This is one of the most underrated sports movies to date. Probably the best animated sports movie by a landslide. The soundtrack is amazing, and one of the better movie soundtracks, animated or not.
Shia LaBeouf is incredible as Cody Maverick. He’s kid from a small town who just wants something more. Relatable much? Ever since meeting the famous surfer Big Z as a child, Maverick has dreamed of being a professional surfer himself. But he’s a talented surfer, so his chances of leaving the frozen tundra home in Shiverpool, Antarctica might actually be possible. And then the Big Z Memorial Surf Tournament sponsors stop by Shiverpool on their search for talented surfers across the globe to compete in the Big Z Memorial. Maverick ultimately gets into the tournament at Pen-Gu Island where he befriends Chicken Joe. Credit to DreamWorks for SPEN or the Sports Penguin Entertainment Network. That was perfect. Professional penguin sports entertainment really does have a huge market. Once Maverick gets to Pen-Gu, he is quickly humbled by Tank Evans, the top ranked surfer in pretty much the universe. This guy has won the last nine Big Z Memorial tournaments and has been the face of surfing since Big Z passed away. He’s also the biggest a-hole on the island. On the other hand, he’s also one of the funniest characters in the entire movie, so it’s a fair trade off.
After Tank destroys Maverick in a one-on-one contest, he basically tries to run away from everything, and who could blame him? He finally had his moment in the sun for everyone to see and he falls flat on his face. Here’s a guy who has always been the best where he’s from and now he realizes he really doesn’t know anything about surfing. He meets Geek who is really Big Z but we don’t know it yet. Apparently, Big Z faked his death to avoid a ton of embarrassment, a bit of a weak move if you ask me, especially because it was a loss to the up and coming superstar Tank Evans. But Cody Maverick helps Z fall back in love with surfing without even realizing it. That’s one of the coolest things to see in this entire film. It’s so sad when someone falls out of love with something they used to be spectacular at. But Z shows Maverick that surfing isn’t about winning trophies or being the best. It’s about getting pitted and just enjoying the water. And how true. We often forget the to see the beauty in things.
The best part about this film hands down is Chicken Joe from Lake Michigan. Joe is played by Jon Heder, and he is the greatest surfer probably in the history of Pen-Gu. That’s right. Move over Kelly Slater. Joe at one point goes searching for Cody, and runs into a group of native penguins that try to sacrifice him, and I don’t know if there is a better scene in the entire movie than that one. This movie just does everything correct. The humor always hits, and the jokes never get stale.
This movie just pulls at the human emotions. If you aren’t feeling anything when Maverick is successfully pulling off the ride of his life while simultaneously hearing every single person who ever doubted him then you are definitely a grapefruit. It’s like watching Sunshine and Rev run the fake 23 blast with a backside George reverse to win the Virginia state championship for the Titans. You’re just lying if it doesn’t make you feel great when he starts proving everyone wrong.
This movie is great for a few reasons. It does subvert our expectations towards the end, in a very good way. The ending isn’t cheesy or the predictable one where Maverick wins in the end. He doesn’t win the Big Z, but it doesn’t matter anyways. He proved he was in fact good enough to win it. But that doesn’t matter to him anymore. Cause surfing isn’t about winning titles. It’s about getting lost in the waves, getting pitted, and just hangin’ loose.
By far the most underrated sports movie, and the best animated one. 93/100 for this hilarious documentary of the great Cody Maverick. It gets better each time you watch it. DreamWorks hit big on this one.
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