Surf's Up

Gah, I guess I'll have to see it. I guess it might be more entertaining than your typical non-Pixar 3D animated flick....

But, there are more reasons that scream "DON'T SEE THIS FILM" to me than reasons that scream "SEE IT, NOW!"

For one, it's a penguin movie....hasn't that been done quite a bit recently?

Second, the "message for the kiddies" is appalling. "Cody begins to find his own way, and discovers that a true winner isn’t always the one who comes in first."

One of things I greatly appreciate about Pixar...and perhaps it's one of their more underrated aspects...is that the "moral" of the film has quite a bit more underlying depth than most animated movies in America. Animation is an art form. And to me, art is an honest expression of the artist's heart. If the core ideas aren't there, the movie falls apart...IMO...

I don't know...maybe this movie isn't as formulaic as I'm giving it credit for...but I am very skeptical.

For one, it's a penguin movie....hasn't that been done quite a bit recently?

A neurotic widower searching for his lost son is a different story than an ignorant opportunistic loser being mistaken for a killer and riding it to fame...but there's going to be a problem because Finding Nemo and Shark Tale both have a cast of underwater creatures? Even in that same set the designs are totally distinct. How is there a negation?

I realize there are a lot of repeated locales and visual themes, like A Bug's Life/Antz, Madagascar/The Wild, etc. but I'd never lock myself out of an experience because the decision of how the story gets told was similar to someone else's decision. Certainly the same stuff will come up all the time as someone asserts a certain variety of animal/monster/robot/whatnot serves the needs of the story.

I've seen The Secret of the NIMH but an asteroid won't stop me from checking out Ratatouille. Taken to the extreme, it's almost like saying you won't watch live-action because they keep using people.

Gah, I guess I'll have to see it. I guess it might be more entertaining than your typical non-Pixar 3D animated flick....

But, there are more reasons that scream "DON'T SEE THIS FILM" to me than reasons that scream "SEE IT, NOW!"

For one, it's a penguin movie....hasn't that been done quite a bit recently?

Second, the "message for the kiddies" is appalling. "Cody begins to find his own way, and discovers that a true winner isn�t always the one who comes in first."

One of things I greatly appreciate about Pixar...and perhaps it's one of their more underrated aspects...is that the "moral" of the film has quite a bit more underlying depth than most animated movies in America. Animation is an art form. And to me, art is an honest expression of the artist's heart. If the core ideas aren't there, the movie falls apart...IMO...

I don't know...maybe this movie isn't as formulaic as I'm giving it credit for...but I am very skeptical.

I too was VERY skeptical about this movie.. but having seen it I'm gonna have to say congrats to sony very much so. Everything in this movie was beautiful. The water was Insanely well done and the story was very funny.

To the Penguin movie. Yes it was done recently, But NEVER like this. This one was actually funny, and I too found myself laughing harder than the kids. It seems the adults laughed more than the kids. And you forget that the movie's about penguins because the actions and voice acting are so natural. They had the actors all in a room at one time AD LIBBING with the lines. Sony just cut whatever they thought wasn't natural. And because they were in the same room they ACTUALLY took the actors expressions and put them in the film, including them pushing and shoving each other with the words. Since it was done in a documentary form they manipulated the camera to shake and rock when the film crew was running after the characters. Unlike most animated movies where they try to make the lighting for the scene and things perfect. they tried to avoid these things. Like in reality you can't wait for the perfect day and get in the perfect lighting when shooting a documentary, if a shadow from a branch got into the persons face you can't re shoot the film, you have to record real time and forget about these things. In the dark rainy scene after Cody gets knocked out you can notice they used a camera light for a light source because they had to shoot with what ever is around. And in some camera shots you notice that the camera man when out of focus and had to find it while shooting live. Just watching the movie makes you appreciate how much effort they actually put into this movie to bring it to you. The pre-prepping on the movie started in 02' I'm sure.

As for the message, there are many in this movie. And One actually got to me. The one of "winners always find a way". If you really have a dream, find a way, because thats what winners do. I try everyday to do such ever since I saw this movie. It's really changed me. And as for the moral or message ruining the movie (*cough* happy feet *cough*) This movie is not such. Actually, WITHOUT the morals of the story THERE WOULD BE NO STORY. Without "winners find a way" There would be no Cody going to pen gu island or ANY OF THE MOVIE. Him stopping at nothing because his hero told him never to give up on his dreams IS he movie, AND the message.

