![]() ![]() The layout team created a unique motion-capture video camera system on an old Sony video camera to give the illusion that the movie was made with a real handheld camera.Īt the start of the movie, Cody is asked if he has any skills besides surfing. ![]() The production team made a surf-and-research trip to Malibu Surfrider Beach to study and learn more about the technicalities of surfing and surfers. The movie's promotional poster initially included the tagline, "A True Story," but it was later replaced by "A Major Ocean Picture." ![]() Movie directors Ash Brannon and Chris Buck only agreed to do the movie after being assured that the waves would look realistic. "Surf's Up" was the first-ever film by Sony Pictures Animation that didn't feature a single human and the ninth of all time. Here are some curious facts and technical secrets about "Surf's Up." The world's first animated penguin surfing movie even features two very well-known professional surfers - Kelly Slater and Rob Machado - morphed into aquatic, flightless birds. The overall authentic surf feel is also attributed to the production team involving several real-life surfers. It mimics surf and beach culture and lifestyle with its stunningly beautiful CGI rendering of perfect cartoon-like waves. However, it's been considered a commercial failure. "Surf's Up" received positive reviews from critics and has slowly become a cult classic. The movie puts the spectator inside a documentary that follows the life of Cody Maverick, a young up-and-coming rockhopper surfing star, as he prepares for his first competitive appearance. It required the development of new computer-generated imagery (CGI) techniques, plugins, and 3D modeling because of the difficulty of simulating ocean waves. ![]() The legendary high-octane penguin surfer film released in 2007 by Sony Pictures Animation took five years to see the light of day. Surf’s Up may not exactly be an animated classic due to its overly familiar plot, and a pretty short running time that robs some of the characters of more screen time (oh, Chicken Joe, we hardly knew thee) But it still makes for an entertaining viewing due to its fun characters, gorgeous visuals and a good dose of originality in its style and tone.īesides, it’s difficult not to enjoy a movie that features a surfing chicken."Surf's Up" is the most popular animated surf movie of all time. And, of course, the animation of the water (particularly the waves) are pretty stunning. Between Cody’s home in Antarctica and the tropical islands of Pen Gu, Surf’s Up showcases some breathtakingly beautiful imagery with its settings. The character designs are all fun and cartoonish, while the backgrounds are still impressively realistic. Though I feel CG has only more recently captured a more timeless quality, Surf’s Up’s visuals hold up surprisingly well for a 2007 feature (particularly one not made by Pixar). Perhaps the film’s biggest highlights are the visuals. And the characters, while simple, can be entertaining (Chicken Joe often ends up in life-or-death situations, but is completely ignorant to them, and Tank is narcissistic to a comedic level, for the best examples). But the aforementioned mockumentary style, along with its surprisingly relaxed tone, do help it stand on its own two feet. Along the way, Cody befriends not only Chicken Joe, but also a penguin lifeguard named Lani (Zooey Deschanel), and Zeke (Jeff Brides), a surfing guru who becomes Cody’s mentor, and who may or may not actually be Big Z (not-so-spoiler alert, he is).Īdmittedly, the plot is nothing to write home about, with an underdog/follow your dreams setup that feels overly familiar in animated films. Among the contestants are Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), a laid-back chicken, and Tank (Diedrich Bader), the muscle-bound penguin who defeated Big Z in his final race. This contest takes place in the tropical Pen Gu Island, where a documentary crew are filming the competition and interviewing the participants as part of their documentary on Big Z. The story centers on Cody Maverick (Shia Labeauf), a macaroni penguin from Antarctica who is entering the tenth annual Big Z Memorial, a surfing competition dedicated to Cody’s hero, surfing legend Big Z. It seems like a simple change, but it really does add to the film’s sense of freshness, which is all the more apparent now since – in the decade since the film’s release – not many animated features have adopted the “mockumentary” style. The most obvious of these quirks is that Surf’s Up is presented as a documentary. Though penguin movies were all the rage in the mid-to-late 2000s (March of the Penguins, Happy Feet), Surf’s Up managed to differentiate itself from the rest of the lot with a few fun storytelling quirks. 2007’s Surf’s Up is an often overlooked, though surprisingly unique animated feature. ![]()
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