Movie: Surf's Up

Now everyone loves a little penguin movie, right? This one took a peculiar turn, sadly almost as boring as the television show, Creature Comforts. The entire movie revolves around a penguin named Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), his great admiration for "Z" the best surfing penguin that ever lived and his abnormality in his own society in Antarctica. I find myself being turned off by Shia's voice and personality for the film. In every film he has acted in, from "I, Robot" to "Transformers," he's always trying to fight to be treated like a man. Either case, in "Surf's Up", Cody is followed by a camera crew for a "behind-the-scenes" perspective throughout the entire movie, I found this to be a huge aggravation. The camera crew interviews everyone that knows Cody. Basically its an eighty-five minute interview; spare me and let me watch one with Barbara Walters and Joe the Plumber. On the bright side the animation is brilliant, far surpassing those of only five years ago. At least there are characters that are relatively comical like the chicken named Chicken Joe (Jon Heder) who is the cliche version of a California surfer and a sandpiper bird that eventually "shows he has a heart." The writers of this film obviously found it hilarious to add a few references to shows like "I Dream of Jeannie," however I found it dry. A child would surely enjoy this movie, but what don't they enjoy? As an adult, don't expect to be too entertained. Rating: 4.5 out of 10.