The animated mock documentary "Surf's Up" is a delightfully rendered summer diversion in which a tiny Rockhopper penguin named Cody Maverick aspires to be a surfing champion.
Young Cody (voiced by Shia LaBeouf) is discovered in his native Shiverpool by a shrill, showbiz savvy shorebird named Mikey Abromowitz, who whisks him off to the idyllic island of Pen Gu to compete in the Big Z Memorial Surf-Off. Once there, Cody is mentored reluctantly by a surfing legend, the bigger-than-life but extremely laid-back King Geek (Jeff Bridges).
Directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck, "Surf's Up" parodies sports documentaries and television surf coverage, instilling the movie with an X Games vibe. The surfing action replicates and at times surpasses the real thing, and the fabricated "vintage footage" is a wonder to look at. Interviews with Cody and his family conducted by a comically intrusive documentary crew lead up to the flightless little bird's inevitable showdown with Emperor penguin Tank "the Shredder" Evans, nine-time winner of the Surf-Off.
Visually, the movie benefits from impressively inventive technical animation-from the crystalline waves to the sandy beaches, every detail suggests a parallel reality where penguins really do surf.
While many of the riffs in the mock documentary might be lost on the little tykes, everyone should enjoy the film's feel-good message of perseverance, friendship and finding your own wave.
documentary (n.) 紀(jì)錄片
to aspire (v.) 立志;渴望
to whisk someone off to 迅速帶走;迅速拿走
idyllic (adj.) 如詩如畫的;風(fēng)景秀麗的
bigger than life 大名鼎鼎的;名聲響亮的
to parody (v.) 模彷;竄改
fabricated (adj.) 虛構(gòu)的;捏造的
crystalline (adj.) 透明的;似水晶的
tyke (n.) 小孩子;頑童
perseverance (n.) 堅持;毅力