Eye Candy #247 - "Surf's Up"

Surf’s Up:  I had avoided seeing this movie for a while.  The glut of computer-animated films has reached critical mass, in my opinion, and I would kill to get a good, traditionally animated film every once in a while instead of this or that latest “Shrek”/Pixar derivative.  But I needed something to watch this weekend, and this actually turned out to be a good choice and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.  Shot from the perspective of a surfing documentary where all the surfers are penguins, we’ve got the young hotshots Cody Maverick (Shia Lebouf), the current narcissist of a champ Tank (a perfectly cast Diedrich Bader), and the crusty used-to-be (played with salty aplomb by Jeff Bridges).  Really well animated (and not just all the water), with good choices in voice talent (don‘t think there was a weak link in the bunch), and very much aimed at children with an overall positive message that gets a little muddled along the way. And at least the New Radicals get some additional residuals from having “You Get What You Give” show up on yet another soundtrack (it’s their 5th or 6th).  Woodchuck sez, “Check it out.”