Reviewing the Reviews: 'Surf's Up'

Seeing that it follows in the little webbed footsteps of March of the Penguins, Happy Feet, and Madagascar, it's a good bet Sony Pictures execs harbored some concerns that Surf's Up, its new entry into the penguin-theme cinematic sweepstakes, might suffer from a case of CPB (Critical Penguin Burnout). But a scan of today's (mostly positive) newspaper reviews proves such fears were unfounded. EW's own Lisa Schwarzbaum gives Surf's Up a B+, and I've divvied up the remaining reviews into two camps:

Pro-Penguin
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: "The last thing filmgoers needed this summer was another penguin movie.... But don't dismiss Surf's Up on the basis of its protagonist.... The entertaining new film from Sony Pictures Animation is a nice surprise, and the rare mainstream American kid film that makes an effort to try something new."

Christy Lemire, The Associated Press: "What the world needs now is not another penguin movie.... But Surf's Up is so different from its predecessors, and so different from the slew of animated films that have come out in the past couple of years, it's hard not to be charmed."

Rob Salem, Toronto Star: "The notion of penguins uttering phrases like 'gnarly' and 'bitchin' and referring to each other as 'dude' just seemed, in anticipation, somehow horribly wrong. I stand corrected. Surf's Up is quite surprisingly good, going for the subtle chuckle where Happy Feet opted for show-stopping spectacle."

Chris Kaltenbach, Baltimore Sun: "Penguins, those new rock stars of the animal world, continue their winning streak with Surf's Up."

Jim Slotek, Winnipeg Sun: "After March Of The Penguins, Happy Feet and even an R-rated spoof (Bob Saget's Farce Of The Penguins), another go-round with our black-tie-ready seabirds needs to go in a pretty offbeat direction to make its mark. The consistently funny, CG-animated 'surfing penguins' movie Surf's Up is certainly offbeat. I mean, c'mon, surfing penguins?"

Carla Meyer, McClatchy Newspapers: "Surf's Up is yet another film about penguins, but it's still original."

Michelle Kung, Boston Globe: "Unlike its predecessors, Surf's Up, the latest CGI entry in the booming penguin oeuvre, is actually more in sync with Riding Giants, Stacy Peralta's 2004 documentary ode to the sport, than with George Miller's Oscar-winning sing-along Happy Feet."

Anti-Penguin
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: "I'm done with penguins. I don't care what kind they are, what skills they have, what language they speak or whether they sit on eggs until their tufts freeze. I don't care if they can sing, dance, ride waves or perform brain surgery with their flippety-floppety feet. Penguins: finito."

Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times: "To deliver its winning-isn't-everything message, this ho-hum addition to the kiddie canon follows Cody Maverick (engagingly voiced by Shia LaBeouf), a young Rockhopper penguin with surfing in his blood and dreams of greatness in his head.... A moratorium on penguins might be called for, despite the inevitable anthropomorphic void."