Review of Surf's Up (2007) by Chads. — 26 Dec 2007
"Surf's Up" presents itself as a faux-doc and actually manages to be more objective than a real nature documentary film like "Winged Migration". The fake crew doesn't come to Cody's aid when he's drowning, or stop a tribe of wild penguins from converting Chicken Joe(Joe Heder) into a soup base.
Worst of all, they allow Cody(Shia LeBeouf) to leave home on a whale without notifying his parents. The notion of a documentary film, however, falls apart completely when Cody and Lani(Zooey Deschanel) shoot down a lava tube.
There is no way a camera crew could've captured their torrid ride. "Surf's Up" is at its best when Big Z(Jeff Bridges) mentors Cody even though the vocal work by both Bridges and Shia LeBeouf are a little off the mark.
The MTV-style surf contest seems too routine, in comparison to the film's ambitious beginning of establishing Cody's roots in Antarctica, complete with interviews and voiceovers.
This review of Surf's Up (2007) was written by Chads. on 26 Dec 2007.
Surf's Up has generally received positive reviews.
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