Surf's Up Critic Reviews

The most colorful of the penguin 'toons to date, both figuratively and literally.Read the full review

An animated family movie about penguins -- in the wake of "March of the Happy Feet," they're the Angelina Jolie of animals, both cute and admired everywhere. Plus, it's about surfing.Read the full review

A clever, delightfully rendered summer diversion.Read the full review

If you have to see one penguin movie, this is it.Read the full review

The entertaining new film from Sony Pictures Animation is a nice surprise, and the rare mainstream American kid film.Read the full review

A cheerful and frequently amusing bit of nonsense, which certainly will provoke children into giggles. The film does not measure up to "March of the Penguins" or "Happy Feet," both Oscar-winning efforts. Nor is it trying to.Read the full review

Has a friendly, blue-collar vibe (Cody is an ex-fish-sorter from the Shiverpool, Antarctica) and some sly, low-key humor. Nevertheless, a moratorium on penguins might be called for, despite the inevitable anthropomorphic void.Read the full review

Mostly, it just stands out in a crowded field of tacky also-rans by being a reasonably acceptable, more or less non-obnoxious way to spend an hour and a half.Read the full review

First they marched, then they tap-danced. Now they ride the waves on souped-up boards. It really doesn't matter what stunts they try to pull off: Who can resist an animated mockumentary in the style of "This Is Spinal Tap" starring the black-and-white big birds of the moment?Read the full review