surf's up!

The American CGI-animated Surf's Up is a treat. It's a skit on two recent cinematic cycles: penguin pictures and romantic, aggrandising documentaries about the history of surfing and its heroes. The film, sometimes using amusingly faked newsreel footage, traces the career of Cody, the young penguin surfer from Shiverpool, Antarctica, who grows up worshipping the great penguin surfer, Big Z, is recruited by talent scouts and taken to enter the big time in the Pacific. Jeff Bridges in his laidback Big Lebowski-style sounds terrific as Big Z. Fun, but the proper length should have been an hour, not 85 minutes. Phillip French

surf. penguins. jeff.

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