Underplayed Gems

Surf's Up (2007)

Surf's Up poster
Directed by
Ash Brannon, Chris Buck
Genre
comedy film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 26m
Rated
PG
Rating
6.5 of 10 from 2,779 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A young penguin travels to a prestigious surfing competition hoping to prove himself. The film follows his journey as he learns from a washed-up champion and befriends a local penguin.

mockumentaryplayfullightheartedfast-pacedwhimsicalunderdogsunnyquirky

What happens

Surf's Up is a 2007 American animated mockumentary sports comedy film directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck, and written by Brannon, Buck, Don Rhymer and Chris Jenkins. Produced by Sony Pictures Animation, the film features the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, and James Woods. It is a parody of surfing documentaries, such as The Endless Summer, Step into Liquid, and Riding Giants, with parts of the plot parodying North Shore. Real-life surfers Kelly Slater and Rob Machado have vignettes as their penguin surfer counterparts. To obtain the desired hand-held documentary feel, the film's animation team motion-captured a physical camera operator's moves. Surf's Up was released in the United States on June 8, 2007, by Sony Pictures Releasing, and received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the animation, humor and unique mockumentary setup. The film grossed $152 million against a budget of $100 million, and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 80th Academy Awards. A sequel, Surf's Up 2: WaveMania, was released in 2017. A TV series is in development at Atomic Cartoons. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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