Surf's Up

"A major ocean picture."

2007 1h 25m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

🍅

78%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.7

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 2,837🍅78%Rotten Tomatoes●64Metacritic★6.7IMDB · 99,759

AnimationComedyFamily

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

With a documentary crew in tow, Cody Maverick—a young surfer from Antarctica—travels to the pacific for his first professional competition. Determined to earn respect and live up to his idol, Big Z, Cody pushes himself to the limit. But all that changes when an encounter with a laid-back local forces him to rethink his values.

“A major ocean picture.”

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Cast

Shia LaBeouf
Cody Maverick (voice)
Jeff Bridges
Big Z / Geek (voice)
Zooey Deschanel
Lani Aliikai (voice)
Jon Heder
Chicken Joe (voice)
James Woods
Reggie Belafonte (voice)
Diedrich Bader
Tank Evans (voice)
Mario Cantone
Mikey Abromowitz (voice)
Kelly Slater
Kelly (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ash Brannon
Writers: Ash Brannon, Chris Buck, Christopher Jenkins
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

85 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $85M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Surf's Up Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mychael Danna. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ivan Bilancio shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Shia LaBeouf and Jeff Bridges and Zooey Deschanel carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A major ocean picture.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ash Brannon directs. Mychael Danna scores. Ivan Bilancio cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

185 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Mid-budget at $85M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
3Released 19 years ago.
4Part of the "Surf's Up Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Original score by Mychael Danna. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Ivan Bilancio shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Shia LaBeouf and Jeff Bridges and Zooey Deschanel carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A major ocean picture.".
9IMDB entry: tt0423294 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 14 themes, including "sea", "surfer", "surfboard", "wave".

The technical file

Original score: Mychael Danna
Editing: Ivan Bilancio
Production design: Paul Lasaine
VFX supervisor: Rob Bredow
Sound: Tateum Kohut
Runtime: 85 min · 1h 25m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $85,000,000
Box office: $149,000,000
Return: 175% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Surf's Up (2007)
Rotten Tomatoes: 78% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 64/100
IMDB rating: 6.7/10 · 99,759 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 2 wins & 18 nominations total

Part of

Surf's Up Collection

Surf's Up is a 2007 American computer-animated mockumentary film directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. It features the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, James Woods, and Jon Heder among others. A sequel, titled Surf's Up 2: WaveMania, was released on January 17, 2017. Starring WWE superstars John Cena, Triple H, The Undertaker, Vince McMahon, and Paige.

Also by

Ash Brannon

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Uknown2016-08-16
A simple comedy (mockumentary) with great visuals, and good performances.
CinemaSerf2025-07-20
★ 7/10
Told by way of a light-hearted documentary, we learn a little of the intrepid young “Cody”. He lives in Antarctica with his family amidst a community who think he’s a bit obsessed. Obsessed with surfing, that is, and he is determined to win the legendary “Big Z” surf-off against the much larger penguin “Tank” who obviously has just a little more ballast against those thirty footers (and he doesn’t have an improvised board made from a shard of ice, neither). Luckily, he manages to recruit the services of veteran “Geek” who, let’s face it, has seen better days - but who sees the spirit in this tiny fighter and by working together there might just be a chance, against all odds! Thing is, this isn’t really about surfing at all, it’s about this young bird coming of age, about him learning about what truly matters. We know his dad ended up being lunch for an orca, and that his adoring mum has a new partner who is less than impressed with “Cody” and his thus far unsuccessful attempts to better the waves - but that just seems to galvanise the youngster more. The association with the older “Geek” serves that curmudgeonly character well too and a sort of reciprocal rejuvenation occurs as they gear up for that ultimate in perilous big surf - all with the help of the scrawny but savvy “Chicken Joe”. The style of storytelling is really quiet entertaining as it mixes the traditional vox-pop style of interview conversation from the contributors with some enthusiastically delivered spontaneous dialogue and some fun faux-grainy images that serve as archive from his earlier trials and tribulations. Sure, the ending is quite predictable but it isn’t sentimental and there’s plenty of seaborne action and mischief along the way - and I enjoyed it.
oivindberg2026-07-04
Doesn't quite live up to it's potential. I agree with the 60 ish % rating. This is a really cool an fun idea. But the final product underwhelms a little bit. I'm saying this with love. This could have been great! This could have been a classic! A few more instances of genuane emotional moments. That would be needed. It's hard to care enough and invest enough in the characters as it is now. And finally. WHERE ARE THE CAMERAS? In the whole movie we are suppose to understand we are seeing footage from the documentary crew filming the penguins. And we even see aerial footage and action camera perspective from the tip of the serf borads. Yet you can clearly see that there are no cameras on any of the surf boards. And where are the hellicopters with the animals shooting the aerial footage? We should have seen a bunch of animals running around with cameras and camera equipment! The absense of all the cameras and all the photograper animals really ruined the whole this-is-a-documentary idea.