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Staging jailbreaks in Madagascar, singing and dancing in Happy Feet: is there nothing those penguins can't p-p-pick up? Witness Surf's Up, a brash and bumptious CG toon about an ambitious young pingu (Shia LaBeouf) who dreams of riding giant tubes just like wave-chasing guru Big Z (Jeff Bridges). Cleverly presented as a mockumentary, complete with 'archive' footage, talking head interviews and 'handheld' camerawork, it's a fun and frothy frolic that should keep the little ones happy while they're waiting for Ratatouille.

Opening in familiar Antarctic territory, Ash Brannon and Chris Buck's movie takes a detour early on by trading the snowy wastes of 'Shiverpool' for the tropical paradise that is 'Pen Gu Island'. Such a pronounced visual shift makes it easier to swallow the film's comical conceit that penguin surfing contests are routinely televised, and that a Rockhopper like LaBeouf's Cody Maverick could hook up with a spaced-out chicken (Jon Heder) en route to a tournament run by a trash-talking otter (James Woods).

"85 MINUTES OF SPIRITED, SATIRICAL AMUSEMENT"

If the picture fails to provide a plot as diverting as its fly-on-the-wall comedy, Cody's gradual realisation that winning isn't everything being strikingly similar to Lightning McQueen's in Cars, it still offers 85 minutes of spirited, satirical amusement. What's more, in a genre where cast members generally meet at the premiere, it's refreshing to hear actors like Woods, Bridges and Zooey Deschanel genuinely riffing off each other in the recording booth. Now if they could only teach real-life penguins to hang ten we might be on to something.

Surf's Up is out in the UK on 10th August 2007.