Surf's Up (2007)

I wasn't sure I would ever get around to watching this. It was clearly riding the wave of success from March of the Penguins and especially Happy Feet, and the ad I saw didn't suggest much of a plot. But now SU actually has slightly higher IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes ratings than HF. Besides, I wanted something short from my Netflix list, and this runs 85 minutes.

Teen penguin Cody (Shia Laboeuf) has been the only surfer in an otherwise busy, disapproving Antarctic community when he gets the chance to enter Pen-Gu Island's 10th annual contest in memory of his idol. He soon finds himself in a practice face-off with longtime champion Tank (Diedrich Bader), the sports flick's requisite jerk. The resulting wipeout leaves Cody in critical condition, and Lani (Zooey Deschanel), the lifeguard on whom he has an instant crush, desperately takes him to a hideaway in the island's rainforest, where her washed-up, largely apathetic uncle (Jeff Bridges), who goes by "Geek," can look after him. Once Cody's on his feet, he and Geek have a lot to teach each other in the three days before the contest, which includes a region of deadly rocks.

As derivative as this sounds, I must give the film credit for one point of originality: It's the only feature-length cartoon mockumentary I've heard of. The camera angle tends to appear unsteady, we get a lot of cuts to interviews, and sometimes the cameraman is under attack. No wonder the voice actors usually shared a space. Once in a while, the makers seem to forget the intended format for a minute or so, but that's not nearly as long as in District 9.

No, the cast isn't all penguins or even birds. Reggie the otter (James Woods) is the contest's amoral promoter, ecstatic in public but irritable when he doesn't realize he's on. Mikey the shorebird (Mario Cantone) is his beleaguered talent scout, who barely accepts Cody. And Chicken Joe (Jon Heder) is a casual contestant and Cody's first friend on the island, despite or perhaps because of being so clueless and relaxed that I'd suspect illicit substances if this weren't a family feature.

So how does it fare as such? Well, the humor may appeal to children and adults, but probably not both at once. Alas, it leans pretty hard on the bathroom gags. I give it a pass (NPI) in the treatment of a sea urchin sting, but by the last time someone mentions a vulgarity to fill a boring moment, I think even the tykes in the audience would be unimpressed.

Overall, I too may prefer SU to HF. It may not be better at its best -- certainly not in the soundtrack -- but it is more consistent. And about equal in cuteness. At no point did I feel like stopping early, tho I can't recommend the post-credit sequence.