What is about penguins that give Cinema-goers and filmmakers so much appeal?
Well, First , JUST LOOK AT THEM!
The big round eyes, the bright beaks, the colour scheme, penguins are aesthetically pleasing!
Not just that, but the appeal extends further.
for children an animal that is there size,
that walks like a toddler,
and yet is energetic is instant child appeal.
For Adults it's different, as we see see a bit of ourselves In the flightless bird.
This is a Bird that Mates for Live,
That shares Hunting Duties and ChildCare Duty, no matter if the other will come back or not.
It's a bird that Laughs,
that plays,
That Mourns,
That Survives!
So it would come to no surprise that Animators have used Penguins as subject matter for their films which why we are here!
Sony animation, the Also Ran in the 2-horse race between Dreamworks and the Nazi Rat!, Probably came up with the film's concept like this~
SONY DIRECTOR: OKAY I NEED A HIT! I NEED YOU TO COMBINE 2 ARBITRARY THINGS AND MAKE IT INTO A MOVIE! YOU! WHAT DO KIDS LIKE?
BOARD MEMBER: DERP DERP! Our competition have that Penguin Film and some kids like surfing, so lets do that!
AND WITH THAT :SURF'S UP!
The cover SCREAMS "I AM A VIDEO GAME!", They just coloured in some line art and Unconvincingly Put the Girl Penguin and the chicken on Surfboards, Also Nice to see Donkey Kong Country in the Background!
Annoyingly, this film is directed like it's a documentary, cutting too and fro and interjecting comments made by other characters before and after the events you are watching, without using any screenwipes or transitions to make it more watchable! So this Film Crew is following A 17 year old Penguin called Cody (Voice Of "Gob" Shia La Beuof), a penguin who sees Surfing as a way out of his deadend town. Penguins you see, have being surfing since Time Immemorial, as evidenced by...EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS, CAVE PAINTINGS AND JAPANESE ART! Bullshit Aside!, The Most famous Surfer of them all was Big Z, who revolutionized the sport, When Cody was 5, Z visited Shiverpool and gave Cody a Replica necklace, that he still wears to this day, And is the best surfer in Shiverpool, as he is the only surfer in Shiverpool, and now on his 17th birthday, he sees the tournament in his hero's honour to escape the dead end job in the cannery, the small-minded townspeople, and his condescending family, though the later is due to worry, since his dad was a radical fisherman who died stealing fish from whales! Cody Mopes on the freezing sea as this month's theme plays out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1OqtIqzScI
The film cuts to interview Reggie Bellafonte, an otter and Surfing Promoter who looks a lot like Little Panda Fighter's Grizzlepuss, minus the snot rocket!
Reggie has being living high on the hog, using Big Z's name to Franchise his boards and surf shacks worldwide. Off-Camera, Reggie is a Dick who only like Penguins because of the money they make and spend, Leading to another smashcut to Penguin Espn! and it's coverage of the 10th Big Z Memorial Surf-off! The Penguin to Beat? The 9 time champion-Tank Evans, (Dredrick Bader) a cocky Emperor in Tribal Tattoos that plays rough, and only cares about winning!
We cut back to Antarctica, where a Petrel named Mike, Reggie's overworked and FLAMBOYANTLY HOMOSEXUAL! Assistant sees that Cody has wasted his time since he has arrived on a day that the waves have died down. Instead Cody surfs in the Jet stream made by Mike's Transport whale and is pulled abroad by Chicken Joe (Voice of Alleged Comedian Jon Heder)
Cody and Joe hit it off. Chicken Joe's backstory implies he was adopted by ducks. At Pengoo Island. the Film's version of Hawaii, the 2 fast friends explore the island, picking up souvenirs and checking out the ladies, the Surfer Girl Penguins even have tails that look like Thongs and Tramp Stamps!
YOU KNOW! FOR KIDS!
Egged On by Joe, Cody chants up Lifeguard Lani, (Voice of Zooey Deschanel) It's Awkward, and then off course the Film crew asks Lani's opinions of the event but is distracted by the running "joke" of a chick drowning in a foot of water!
Cody makes his way to Big Z's Shrine, In the Shallows called the boneyard where Z Wiped out 10 years ago! And is angered to see Tank throwing Stones at it! After being confronted, Tank decks Joe who was playing peacekeeper, Reggie steps in and makes it Cody versus Tank one on one, Cody for all his bragging, forgets he is using an ICE! surfboard In Hawaii, against the world champ who bullies aggressively.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WRITES ITSELF!
