Surf’s Up.

Penguins are much less a part of our lives than dogs and cats or even skunks and racoons, so three movies about penguins in three years makes me feel like Hollywood is "constantly" thrusting the dapper sphenisciforms in front of us. March of the Penguins (2005) was a masterpiece, an unromanticized tale of the hardship of life in Antarctica. I confess I never made it to Happy Feet (2006), so it seemed that I was overdue for another dose of penguin. I’m so glad I went. This was a movie about a young aspiring surfer following his dream, and the animation was superb, with breath-taking waves and a scene of “luge-ing” through lava tubes that was truly magnificent. The movie actually had a plot – a rather predictable one but good nevertheless. The voice-casting was well done – James Woods was terrific as the M.C. of the annual Penguin World Surfing Championship, Reggie Belafonte. This was apparently Jeff Bridges’ first animated voice-over role (as Cody Maverick’s hero, the legendary surfer Big Z). I loved the laid-back Chicken Joe and was astounded to learn he was voiced by Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite – a movie I will never be able to stomach). It was well I didn’t know his identity until after the show was over.

I daresay this film will be lost in the sea of this summer of sequels but it’s well worth a look.