In this film, a documentary crew goes behind the scenes in the most dangerous type of surfboarding known to man, the Penguin World Surfing Championship. Some spoilers.
At the beginning of the movie we are taken to Cody Maverick our main character, Yes he's a surfer and a penguin, which explains why he lives in Antarctica. Apparently though, Cody doesn't like living in Antarctica his whole life so his dream is to go away. And surfing let's him to do for some time.
We then meet Reggie Belafone. He's the guy who finds all the best surfers in the Arctic and then let's them compete in the Penguin World Surfing Championship. He says his biggest joy is seeing them rise to the top, he doesn't really show it though.
On a Global Recruiting Tour, Cody is at first denied the opportunity to be in the World Surfing Championship. However, after following the sponsor he is finally given his chance at the Championship. While there Cody falls in love with Lani the Pen Gu Lifeguard. While falling in love Cody also manages to start a rivalry with Tank Evans, the nine-time Penguin World Surfing Champion.
In their first surf off though Cody loses to Tank. During their surf out Cody injures his foot and must be taken to Lani's Uncle Geek who is really Big Z. Geek or Big Z takes a liking to Cody and decides to teach im his surfing secrets in time for the Penguin World Surfing Championship.
The animation in this movie was very good although the penguins were not as detailed as those in "Happy Feet" they didn't look like 2-D pictures. The action also moved from stone cold Antarctica to the sunny beaches of Pen Gu Island. The sound in this movie was very well done too, without playing just one piece of a song over and over again.
The voices done in this movie were superb. The voice actors clearly had fun with their characters and could portray them perfectly making the movie that much more better.
The big lesson in Surf's Up is that winning isn't everything. Big Z who was probably the greatest Penguin Surfer of all time went into hiding because the huge competition of the sport took all the fun out of it. Overall this was a very well done movie with great voice actors and animation, Surf's Up gets a 7.5/10 from me.
