Surf's Up

A simple comedy (mockumentary) with great visuals, and good performances.

CinemaSerfJul 2025

3.5

Told by way of a light-hearted documentary, we learn a little of the intrepid young “Cody”. He lives in Antarctica with his family amidst a community who think he’s a bit obsessed. Obsessed with surfing, that is, and he is determined to win the legendary “Big Z” surf-off against the much larger penguin “Tank” who obviously has just a little more ballast against those thirty footers (and he doesn’t have an improvised board made from a shard of ice, neither). Luckily, he manages to recruit the services of veteran “Geek” who, let’s face it, has seen better days - but who sees the spirit in this tiny fighter and by working together there might just be a chance, against all odds! Thing is, this isn’t really about surfing at all, it’s about this young bird coming of age, about him learning about what truly matters. We know his dad ended up being lunch for an orca, and that his adoring mum has a new partner who is less than impressed with “Cody” and his thus far unsuccessful attempts to better the waves - but that just seems to galvanise the youngster more. The association with the older “Geek” serves that curmudgeonly character well too and a sort of reciprocal rejuvenation occurs as they gear up for that ultimate in perilous big surf - all with the help of the scrawny but savvy “Chicken Joe”. The style of storytelling is really quiet entertaining as it mixes the traditional vox-pop style of interview conversation from the contributors with some enthusiastically delivered spontaneous dialogue and some fun faux-grainy images that serve as archive from his earlier trials and tribulations. Sure, the ending is quite predictable but it isn’t sentimental and there’s plenty of seaborne action and mischief along the way - and I enjoyed it.