Surf’s Up (PG) ***
Teenage penguin Cody (the too-deep-for-a-young-hero voice of Shia LaBeouf) pursues his life-long goal of becoming a professional surfer. Structured as if a documentary is being made about Cody’s experiences, this computer-animated flick also features the voices of Zooey Deschanel, Jeff Bridges, Jon Heder, James Woods and Diedrich Bader.
Big question: After last year’s “Happy Feet,” do we need another penguin movie about following your dreams?
Skip it: “Surf’s Up” is too laid-back to really boogie — as if it prefers sipping pina coladas to catching waves — and not funny enough to compensate for merely average animation. There are better ways to entertain kids, like actually spending time outside and learning how to surf.
Catch it: If you want an animated movie with animals who don’t sing and dance. You’ll be ecstatic when Cody proclaims he can do neither!
Bottom line: Some imagination is put into the occasionally amusing documentary approach — a sea urchin’s gripes after being stepped on earn a hearty chuckle — and a little creativity goes a long way in today’s animated kingdom. But being better than “Meet the Robinsons” and “TMNT” isn’t a major accomplishment, and the best thing to say about the disposable but not annoying “Surf’s Up” is, well, it’s not terrible.
Bonus: Didn’t think McDonald’s chicken really came from a chicken? Chicken Joe (boringly voiced by Heder) proves otherwise when searching for Cody: “I know he’s out here. I feel it in my nuggets.”
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EVEN FASTER PAISED
Angel-A **
“If anything, Angela teaches this criminal that he can have his cake and make out with it, too, not how to clean up his act. But [writer-director Luc] Besson wants viewers to walk away with a lesson, and to call ‘Angel-A’ unconvincing would be an Eiffel Tower-sized understatement.”
ShowBusiness **
“Any true theater fans already know which of these plays took off, and ‘ShowBusiness’ does nothing to analyze why ‘Wicked’ and ‘Avenue Q’ became monster hits and the others didn’t.”
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mpais@tribune.com
