Surf’s Up

Apparently under the impression that there’s an insatiable market for animated penguin movies, four writers (Lisa Addario, Christian Darren, Don Rhymer and Joe Syracuse) and two directors (Ash Brannon and Chris Buck) have hit upon with what they consider a surefire idea: penguins invented surfing. End of inspiration. Beyond that, the six of them are hard-pressed to come up with enough story for even an old-time six-minute cartoon short. Their mockumentary style, with the characters being interviewed by off-camera voices (Brannon and Buck themselves), only emphasizes how uninteresting the characters are: upstart hot-dogging kid (voice by Shia La Beouf), legendary old-timer (Jeff Bridges), old-timer’s sexy lifeguard sister (Zooey Deschanel), hero’s comic chicken sidekick (Jon Heder), … yadda yadda yadda.