Sony Pictures Animation doesn't have as many classic animated movies as Disney, Studio Ghibli, or DreamWorks, but it still has some forgotten gems that fans might remember. One such example is 2007's Surf's Up which was only the second release of the studio following Open Season in 2006.
But even if the story itself is somewhat forgotten nowadays, it's still interesting to look at the way Surf's Up was created considering that animated mockumentaries are quite a rare phenomenon. These are just some facts even hardcore fans might not be aware of.
10 A Number Of Talented People Were Involved In Its Production
Co-directors Ash Brannon and Chris Buck had already worked on some well-known projects before directing Surf's Up. Brannon was the directing animator and story artist on Toy Story as well as story artist on A Bug's Life and co-director on Toy Story 2. Buck had previously co-directed Tarzan and would go on to co-direct Frozen and Frozen II.
Producer Chris Jenkins had previously worked as an effects animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King among others. Co-screenwriter Don Rhymer would later co-write Rio and Rio 2.
9 Its Cast Is Absolutely Stellar
Surf's Up has an absolutely stellar cast with the likes of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, and Zooey Deschanel voicing the main characters.
Other notable cast members include Jon Heder (the titular character from the cult classic Napoleon Dynamite) and James Woods (Hades in Disney's Hercules).
8 Its Score & Soundtrack Are Full Of Surprises
The score for Surf's Up was composed by Mychael Danna who had previously written music for Girl, Interrupted and Little Miss Sunshine and would go on to write music for (500) Days of Summer, Moneyball, Life of Pi (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score), and Onward.
Different songs by well-known music artists were also used in the movie. For example, two songs by Green Day were used as background music in the movie as their instrumental versions. And Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Get on Top" was used in one of the teaser trailers.
7 The Movie Is Actually A Parody Of Surfing Documentaries
Surf's Up is a mockumentary which means it is a fictional work that presents itself as if it were a documentary— think The Office, This Is Spinal Tap, etc. Most of the time, mockumentaries are comedic, but they can also be in other genres such as drama or horror.
But what not many viewers know is that Surf's Up is also meant to be a parody of surfing documentaries. The entire narrative parodies such documentaries as Riding Giants and The Endless Summer while some parts of the story parody the documentary North Shore.
6 Real-Life Surfers Were Involved In The Movie
Speaking of surfing, there were actually real-life surfers involved in the making of the movie and some of them even appear in it.
Two professional surfers particularly— Kelly Slater and Rob Machado— had the penguin versions of themselves briefly appearing in the movie. Slater has won over a dozen world surfing championships and is often regarded to be one of the best surfers of all time, while Machado is known for environmental activism in addition to his surfing career.
5 A Special Technique Was Used To Achieve The Desired Look Of The Movie
As mentioned earlier, Surf's Up is a mockumentary which is why it was supposed to resemble the way a real mockumentary would look like, such as the shaky camera effect that happens to mimic a handheld camera.
To achieve this kind of effect with animation, the filmmakers used a real camera operator and used motion-capture to then analyze his moves, using that for creating the look they wanted.
4 There Is A Reference To Another Animated Movie About Penguins
Surf's Up is not the first, nor is it the only, animated movie about penguins to be created. A year prior, in 2006, George Miller's Happy Feet was released which followed an Emperor Penguin who learns how to tap dance while other penguins of his kind sing instead.
Obviously, the production of the two movies coincided. Perhaps because Surf's Up was released a year later, the filmmakers included a line from the title character Cody that references Happy Feet. When asked if he has any skills besides surfing, he replies with, "Like what? Singing and dancing?" It's also worth mentioning that Happy Feet followed the previous year's (real) documentary March of the Penguins, making the 2000s oddly penguin-obsessed for a few years there.
3 The Co-Directors Of The Movie Also Voiced Some Characters
Due to being a mockumentary, Surf's Up includes characters that act as a film crew supposedly shooting the documentary within the story. Obviously, these characters are also voiced, and are played by none other than aforementioned co-directors Ash Brannon and Chris Buck.
Interestingly, the voice actors would often do the physical actions their characters did for their voice acting to be more realistic. That's why, in a scene where James Woods' Reggie was throwing things at the filmmaker characters, Woods actually threw things at Brannon and Buck to get a more realistic reaction from the pair.
2 There Are References To Other Characters & Real-Life People
Apart from the directors and the surfers being involved as well as the reference to Happy Feet, there are actually quite a few references to other fictional characters as well as real people.
For instance, Jeff Bridge's The Geek is a reference to his character The Dude in The Big Lebowski. The character Big Z is based on the surfer Greg Noll who was a pioneer in the field in the 1950s-1960s, while the character Reggie Belafonte is based on Bill Sharp, known as the promoter of the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards and for his appearances in surfing documentaries.
1 It Was A Financial Failure But A Critical Success
With its $100 million budget, Surf's Up only grossed $149 million at the box office which meant that it was considered a financial failure when taking into account marketing costs and the like.
And still, Surf's Up received generally positive reviews from critics and was even nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award (which it lost to Pixar's Ratatouille). It was also nominated for a number of other awards including Annie Awards and Saturn Awards.