Hollywood animations are usually pitched at kids and — when we're lucky — at adults too. Rarely have Hollywood cartoons turn out to be more intelligent and entertaining for the adults than it is for the kids. So imagine our surprise and delight when Surf's Up turned out to be exactly that!

Surf's Up tells a fairly typical story of Cody (Shia LaBeouf), a penguin that dreams of becoming a world-famous surfer — just like his late idol Big Z. He decides to compete at Pen Gu Island's annual Big Z Memorial Surfing Contest. But not only does he lose, he gets caught in a violent riptide that eventually brings him to the doorstep of a strange hermit (Jeff Bridges) in the deep jungle. No prizes for guessing who the mysterious hermit is...

Surf's Up is remarkably complex film for cartoon. It is shot in a documentary-style format with talking heads, vintage film footages and archival material. There is a marvellous array of cinema verite techniques like shaky handheld camera movements, out-of-focus shots and boom mikes dipping into the frame.

The deadpan humour, improvised dialogue and "mockumentary" techniques would delight any film student, documentary lover or movie-goer well-versed in the genres of filmmaking. We were genuinely surprised and charmed by the wit and intelligence that this cartoon had in store for adults — though we honestly don't know what kids could make of it!