Big wave riding in Tahiti - with penguins Imagine someone wanted to make a cartoon version of Riding Giants, the excellent surfing documentary, and wanted to throw in some documentary footage of 'Chopes' in Tahiti from the films, Blackwater and May Dayz, and other surfing documentaries, but said - hey, wait a minute, let's make it about penguins. We'll follow them with a film crew, sit them for interviews, have them talk about surfing. That's the angle. We see much of the film from the unseen documentary photographers. The penguins wax eloquent for their scribes, until at the end our hero finally says - I'm bored with talking about myself - and goes surfing.
So what you have to start out are not Emperor penguins, as seen in the documentary - the hit documentary - March of the Penguins. You see another sort, Imperial penguins I think they are, with yellow fur and hair on their heads. I believe they are seen in the other great avian documentary, Winged Migration (staged though the shots may be with captive birds). So these yellow-topped penguins chase eggs and balance them on their feet, just as in March of the Penguins. The background looks like an animated version of that film. The penguins cluster in similar fashion. And so on.
But they quickly move out of Antarctica. And the twist - it's a surf film. Two of the minor roles are named, and voiced by, two competitive big wave surfers - Kelly Slater and Rob Machado. They play penguins. The protagonist is young penguin whose father is killed, and who looks with amazement at a penguin named, Z, who was a competitive big wave surfing . . penguin . . when he was a youth. I can't help but think that our little hero is somewhat modeled after Laird Hamilton. In short, this is a surf film by those familiar with actual surfing, involving those who actually do surf, and aimed I think at a much more mature audience than five year olds. When I watched, many kids were present. And they seemed bored, except at the big stunts and sound effects, only occasionally used in the film, and for the dramatic climax. Maybe I read them wrong, I don't know.
So a real surf film, by surfers, probably for surfers, but featuring penguins. I don't know. But it sort of works. The effects mimic what you'd see in real surf documentaries. The waves look the same, break the same, and so on. The penguins ride in the same 'slots', and the underwater shots are what you'd see in the documentaries, except that these are humanized penguins, and it's animated. The detail in this animation, in mimicing the real look of a surfbreak, is really something. You even get to ride inside 'the pipe' with our heroes, at certain points. I can see the video game out there even before the film. That's what I was thinking when I saw that.
The voice actors are fine. There are some pauses that might have been best trimmed. The film could be a little punchier. It is also a bit clichéd. The main story is that our hero is the belittled lone surfer in his Antarctica group. A promoter comes by to watch him, and he grabs ahold of the 'boat' and is off to the contest. They don't spend much time in the land of March of the Penguins. Instead, they head to a south Pacific island, with a wave that looks suspiciously like that at Tay-a-who-poe, or 'chopes'. So, there they are in 'Tahiti', debating whether it's the contest that matters, or just surfing that's important. He finds a love interest in a tall 'lifeguard' penguin (Laird Hamilton's wife is quite tall, a beach volleyball player) - no surf patrol here, that's her job. She introduces him to an aged 'Geek', who turns out to be the long-lost 'Z', his boyhood hero; but who ran away by ducking into a wave and disappearing because he was bested by the villain, a big penguin named, Tank, and champion surfer. Tank is also to compete in our hero's contest. He also befriends a - chicken. A chicken. The chicken is a surfer from the upper midwest USA. And he's on 'the circuit'. He's sort of the absent minded, inattentive surfer dude. All those clichés are placed pretty much just on his character and none of the others.
The hero's last name is Maverick. This south island wave they ride, while looking like 'chopes', breaks into a 'boneyard' of sharp rocks. Mavericks, in Half Moon Bay, CA, breaks right up to a reef of sharp protruding rocks, coming out of something called The Boneyard. The heroic 'Z' saves our hero, clutching him from the water, as a gigantic open ocean type of wave breaks way over on the boneyard, the massive lip, with full sound effect, coming right down on our heroes from 70 feet up or whatever it looks like. You couldn't hear a sound in the theater when the film suddenly went quiet. The promoter is quick to eulogize on the beach, and prepares to auction off the fallen surfer's boards. But it's a cartoon. So they survive, and come walking up the beach. 'Z' is recognized. Everyone is happy. And heck with the contest they say, there's surf over in the north lagoon - everybody, let's go - with the promoter screaming at them from behind.
