Könige der Wellen (2007)

Könige der Wellen: Directed by Ash Brannon, Chris Buck. With Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder. A behind-the-scenes look at the annual Penguin World Surfing Championship, and its newest participant, up-and-comer Cody Maverick.

“Itu0026#39;s not the funniest animated movie youu0026#39;ve ever seen — most of the jokes are amusing, rather than laugh-out-loud — but it does the job.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSometimes the humor just seems to be u0026quot;itu0026#39;s penguins doing human things — get it?u0026quot; u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut itu0026#39;s fast-moving, colorful, and the voice cast is good. (Fortunately, they didnu0026#39;t give Jon Heder too much to do, so he wasnu0026#39;t out of his depth.) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eShia LeBeouf was very good (esp. considering how young he is). Several of us thought it was Bruce Willis doing the character of Cody. Snappy and smart. I liked Mario Cantone as the snarky sandpiper.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe animation is so deft you can actually see subtle emotions play over the faces of these birds. The waves sometimes look real, not animation.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s a lot of stuff about surfing. Seemed like one of those old surfing documentaries sometimes. I didnu0026#39;t know if the kids could follow all that — but the 3 little girls sitting in front of me pronounced the movie u0026quot;fantasticu0026quot; afterwards, so I guess it did its job.”