Surf's Up

Who knew that penguins were so talented? They can march; they can tap dance; now, they can surf, too. Sony Pictures uses a documentary format to present computer-animated surfing penguins at the Penguin World Surfing Championship. Cameras follow the totally bodacious Cody Maverick (voiced by Shia LeBeouf), living out his dream like his pro-surfer hero Big Z did years ago before his tragic death. Cody is seen befriending a leggy lifeguard penguin (voiced by Zooey Deschanel), a Zen-like big kahuna (voiced by Jeff Bridges) and a mellow surfing chicken (voiced by Jon Heder); hey, this championship doesn’t discriminate between fowl. This simplistic, no-frills production will entertain an easily pleased crowd, while others will yawn at the lightweight script.