This is a film that might not actually appeal to little kids. And there are some unsettling moments. Wiping out, etc. But for kids who are no longer toddlers and up, and even for adults, I think the film will be appealing. As I said, an animated film about competitive surfers, who are penguins, apparently by surfers, voices by some surfers, and probably aimed at surfers. I liked it.
So what you have to start out are not Emperor penguins, as seen in the documentary - the hit documentary - March of the Penguins. You see another sort, Imperial penguins I think they are, with yellow fur and hair on their heads. I believe they are seen in the other great avian documentary, Winged Migration (staged though the shots may be with captive birds). So these yellow-topped penguins chase eggs and balance them on their feet, just as in March of the Penguins. The background looks like an animated version of that film. The penguins cluster in similar fashion. And so on.
But they quickly move out of Antarctica. And the twist - it's a surf film. Two of the minor roles are named, and voiced by, two competitive big wave surfers - Kelly Slater and Rob Machado. They play penguins. The protagonist is young penguin whose father is killed, and who looks with amazement at a penguin named, Z, who was a competitive big wave surfing . . penguin . . when he was a youth. I can't help but think that our little hero is somewhat modeled after Laird Hamilton. In short, this is a surf film by those familiar with actual surfing, involving those who actually do surf, and aimed I think at a much more mature audience than five year olds. When I watched, many kids were present. And they seemed bored, except at the big stunts and sound effects, only occasionally used in the film, and for the dramatic climax. Maybe I read them wrong, I don't know.
So a real surf film, by surfers, probably for surfers, but featuring penguins. I don't know. But it sort of works. The effects mimic what you'd see in real surf documentaries. The waves look the same, break the same, and so on. The penguins ride in the same 'slots', and the underwater shots are what you'd see in the documentaries, except that these are humanized penguins, and it's animated. The detail in this animation, in mimicing the real look of a surfbreak, is really something. You even get to ride inside 'the pipe' with our heroes, at certain points. I can see the video game out there even before the film. That's what I was thinking when I saw that.
The voice actors are fine. There are some pauses that might have been best trimmed. The film could be a little punchier. It is also a bit clichéd. The main story is that our hero is the belittled lone surfer in his Antarctica group. A promoter comes by to watch him, and he grabs ahold of the 'boat' and is off to the contest. They don't spend much time in the land of March of the Penguins. Instead, they head to a south Pacific island, with a wave that looks suspiciously like that at Tay-a-who-poe, or 'chopes'. So, there they are in 'Tahiti', debating whether it's the contest that matters, or just surfing that's important. He finds a love interest in a tall 'lifeguard' penguin (Laird Hamilton's wife is quite tall, a beach volleyball player) - no surf patrol here, that's her job. She introduces him to an aged 'Geek', who turns out to be the long-lost 'Z', his boyhood hero; but who ran away by ducking into a wave and disappearing because he was bested by the villain, a big penguin named, Tank, and champion surfer. Tank is also to compete in our hero's contest. He also befriends a - chicken. A chicken. The chicken is a surfer from the upper midwest USA. And he's on 'the circuit'. He's sort of the absent minded, inattentive surfer dude. All those clichés are placed pretty much just on his character and none of the others.
The hero's last name is Maverick. This south island wave they ride, while looking like 'chopes', breaks into a 'boneyard' of sharp rocks. Mavericks, in Half Moon Bay, CA, breaks right up to a reef of sharp protruding rocks, coming out of something called The Boneyard. The heroic 'Z' saves our hero, clutching him from the water, as a gigantic open ocean type of wave breaks way over on the boneyard, the massive lip, with full sound effect, coming right down on our heroes from 70 feet up or whatever it looks like. You couldn't hear a sound in the theater when the film suddenly went quiet. The promoter is quick to eulogize on the beach, and prepares to auction off the fallen surfer's boards. But it's a cartoon. So they survive, and come walking up the beach. 'Z' is recognized. Everyone is happy. And heck with the contest they say, there's surf over in the north lagoon - everybody, let's go - with the promoter screaming at them from behind.
This is a film that might not actually appeal to little kids. And there are some unsettling moments. Wiping out, etc. But for kids who are no longer toddlers and up, and even for adults, I think the film will be appealing. As I said, an animated film about competitive surfers, who are penguins, apparently by surfers, voices by some surfers, and probably aimed at surfers. I liked it.