Lani saves him.
The Film seems it necessary to put in an interview scene from before the events asking Cody's family what would happen if he won~! going against what we see next, Lani dragging Cody's ass in a thunderstorm to a cave to a healer recluse called The Geek who has leopard skin markings and dreads that haven't being cut in 10 years!
do i even have to make the FORESHADOWING! JOKE?
Turns out Cody stepped on a fire urchin (Off course the Documentary Crew get's the Urchin's Opinion on it!) There is only one cure and it involves a lot to drink and and Lani making "WATER SOUNDS!"
YOU KNOW, FOR KIDS!
So Cody is stuck with Big... I MEAN "GEEK"! (Voice of Jeff Bridges) Chicken Joe goes looking for his buddy, Cody recants the day he woke from Geek's table, and had lost the necklace Z gave him as a child, Geek shows Cody the way back to the beach, but after his failure, he's not sure if he wants to go back!
Geek finds the necklace and returns it! To regain his confidence Geek offers to make a surfboard, he is reluctant and never once questions the penguin that looks like his dead hero but aged 10 years who they never found the body to, know how to make a surfboard, but his flat out refusal pisses Geek off! So much the log he was going to use rolls on his foot and breaks it! Cody changes his mind!
Cody and geek attempt to move the log uncovers a secluded Beach, Secluded because this beach has Big Z's Beach Shack, Not the one's Reggie has franchised across the world, One would wonder why this is even here, but the Consensus was Reggie did care about Big Z once upon a time, and made the Shrine to stop the Shack becoming one! The Penny drops for Cody, Big Z is keeping quiet about why he faked his death!
...Not that it stops Cody and film crew! speaking of pestering, the film crew asks the other characters about winning, which leads to Tank showing us his "Ladies"-his 9 trophies which he named after the 1st names of the Victoria Secret Models which he then describes winning them like a love conquest, only for Tank's Mam to shout at him for "Polishing His Trophies" and him replying "STAY OUT OF MY ROOM!"
YOU KNOW! FOR KIDS!
Back at Secluded Beach, Big Z has had enough of Cody and his film crew and the former using his boards, Cody wipes out on the Boards too big for him. Chicken Joe meanwhile is captured by Natives.
Cody and z make a board, but Cody's impatience and z's Colliding causes tension.
After 3 days Joe wakes up in a "Hot Tub" but eats the vegetables around him and just leaves!
WEAK!
Cody's Solo made Board breaks like a bikkie in a cup of tea, Z exclaims that Cody is still too wound up about Winning and Losing, and needs to have fun. Cody Bumps into Lani and is so happy to see Z out of the cave and back in the Shack! She asks Cody if he wants to have some fun
So they go Slaloming in a Lava Pit and you know What? Forget the box-art, THIS SEQUENCE LOOKS LIKE A VIDEO GAME! It ends with both of them In Glow-Worm Guano. Washing under a waterfall, Lani asks Cody if he can keep a secret! ("You can tell me anything, baby, we are sharing a shower together!" ACTUAL QUOTE FROM THE FILM! Also Y'KNOW! FOR KIDS!) She tells him she is Z's Niece and asks what Cody's Secret? she's being trying to get Z out of the cave for 10 years and it only took Cody a day! Cody Feels bad for being a total Toolbox to Z, so he asks for forgiveness, at the beach, Z is wave watching and reminisces about riding in the curl of the wave, the film reminds us that it's made of annoying smash cuts by having testimonials by real life surfers about said experience, Cody, who is slower on the uptake than Jupiter Jones, asks how many points does he win if he does that! Z face palms and says he still doesn't get it! and as such, he will teach Cody after all.
Chicken Joe gets recaptured by the Natives, but he gives them his bindle full of munchies and the Natives worship him like a god! The day before the meet, Z puts Cody through some Wax On Wax off Training like Blindfolding Cody, pushups and playing with Action Figures!, Cody Pranks Z onto the ocean and Z starts training him for real!
That night, Big Z reveals why he faked his death, 10 years ago, Reggie got into Z's head and made him into his own worse enemy-A SELL OUT! So when Tank beat him he was so embarrassed that he faked his death, Cody feels Betrayed despite Z justifiably saying he's teaching the young penguin Not to do what he did, But Cody throws away the z necklace and runs into the jungle getting Trapped by Natives but is rescued by Joe.
