Regrettably, I have yet to watch the 2007 original Surf’s Up, but when Sony Animation announced Surf’s Up 2 :Wave Mania, featuring most of the original cast along with several superstars of the WWE, I knew I had to review it.
Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), Tank Evans (Diedrich Bader) Cody Maverick (Jeremy Shada) continue their surfing way as they compete with The Hang Five the team of The Undertaker, Paige, Hunter (Triple H), J.C. (John Cena) and Mr. McMahon.
Cody throws a luau for his idols but continues to interrupt J.C.’s stories. When he finds out that Cody taught the chicks a specialty survival move, intrigue is built as Mr. McMahon mentions The Trenches, the most dangerous surf spot on the planet.
When Cody is over looked for Lani (Melissa Strum) to join the group on the heels of Mr. McMahon announcing his retirement, Cody tries to drum up interest in his surfing styles by being J.C.’s chosen one. A la the original NXT format, The Hang Give mentor their chosen protégés in a competition on who will replace Mr. McMahon.
What the group of penguins and Chicken Joe learn is how to work as a team on the most epic and hardcore journey of their wave riding lives.
Shada replaces Shia LaBouf and Strum takes over for Zooey Deschanel, which Strum does a magnificent job as being a sound match as she sounds almost like Deschanel on New Girl. What seemed a little lazy in the writing was unlike the Warner Bros. WWE/Flintstones animated feature where they gave them stone age names, Sony decided to use the superstars real character names instead of playing a fowl with some punny ones.
Several of the gags were based on their WWE personas and even an ode to The Undertaker’s theme and John Cena being Super Cena in always saving the day.
For the parents who aren’t fans of the WWE, there are minimal professional wrestling references, so they don’t have to worry about any over exaggerated cartoon violence in this one. Surf’s Up 2 has several morals including taking the high ground and the importance of teamwork, which are all lessons parents will want their kids to take away from the feature.
It is a fun, action based animated feature that your kids will want to watch a few times over.
Surf’s Up 2 :Wave Mania is available now on DVD and DigitalHD.
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Surf's Up 2
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Overall Score
The Verdict
For the parents who aren’t fans of the WWE, there are minimal professional wrestling references, so they don’t have to worry about any over exaggerated cartoon violence in this one. Surf’s Up 2 has several morals including taking the high ground and the importance of teamwork, which are all lessons parents will want their kids to take away from the feature.
