Surf's Up

      To some people surfing is more than a sport, it drives their entire lifestyle. The burning passion that accompanies this lifestyle can

 quickly turn into obsession before one might notice. In the timeless film Surf's Up, Ash Brannon and Chris Buck exceed in portraying this

delicate balance. While plot plays a huge role in any good movie, the directors used clever techniques to make this movie truly

memorable. 

      The use of a camera crew in an animated movie is a unique twist. It is cleverly implemented though. This permits Cody to talk

directly to the audience and allows for a level of internal monologue that would not be possible without it. It 's not uncommon to see

people quoting the movie almost 20 years later, and the internal monologue is a big part of that. 

Passion vs obsession 

      From the start of the movie, Cody is shown as an underdog. He is smaller than most of the penguins in the film, and comes from a

small town in Antarctica with no surf community. The first time Cody is shown surfing he only has a chunk of ice, and the waves are much

smaller than at the beach. This provides a learning curve for Cody and adds to the tremendous obstacles he must face in just getting to

the competition.

      Cody’s life growing up was challenging. He is shown fighting with his family and looks stressed whenever he is

around his bigger brother. His home looks colorless and bland. When Cody is surfing though, the directors add uplifting music, Cody is

smiling and looks very relaxed. This shows how surfing is not only fun, but therapeutic for Cody. Surfers and many similar communities

can relate to using their sport as an escape allowing them to connect with Cody.

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      Surf's up examines passion in a realistic way. This allows the audience to connect to Cody and makes them root for him.

Characters like Cody's brother Glenn and Tank are a great way for the directors to both add suspension and distract the audience from the

theme. They are bigger, more popular and very egotistic. When Cody is ridiculed, he feels driven to prove the person doubting him

wrong with his surfing. Through this, he starts to experience obsession rather than passion, and it drives him to act stubbornly when given

advice. 

Hard Work vs Insanity 

      The way Ash Brannon and Chris Buck introduced Z's backstory and then tied it into a plot twist was cinematic genius. Showing how

much Cody idolized Z and then finding out he is not actually dead, but in hiding, adds levels to the theme. Even though Cody idolized Z,

he acted stubbornly when given advice. 

      Z is only introduced as "Geek" when Cody gets injured, and Geek is the only person that Lani knows can help. Lani has to journey

through a dark forest just to get to his house, showing that he clearly does not want to be found. Geek is shown as fat,

super messy hair and obviously has not taken great care of himself. Although he proved to be very wise when it came to surfing the fact

that he was not taking his own advice greatly impacted his credibility. 

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      The main point of this movie is to teach people how to find joy in chasing a dream rather than putting an unhealthy amount of pressure

on themselves. The directors show this through Z. The majority of his time spent with Cody, he was trying to teach him that the point of

surfing is having fun in the water rather than winning some competition. This is ironic considering when he lost one competition,

 he proceeded to go into hiding for 10 years.  Plus he wouldn't even get in the water with Cody.  

     After finding this out it makes perfect sense that Cody would act stubbornly, as Z needs to learn to take his own advice. When Z is

looking out at the water and the night sky is clear and the waves are perfect, he realizes this. He goes on to talk about the tube of

the waves. "Ah that's the best place to be in the world, the end of the tube ... yeah better than winning. All that stuff." (Big Z, 51:40-52:46). 

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      The directors then proceeded to add testimonies about "tube riding" from real pro surfers Kelly Slater and Rob Machado. The addition

of this is one of the reasons the movie is so popular in the surf world as it adds an aspect of authenticity. This also adds to the theme

because when asked about surfing, the pros are not talking about being the best or winning a competition. They are simply talking about

this incredible feeling they have achieved while surfing.

An Unlikely Winner 

     From the moment Chicken Joe is introduced the directors are trying to trick the audience. They clearly portray him as a stoner with

halfway closed eyes and slow speech. They also depict him as unintelligent and careless. All of this is to make the audience disregard him

a possibility to win the contest.

      Chicken Joe is a chicken. An animal most people know to be clumsy and that dislikes getting wet. The only time he is shown surfing

until the final competition is in a picture on a very small wave in his hometown. He says there is not a big surf community, and he shows a

lack of intelligence by misinterpreting many conversations. There is nothing indicating that he might actually win.