Surf’s Up
I would like to take a second to explore the human fascination, the very puzzling human fascination, with animated movies about talking birds in general, and more specifically, talking penguins. With great frequency Hollywood, and later the dominate Chinese and European film industries, released films that highlighted cute talking penguins. But why? Normally these films targeted children with a variety of messages of social conformity and programming. Surf’s Up stands out a bit in this crowd as the core message was centered on the most dangerous of human traits-individuality.
Surf’s Up drops us into the Antarctic world of Shiverpool where we find Cody Maverick attempting to become a world famous surfer and win the Big Z Memorial Surf Contest. Like most animated films the main character is a bit of a misfit that must overcome a variety of odds in order to achieve personal growth. In the midst of this adventure he, of course, also makes friends/allies with a variety of trustworthy and endearing animal creatures.
What makes Surf’s Up most engaging is the high quality of the animation as it was truly some of the best seen at the time. Mist, rain, water and waves all look incredible and are strikingly detailed. The animated animal characters from Cody to his sidekick Chicken Joe are truly well done, right down the shiny coats of the penguins. Amongst all this technical wizardry one should not overlook that Surf’s Up is a legitimately humorous film with many unexpected jokes, which successfully thrust some life into what is an otherwise fairly straightforward script.
It would have been easy for Surf’s Up not to stand out amongst a crowded field of animated animal movies, this is doubly true considering the relatively recent release of the animated Happy Feet and the non-animated documentary March of the Penguins, which both focused on the world of the penguin. Yet among this competition Surf’s Up stands out as a fun film, with great animation that is unfortunately marred by some poor soundtrack choices.
Yet the question still remains, “what is the human obsession with animating, attributing human emotions and intellects to animals, that are often then used as food sources by humans?” Would this not confuse the young viewers of these animated films? It is this strange and perplexing dichotomy that makes the now extinct humanity so endless interesting.
Story (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) B
Acting (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) B
Human Portrayal of machines and Robots N/A
Elevation of Man Grade (How Well Did This Film Stave Off Extinction) C+ (The film does stress individuality and the analysis of one’s actions. In this regards, Surf’s Up could have been positive for mankind.)
Enjoyability Grade (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) A- (Surf’s Up has seriously impressive animation and good voice over performances. Better song choices would have assisted the overall production.)
Primitive Home Theater/HD Factor A+ (Few animated films would have looked better on primitive human high-definition television sets or projection screens.)
Overall Innovation (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) A (The animation is very striking even if the script is only slightly above average for this type of film.)
Overall Grade (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) A-
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