Story
Surf’s Up is an animated comedy mockumentary. It traces the adventures of young penguin Cody (voiced by Shia LaBeouf), from Shiverpool, Antarctica, who seeks to become a professional surfer. Despite receiving little encouragement from family or friends, Cody continues to train until one day he is discovered by a talent scout. Cody then leaves home to compete in several surfing competitions.
While on the surf circuit, Cody meets several new friends. They include fellow surfer Chicken Joe (Jon Heder) from Wisconsin and Lani the lifesaver (Zooey Deschanel), who is the niece of legendary penguin surfer ‘Big Z’. During one practice session, Cody steps on a poisonous sea urchin and is badly injured. Lani rescues him and takes him to be nursed back to health by a reclusive aged penguin named ‘Geek’ (Jeff Bridges). Geek takes on a fatherly, mentoring role and helps young Cody prepare for the Big Z Memorial Surfing Competition. During their time together, Cody learns that winning is less important than personal integrity and Geek learns to face his greatest fears.
Themes
Bullying
Violence
There is some violence in this movie. For example:
Sexual references
Pro-surfer Tank Evans, in his trophy room, caresses and speaks to the gold cups and plaques in a very sexually suggestive manner. Tank has given each trophy a feminine name – his favourite being Leah the ‘dirty girl’.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None
Nudity and sexual activity
None
Product placement
None
Coarse language
This movie contains some mild coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Surf’s Up is an entertaining animated comedy mockumentary with very realistic animated surfing scenes. This movie will mainly appeal to pre-teens, although many adults will also find its simple story enjoyable.
The main message from this movie is to never give up, but keep working towards your personal goals. This movie shows the value of personal integrity as more important than winning, and that friends are important. You could talk about these values with your children as well as the real-life consequences of bullying, verbal and physical harassment.