In otherwords, Go See the movie, Then watch the extras and read up on the movie this is a great CGI film. It might not be the best, but the whole Idea and movie in general is up there. Way up there.

I really enjoyed 'Surf's Up' and jsut hope it isn't forever classified as another 'penguin movie'. THe documentrary style was very interesting take,and it was very visually pleasing.

I saw "Surf's Up" tonight and I really liked it a lot .

We have two weeks until "Ratatouille" . While we're waiting for "Ratatouille" everyone should go see "Surf's Up" . I get the impression that "Surf's Up" is struggling to find an audience . It would be a shame to see this fine movie falter at the box-office . Go see it !

Ya, I went and saw the movie with my dad's family when it premiered. and I got to say I was very disappointed after the movie because this movie was one of he best I have seen in a LONG time that I was sad to see the theater didn't even fill up barely a third. Movies that come after other movies that "look" as a rip off of another one always struggles in the box office. Makes me sad. :(

Just want to chime in as well and say that I also saw this film on someone elses recommendation, and I loved it as well!

I loved the documentary style of filming, but I love the tv show ÒThe OfficeÓ too, so it worked well with me. I was really blown away by the visuals, not only were the water effects beautiful, but all of the environments looked so realistic, but yet it still felt like a cartoon world. The characters were well developed and I thoroughly enjoyed the progression of the movie. Not once did I stop and say to myself: Òwell that character was completely useless and annoyingÓ, unlike that pig character in ÒChicken LittleÓ where I could never understand a word he said.
ItÕs a great flick all around, my kids were already asking if we could buy the movie on DVD when we were driving home from seeing it!

I loved it. Don't judge it just because its another 3D movie about penguins because it is nothing like Happy Feet.

oh boy. I am glad to hear it is good. It does look alright. But that whole "another penguin movie" really is annoying.

I went to the sneak preview of Ratatouille on saturday :) and they had a preview for surfs up. It started with a shot of the movie playing in a theater then somebody in the audience saying "Oh no, not another penguin movie!" and i am like "well, at least they are aware of that fact" Then they pull the camera shot out and the audience is a bunch of penguins. Then i chuckled.

I'll be sure to rent it.

I'll be sure to rent it.

:confused:

Man, it's still in the first-run theaters . See it on the big screen the way it was intended to be seen ! :D

There's a great in-joke about "Happy Feet" in the first few minutes of the movie when they are interviewing Cody about his future surfing career.

You're just the coolest person aren't you? A great artist on a hit show by day and a "surf's up" dude by night. I gotta take you clubbing sometime, just imagine how many girls you'll snag.
As for this new movie: I'm keenly anticipating this film because it looked so erratically funny when I saw the trailer last week. Although it will never be as great as Happy Feet (although I doubt that's their goal) I must give them credit for the animation quality that looks...unique.
On the topic of penguins, I was wondering why the sudden need to portray penguins as lovable, singing, melodramatic (think of Lovelace), funny creatures in these 3D animated movies. I am not saying it's a bad thing, but it would be nice if this question could be rectified with a plausible answer.

There's a movie I'm really looking forward to besides Surf's Up and Harry Potter 5: Transformers. Produced by Steven Spielberg and starring the legendary robotic characters, it's a movie no one should miss.

As a long time lover of Transformers, and of animation in general, I am scared to death that this movie is going to disappoint me in way too many ways. I will see it, because it is my duty to do so as having grown up with them. Please, Spielberg, don't mess this up! There's more adults that want to see Transformers finally in a movie that can give them the justice they deserve then there are kids!

I wasn't too interested in Surf's Up! until I came here and read what you guys were saying. Now I'm going to have to take an active approach to looking more at it.

Some thing looked funny from the trailers but I'm a surfer from Hawaii

You're just the coolest person aren't you? A great artist on a hit show by day and a "surf's up" dude by night. I gotta take you clubbing sometime, just imagine how many girls you'll snag.
As for this new movie: I'm keenly anticipating this film because it looked so erratically funny when I saw the trailer last week. Although it will never be as great as Happy Feet (although I doubt that's their goal) I must give them credit for the animation quality that looks...unique.
On the topic of penguins, I was wondering why the sudden need to portray penguins as lovable, singing, melodramatic (think of Lovelace), funny creatures in these 3D animated movies. I am not saying it's a bad thing, but it would be nice if this question could be rectified with a plausible answer.

There's a movie I'm really looking forward to besides Surf's Up and Harry Potter 5: Transformers. Produced by Steven Spielberg and starring the legendary robotic characters, it's a movie no one should miss.