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83An animated family movie about penguins -- in the wake of "March of the Happy Feet," they're the Angelina Jolie of animals, both cute and admired everywhere. Plus, it's about surfing.
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83Best of all is Jeff Bridges as the voice of Geek, a laid-back philosopher-penguin who becomes Cody's low-key guru, mentoring him in the ways of the wave.
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75Not only are LaBeouf and Bridges terrific, but Jon Heder is hilarious as surfing fowl Chicken Joe. And Zooey Deschanel is saucy fun as penguin lifeguard Lani.
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75The entertaining new film from Sony Pictures Animation is a nice surprise, and the rare mainstream American kid film.
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75A cut above the noisy, pop-culture joke-larded norm, and it's much more than a "Happy Feet" knockoff.
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75The most colorful of the penguin 'toons to date, both figuratively and literally.
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75If you have to see one penguin movie, this is it.
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75Up will still make you feel like you've caught a big wave.
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75Surf's Up is that rarity in a children's movie, a comedy that's actually exciting.
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75Has its own peculiar, loose-knit kind of charm.
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75What makes Surf's Up stand out is its look and texture.
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70A cheerful and frequently amusing bit of nonsense, which certainly will provoke children into giggles. The film does not measure up to "March of the Penguins" or "Happy Feet," both Oscar-winning efforts. Nor is it trying to.
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70Don't worry, parents, only you--and not your 5-year-old--will get that the chicken's stoned out of his gourd.
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If you have to see another penguin blockbuster, you could do worse than this loose-limbed charmer.
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70A clever, delightfully rendered summer diversion.
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70Every bit as entertaining as the early Christopher Guest efforts.
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70It's cool but not too cool, and cute but not too cute. A neat trick considering its overexposed avian cast.
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67The film's greatest triumph, at least on a technical level, is the amazing texture of the water, which has never looked so dramatic or convincing in an animated film.
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67Mostly, it just stands out in a crowded field of tacky also-rans by being a reasonably acceptable, more or less non-obnoxious way to spend an hour and a half.
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63Where Surf's Up falls down is in its central relationships. (A few more jokes wouldn't have hurt either).
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63The voice performances are great, particularly those from LaBeouf and Bridges, who's in a "Big Lebowski" mood. But a moratorium on penguin movies may be in order.
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63Doesn't do enough with a righteous premise.
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63First they marched, then they tap-danced. Now they ride the waves on souped-up boards. It really doesn't matter what stunts they try to pull off: Who can resist an animated mockumentary in the style of "This Is Spinal Tap" starring the black-and-white big birds of the moment?
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50Has a friendly, blue-collar vibe (Cody is an ex-fish-sorter from the Shiverpool, Antarctica) and some sly, low-key humor. Nevertheless, a moratorium on penguins might be called for, despite the inevitable anthropomorphic void.
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40There's nothing terribly wrong with Surf's Up, except maybe the part where one character calls another a "dirty trash can full of poop." But the movie isn't terribly robust, either.
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30The novelty wears off almost immediately, leaving this a real chore to watch; there's something bizarre about low-budget spontaneity being replicated in such a labor-intensive medium.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 16
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Mixed: 0 out of 16
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Negative: 1 out of 16
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Streetsy10
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NicoleGiroux9