Go see "Surf's Up"!!!

I saw Surf's Up tonight with a bunch of other animators from Psyop and the New York area. It was great!!! Seriously folks, this is one of the most original animated films to come out in...well, in a long time! It's not your typical animated flick. The whole thing is set up as a documentary of Cody, and his hero Big-Z. The characters have so much life, they truely live in this movie. As I was watching, I thought "this is an animator's movie", because the bulk of it is long acting shots, where the characters are relating to each other and finding out who they are. During the main story, they cut to "interviews" of the supporting characters, where you'll be treated to some fine straight up acting/dialogue shots that I think are sometimes seen more often in demo reels than on screen.

The movie has such a film look to it, in the lighting and post effects. The handheld camera works really well, and it's so interesting to see how these characters act when they know someone's watching (they are aware of the "camera crew" that is filming, though you never see the crew on screen)

The acting is really top notch. The story is interesting, but it's not so much the story they tell that makes this great, but how they tell it. I was reminded of some of the old Disney movies, the ones when the 9 old men were really in charge--the movies came to life through the characterization more so than the story. That's not to say that there's no story to Surf's Up, there definitely is and it's good. What struck me more, however, was how well developed the two main characters were, and how well the main relationship in the story was developed. These characters have history behind them, they have a story before this story starts.

The water looks fantastic too, some gorgeous underwater shots, and shots inside the waves. There's a lot of texture to the water, varying colors and depth.

Last but not least, kudos to my friend and co-worker Miles Southan, who got to work on the movie! Be proud to have been a part of it!

Everyone else, go to fandango and buy your tickets :) If you're an animator, I think you'll really enjoy Surf's Up.

**Check out AWN's featured pages on Surf's Up--interviews, featurettes, pictures--awesome stuff! (here)