It's a bad sign when the Oscar buzz around 'Surf's Up' is about who should have been nominated instead. The competition is fierce, the apparent snubs were nominated for Golden Globes (Bee Movie and The Simpsons), and please, penguins were so last year. As the main Antarctic avian Cody Maverick says of his chances of winning a surfing contest: "They're high, aren't they high? It's not like I'm the underdog." The truth is there's a lot more in the water than just who made it off the short list for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Given the category's checkered history, 'Surf's Up' is actually pretty relevant. In the debate over the relevance and definition of animation, and the Oscars themselves, the film is way out in the tidal pool. So in this first of three reviews, we'll stick to the shallows, maybe throw in some deep thoughts every now and then.

The best kept secret about 'Surf's Up' is that it's a ground-breaking animated film. Nominated for an Oscar, even. Of course, it's a secret because no one seems to have seen it. Except for the surfers. See, it can't be approached as just another silly animated movie. It's a documentary, man. It has impressed the real life wave-riders. Word is that the perpetually strung-out (cough) Chicken Joe made Surfer Magazine's list of Most Interesting Surfers. The production team trumped most Hollywood surfing romps by talking to real surfers. Some of them are real surfers. Jeff Bridges, who voices Big Z, the iconic father of surfing, has surfed all his life. They say the guy who designed the waves wiped out and got a face full of board, and they were, like, so worried because he was the only one making the waves. (Animator Chris Jenkins was okay.)

And what waves. There's not a drop of water in this production, yet the wave mechanics features physics so perfect you'll want to cry. Forget the fur and feathers; that's so last year's 3D. The details are stunning -- the greenery, the sand, the snow, the representations of tattoos and bad tans. The shot choices are creative, including board-cam shots whose real-life counterparts you can probably catch on a minor sports channel. Despite being a stickler over 3D mistakes, I only saw one shot which jarred me out of the art. The wipe-outs are especially real, other than the talking animals. The gross-outs and the action shots, musts in today's mainstream toons, are all gratifyingly biologically accurate. Think PG-rated nature special (and remind the little ones that processed meat used to have legs).

This world's stories are what make this film special, and they're also why it's the long-shot to win. Shia LaBeouf, lately of 'Transformers', projects exactly the brash idealism that young Cody needs, while at the same time being so true to the surfing mindset that he avoids the cliche.  There is an undercurrent of mortality, too. "[Big Z] lived so hard because he wasn't afraid ... he wasn't afraid to live," Cody explains to the reality film crew. "He wasn't afraid to die." When they make it to Big Z's shack, there isn't a word of dialog, and yet the love and loss of that surfing dream comes through. (I choked up, okay? I'm cool now.) One's forced to admit that this is a good animated story. I am not so sure it's an Oscar-worthy film.

The thing is, see, this movie is about winning versus loving what you do. Going with the flow.  Being yourself.  Because it immerses us into the surfing culture, there is a streak of authentic emotion in the middle of the laid-back gags and familiar penguin jokes. Unfortunately, the novel style harbored all the negatives of a reality show, and lacked enough documentary structure to keep from blunting said authenticity. Or when it had, it featured authentically dark or badly lit shots. The soundtrack inexplicably mashed perfect surfing music with a '90s mix tape. (Also, local Hawaiian references are good; local cannibal jokes are not so good.) Don't get me started on the bland title, or all the names other than the real-life cameos.

In short, the 'let it go' philosophy seemingly filtered down to the storyline level... and I can't say I blame them. It's all about the journey, dude. After all, they make very clear what they think of trophy-polishing penguins: they aren't any fun.

Source: L.A. Times