Let's Finish this
Cody enters, But all the negativity in him, he lets go! and rides out, the Final 3 are Tank, Cody and Joe. Unbeknownst to anyone, Z is watching, Lani asks Cody if Winning is the only thing she cares about, Cody answers that Question when he saves Chicken Joe from being Wiped out by Tank, Causing Cody to wipe out in the Boneyard, But z saves him, Reveals himself to the Public, tells Reggie to shove it, Chicken Joe wins the tourney Outright, and so the film ends with Surfing getting it's soul back!-Only for his family to Comically Miss the Point about the Winning Isn't Everything Moral!
THIS FILM IS OKAY AND THAT'S IT!
It's the penguin film made to compete with the other Penguin film. There isn't anything here that isn't done wrong, but the same time, there isn't anything that they did very well, The flow of this film was all over place as scenes and documentary footage and interviews with background characters had no wipes or transitions to introduce them or return to the film as is! The Innuendo was as Subtle as a punch to the face, And John Heder cemented himself as America's Gervais!
Strangely a Sequel has being commissioned...but not how anyone imagined!
(In 80's Lad Lab, on his work table, Oracle sat as 80's parted her fringed, he cooed and excused himself for doing so, Partly because Oracle was a Pretty Girl but because her forehead was covered with some of the most Sophisticated Machinery he seen!)
Well, First , JUST LOOK AT THEM!
The big round eyes, the bright beaks, the colour scheme, penguins are aesthetically pleasing!
Not just that, but the appeal extends further.
for children an animal that is there size,
that walks like a toddler,
and yet is energetic is instant child appeal.
For Adults it's different, as we see see a bit of ourselves In the flightless bird.
This is a Bird that Mates for Live,
That shares Hunting Duties and ChildCare Duty, no matter if the other will come back or not.
It's a bird that Laughs,
that plays,
That Mourns,
That Survives!
So it would come to no surprise that Animators have used Penguins as subject matter for their films which why we are here!
Sony animation, the Also Ran in the 2-horse race between Dreamworks and the Nazi Rat!, Probably came up with the film's concept like this~
SONY DIRECTOR: OKAY I NEED A HIT! I NEED YOU TO COMBINE 2 ARBITRARY THINGS AND MAKE IT INTO A MOVIE! YOU! WHAT DO KIDS LIKE?
BOARD MEMBER: DERP DERP! Our competition have that Penguin Film and some kids like surfing, so lets do that!
AND WITH THAT :SURF'S UP!
The cover SCREAMS "I AM A VIDEO GAME!", They just coloured in some line art and Unconvincingly Put the Girl Penguin and the chicken on Surfboards, Also Nice to see Donkey Kong Country in the Background!
Annoyingly, this film is directed like it's a documentary, cutting too and fro and interjecting comments made by other characters before and after the events you are watching, without using any screenwipes or transitions to make it more watchable! So this Film Crew is following A 17 year old Penguin called Cody (Voice Of "Gob" Shia La Beuof), a penguin who sees Surfing as a way out of his deadend town. Penguins you see, have being surfing since Time Immemorial, as evidenced by...EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS, CAVE PAINTINGS AND JAPANESE ART! Bullshit Aside!, The Most famous Surfer of them all was Big Z, who revolutionized the sport, When Cody was 5, Z visited Shiverpool and gave Cody a Replica necklace, that he still wears to this day, And is the best surfer in Shiverpool, as he is the only surfer in Shiverpool, and now on his 17th birthday, he sees the tournament in his hero's honour to escape the dead end job in the cannery, the small-minded townspeople, and his condescending family, though the later is due to worry, since his dad was a radical fisherman who died stealing fish from whales! Cody Mopes on the freezing sea as this month's theme plays out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1OqtIqzScI
The film cuts to interview Reggie Bellafonte, an otter and Surfing Promoter who looks a lot like Little Panda Fighter's Grizzlepuss, minus the snot rocket!
Reggie has being living high on the hog, using Big Z's name to Franchise his boards and surf shacks worldwide. Off-Camera, Reggie is a Dick who only like Penguins because of the money they make and spend, Leading to another smashcut to Penguin Espn! and it's coverage of the 10th Big Z Memorial Surf-off! The Penguin to Beat? The 9 time champion-Tank Evans, (Dredrick Bader) a cocky Emperor in Tribal Tattoos that plays rough, and only cares about winning!
