantone Kelly Slater Rob Machado Sal Masekela Ash Brannon Chris Buck Brian Posehn Dana Belben Reed Buck Reese Elowe

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Cody Maverick Big Z/Geek Lani Aliikai Chicken Joe Reggie Belafonte Tank Evans Mikey Abromowitz Kelly Rob SPEN Announcer Filmmaker Filmmaker Glen Maverick Edna Maverick Arnold Kate

Run Time 85 minutes Rated G [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Sony Pictures - All Rights Reserved ©2007 All Rights Reserved - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.