Surf's Up (DVD)

For a film I was only slightly positive about the first time around, Sony's new DVD of their animated comedy Surf's Up comes as something of a surprise. Sure the movie is still an uneven, if reasonably entertaining, ride with all the same plusses and minuses I felt the first time I saw the picture back at the Seattle International Film Festival, but this disc is truly something else. Informative, entertaining and most of all fun, for all that I find wrong with the film this is one family friendly DVD that definitely gets it right.

Don't take that the wrong way. I don't foresee this disc winning any awards or being on anyone's "best-of" list, but that doesn't make it any less of a joy. From a series of interactive games ("Make Your Own Surfboard," "Whale Hopping," "Lava Surf") which are actually kind of fun (even for us 30-year-olds), to an audio commentary by the filmmakers that's almost as freewheeling and engaging as they obviously hoped their film would be, there is much to enjoy here.

For me the best special feature is "Not a Drop of Real Water," a featurette split into three parts ("Surf Cam," "Making Waves," "Story-board to Surf Board") on how all of the impressive water effects in the picture were generated. It's fascinating stuff, and by the time it was over I was so amazed by the technical wizardry of the animators part of me actually thought for a moment I picked the wrong profession when I decided to become a writer (but that's a big almost – I like what I do too much to make a career change now).

The rest of the additions here are the usual mixed bag, but for once the highs definitely outweigh the lows. There's a slightly obnoxious meet the penguins hosted by Mario Cantone, an interesting look inside the recording studio with the "All Together Now: The Surf's Up Voice Sessions" featurette, some mildly intriguing progression reels, the weird featurette "Arnold's Zurfinary" that kind of goes nowhere, a Lauryn Hill music video for "Lose Myself" and a collection of pointless production stills. Also included are two hilarious shorts, the Oscar-winning The ChubbChubbs and the brand new The ChubbChubbs Save Christmas.

As for the film itself, I think I am suffering from a bit of penguin fatigue because for all its whacko charms and idiosyncratic originality, watching a collection of the tuxedo clad birds surf in a tropical paradise didn't really do too much for me. While the main character Cody's (excitedly voiced by Shia LaBeouf) journey from his home in Antarctica to the volcanic heights Pen Gu Island is blandly engaging enough, it's not like this is a coming of age story I haven't seen 77 billion times before.

Still, Jeff Bridges just lights things up as the voice of the very Dude-like surfing legend The Geek, while Jon Heder is a totally wacky riot as the completely out of it Chicken Joe. Also, the surfing sequences in the film are absolutely stunning, and while they don't work quite as well on the small screen as they did on the large they're still eye-popping enough a person can't help but be amazed.

In the end, even with the picture's slightly kooky faux documentary style kids are going to be completely enthralled by the picture while adults, probably starting to feel a little like me where it comes to penguins in all likelihood, still aren't going to hate themselves in the morning if they have to sit through the whole thing. Sure it's not the greatest animated feature of the year (that honor once again falls to Pixar and their scrumptious miracle Ratatouille), but it's hardly a failure. Heck, with a disc this good I might even be tempted to say the darn thing is hanging ten even with part of me thinks that might just be pushing it.