We cut back to Antarctica, where a Petrel named Mike, Reggie's overworked and FLAMBOYANTLY HOMOSEXUAL! Assistant sees that Cody has wasted his time since he has arrived on a day that the waves have died down. Instead Cody surfs in the Jet stream made by Mike's Transport whale and is pulled abroad by Chicken Joe (Voice of Alleged Comedian Jon Heder)
Cody and Joe hit it off. Chicken Joe's backstory implies he was adopted by ducks. At Pengoo Island. the Film's version of Hawaii, the 2 fast friends explore the island, picking up souvenirs and checking out the ladies, the Surfer Girl Penguins even have tails that look like Thongs and Tramp Stamps!
YOU KNOW! FOR KIDS!
Egged On by Joe, Cody chants up Lifeguard Lani, (Voice of Zooey Deschanel) It's Awkward, and then off course the Film crew asks Lani's opinions of the event but is distracted by the running "joke" of a chick drowning in a foot of water!
Cody makes his way to Big Z's Shrine, In the Shallows called the boneyard where Z Wiped out 10 years ago! And is angered to see Tank throwing Stones at it! After being confronted, Tank decks Joe who was playing peacekeeper, Reggie steps in and makes it Cody versus Tank one on one, Cody for all his bragging, forgets he is using an ICE! surfboard In Hawaii, against the world champ who bullies aggressively.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WRITES ITSELF!
Lani saves him.
The Film seems it necessary to put in an interview scene from before the events asking Cody's family what would happen if he won~! going against what we see next, Lani dragging Cody's ass in a thunderstorm to a cave to a healer recluse called The Geek who has leopard skin markings and dreads that haven't being cut in 10 years!
do i even have to make the FORESHADOWING! JOKE?
Turns out Cody stepped on a fire urchin (Off course the Documentary Crew get's the Urchin's Opinion on it!) There is only one cure and it involves a lot to drink and and Lani making "WATER SOUNDS!"
YOU KNOW, FOR KIDS!
So Cody is stuck with Big... I MEAN "GEEK"! (Voice of Jeff Bridges) Chicken Joe goes looking for his buddy, Cody recants the day he woke from Geek's table, and had lost the necklace Z gave him as a child, Geek shows Cody the way back to the beach, but after his failure, he's not sure if he wants to go back!
Geek finds the necklace and returns it! To regain his confidence Geek offers to make a surfboard, he is reluctant and never once questions the penguin that looks like his dead hero but aged 10 years who they never found the body to, know how to make a surfboard, but his flat out refusal pisses Geek off! So much the log he was going to use rolls on his foot and breaks it! Cody changes his mind!
Cody and geek attempt to move the log uncovers a secluded Beach, Secluded because this beach has Big Z's Beach Shack, Not the one's Reggie has franchised across the world, One would wonder why this is even here, but the Consensus was Reggie did care about Big Z once upon a time, and made the Shrine to stop the Shack becoming one! The Penny drops for Cody, Big Z is keeping quiet about why he faked his death!
...Not that it stops Cody and film crew! speaking of pestering, the film crew asks the other characters about winning, which leads to Tank showing us his "Ladies"-his 9 trophies which he named after the 1st names of the Victoria Secret Models which he then describes winning them like a love conquest, only for Tank's Mam to shout at him for "Polishing His Trophies" and him replying "STAY OUT OF MY ROOM!"
YOU KNOW! FOR KIDS!
Back at Secluded Beach, Big Z has had enough of Cody and his film crew and the former using his boards, Cody wipes out on the Boards too big for him. Chicken Joe meanwhile is captured by Natives.
Cody and z make a board, but Cody's impatience and z's Colliding causes tension.
After 3 days Joe wakes up in a "Hot Tub" but eats the vegetables around him and just leaves!
WEAK!
Cody's Solo made Board breaks like a bikkie in a cup of tea, Z exclaims that Cody is still too wound up about Winning and Losing, and needs to have fun. Cody Bumps into Lani and is so happy to see Z out of the cave and back in the Shack! She asks Cody if he wants to have some fun
So they go Slaloming in a Lava Pit and you know What? Forget the box-art, THIS SEQUENCE LOOKS LIKE A VIDEO GAME! It ends with both of them In Glow-Worm Guano. Washing under a waterfall, Lani asks Cody if he can keep a secret! ("You can tell me anything, baby, we are sharing a shower together!" ACTUAL QUOTE FROM THE FILM! Also Y'KNOW! FOR KIDS!) She tells him she is Z's Niece and asks what Cody's Secret? she's being trying to get Z out of the cave for 10 years and it only took Cody a day! Cody Feels bad for being a total Toolbox to Z, so he asks for forgiveness, at the beach, Z is wave watching and reminisces about riding in the curl of the wave, the film reminds us that it's made of annoying smash cuts by having testimonials by real life surfers about said experience, Cody, who is slower on the uptake than Jupiter Jones, asks how many points does he win if he does that! Z face palms and says he still doesn't get it! and as such, he will teach Cody after all.
