(Source: www.latinoreview.com)
The good folks at Latino Review have scored a copy of the latest one-sheet for Surf’s Up, the tent pole CGI summer movie from Sony Pictures Animation. You can check it out over here.
As you all know, I’ve been less than thrilled with this flick since I’ve heard about it the first time. The premise is kind of interesting (a mockumentary about a penguin surfing championship) but everything else associated with this flick looks like it came from Value Village. Happy Feet and Madagascar are two previous hit movies that traded on the comedy inherent in penguins. We have the young hotshot (voiced by Shia LaBeouf) getting schooled by the worn-out veteran (Jeff Bridges) plot; how many movies has that been in? And then there was the first poster, which clearly ripped off Ocean’s Eleven.
It also doesn’t help that this flick is from Sony Pictures Animation, the crew who brought us the equally been-there-done-that Open Season. To be fair, Sony also brought us the Oscar-nominated Monster House but the gang who worked on that flick (Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis) has moved on to bigger and better things.
Does the new poster finally give me a buzz? Unfortunately, I’m still getting a “been there, done that, bought the t-shirt” feeling from this movie. We have the hotshot at the right (looking vaguely like Disturbia’s Labeouf), the wacky sidekick on the left, and the obligatory love interest in the background (gazing adoringly over at her man). Oh, and let’s not forget the tired pun at the top: “a major ocean picture.” Ha. Ha. Ha.
In a quest to find something to like about Surf’s Up, I had a look at the directors’ bios. As you might expect, they’re both Disney and Pixar alumni. Ash Brannon co-directed and helped write Toy Story 2 so that’s something. He also helped animate the original Toy Story and 1998’s A Bug’s Life.
Co-director Chris Buck co-directed Disney’s Tarzan with Kevin Lima, plus he was a writer for Pocahontas, and helped animate Home on the Range and Chicken Little. A slightly less potent résumé, methinks. However, the fact that four writers (Lisa Addario, Christian Darren, Don Rhymer and Joe Syracuse) are stirring in this pot is not such a good sign.
At this point, I’m hoping for a Happy Feet-style surprise (I originally thought that flick was going to suck, and it won the Oscar) but I have a feeling that Surf’s Up may be this summer’s Ant Bully (or this summer's Barnyard?). With DreamWorks bringing back Shrek and Pixar looking back on form with Ratatouille, can Sony Pictures Animation compete with something that looks so blatantly derivative? Only time (and box office) will tell.
Surf’s Up opens June 8th.
