Surf's Up (2007)
★★½ — Surf's Up (2007)
There's a version of Surf's Up that could have been genuinely special. A mockumentary about surfing penguins, with handheld camerawork and talking-head interviews aping the conventions of sports documentaries, is a legitimately clever premise. And for stretches, it works. The self-aware format brings a lightness that most animated films wouldn't dare attempt, and there's something refreshing about a kids' film that trusts its own joke enough to commit to the bit. But then the third act arrives, the sentimentality kicks in, and you realise that "committed to the bit" only gets you so far when the bit itself is wrapped around the most predictable sports-underdog story imaginable.
The film follows a young penguin with big dreams of surf stardom, voiced by Shia LaBeouf with decent enough energy. He's charismatic in the role, conveying the wide-eyed ambition of a kid who genuinely believes he's destined for greatness without tipping into irritating. Jeff Bridges, as a grizzled surf legend, is a genuine highlight: he sounds like he's barely trying, in the best possible way, all laconic warmth and weathered cool. Zooey Deschanel brings a sunny ease to the lifeguard role. The cast, on paper, is doing everything right.
And the animation itself earns real credit. The ocean sequences in particular are impressive, capturing the roll and crash of waves with a fluidity that feels genuinely earned. You can tell the animators were passionate about getting the water right, and it shows. If the whole film matched the ambition of those surfing sequences, we might have something worth talking about.
The problem is everything in between. The story follows a paint-by-numbers arc so faithfully you could map out the third act before the first one is done. Setback, mentorship, self-doubt, redemption. The humour oscillates between mildly amusing and utterly forgettable, never quite finding the sharp satirical edge that the mockumentary format promises. When the format works, it produces something like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, where the spoof and the sincerity reinforce each other. Here, they feel like separate films awkwardly stapled together. The breezy, self-aware tone of the early scenes gets quietly abandoned the moment the story needs you to care about the emotional stakes, and the shift is jarring enough to notice.
The emotional beats feel basic rather than earned. You're asked to feel something in the final stretch, and the film hasn't quite done the groundwork to justify it. It reaches for warmth and lands on adequacy. That's perhaps the most frustrating thing about Surf's Up: it's not a bad film. It's not lazy, exactly. The craft is there, the cast is there, the premise is there. But none of it coheres into something that lingers. It fills its 90 minutes without ever demanding anything of the audience, and the audience, in turn, gives it nothing back.
Put it next to something like Tarzan (1999) and the contrast is stark. That film swings hard at its emotional targets and mostly connects. Surf's Up would rather play it safe than risk falling short. Safe is fine. Safe is serviceable. But safe is also, pretty much by definition, forgettable.
Two and a half stars. On a rainy afternoon with young children, it'll do the job without complaint. For everyone else, you'll have moved on before the credits finish rolling.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2007 | Watched: 2026-04-09
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Chris Buck: Tarzan (1999) · Frozen II (2019) · Frozen (2013)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