Chicken Joe gets recaptured by the Natives, but he gives them his bindle full of munchies and the Natives worship him like a god! The day before the meet, Z puts Cody through some Wax On Wax off Training like Blindfolding Cody, pushups and playing with Action Figures!, Cody Pranks Z onto the ocean and Z starts training him for real!
That night, Big Z reveals why he faked his death, 10 years ago, Reggie got into Z's head and made him into his own worse enemy-A SELL OUT! So when Tank beat him he was so embarrassed that he faked his death, Cody feels Betrayed despite Z justifiably saying he's teaching the young penguin Not to do what he did, But Cody throws away the z necklace and runs into the jungle getting Trapped by Natives but is rescued by Joe.
Let's Finish this
Cody enters, But all the negativity in him, he lets go! and rides out, the Final 3 are Tank, Cody and Joe. Unbeknownst to anyone, Z is watching, Lani asks Cody if Winning is the only thing she cares about, Cody answers that Question when he saves Chicken Joe from being Wiped out by Tank, Causing Cody to wipe out in the Boneyard, But z saves him, Reveals himself to the Public, tells Reggie to shove it, Chicken Joe wins the tourney Outright, and so the film ends with Surfing getting it's soul back!-Only for his family to Comically Miss the Point about the Winning Isn't Everything Moral!
THIS FILM IS OKAY AND THAT'S IT!
It's the penguin film made to compete with the other Penguin film. There isn't anything here that isn't done wrong, but the same time, there isn't anything that they did very well, The flow of this film was all over place as scenes and documentary footage and interviews with background characters had no wipes or transitions to introduce them or return to the film as is! The Innuendo was as Subtle as a punch to the face, And John Heder cemented himself as America's Gervais!
Strangely a Sequel has being commissioned...but not how anyone imagined!
 |
| Now You Know Why I Wanted To Do This! |
OKAY, BABE THIS WON'T HURT! PROBS! Sticking a screwdriver in a bolt near her earlobe!
OW! THAT HURT! WAIT THAT FIXED MY STUTTER! THANK YOU MASTER!-She covered her mouth- Did i Just...
Yeah, It's a long Story but I'm this world's version of the world you came from of the man who would have created Tantanet
...TANTANET....WHY IS THAT WORD SO...MY HEAD!
Do you remember what happened before you were converted?
...i Do! and because you gained Oracle's Trust...we will tell you everything!
CREDITS
Surf's Up was Reviewed, Compiled and Edited by Eamonn Bermingham (@RealEnli)
With Media from
Natural Geographic
March Of The Penguins
BBC Earth
The Jungle Bunch
Surf's Up
The Little Panda Fighter
and Music
Holiday by Green Day
Surf's Up and Surf's Up2: Wavemania are properties of Sony Animation. All rights Reserved. All Clips and Photos belong to their respective Owners!
NEXT MONTH: MYSTERY REVIEW! ONCE AGAIN I WILL SCOUR THE CABLE CHANNELS TO FIND A HORROR, SCIFI OR FANTASY FILM TERRIBLE ENOUGH TO GO INTO BE PRESERVED IN BOGGER BOX OFFICE FAME!
CREDITS
Surf's Up was Reviewed, Compiled and Edited by Eamonn Bermingham (@RealEnli)
With Media from
Natural Geographic
March Of The Penguins
BBC Earth
The Jungle Bunch
Surf's Up
The Little Panda Fighter
and Music
Holiday by Green Day
Surf's Up and Surf's Up2: Wavemania are properties of Sony Animation. All rights Reserved. All Clips and Photos belong to their respective Owners!
NEXT MONTH: MYSTERY REVIEW! ONCE AGAIN I WILL SCOUR THE CABLE CHANNELS TO FIND A HORROR, SCIFI OR FANTASY FILM TERRIBLE ENOUGH TO GO INTO BE PRESERVED IN BOGGER BOX OFFICE FAME!
