''Surf's Up 2: WaveMania'' is a 2017 animated

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Henry Yu. It is the sequel to the 2007 film '' Surf's Up''. Produced by

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. (also referred to as Sony Animation Studios and abbreviated to SPA) is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and found ...

and

WWE Studios WWE Studios Inc. (formerly known as WWE Films) is an American film studio owned by the professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor (company), Endeavor Group Holdings. WWE Studios ...

with animation from

Mainframe Studios Mainframe Studios is a Canadian animation studio owned by Wow Unlimited Media and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1993 as Mainframe Entertainment Inc. by Christopher Brough, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, Gavin Blair and John Gr ...

, the film received a direct-to-video release on January 17, 2017, on DVD and digital media. The reception to the sequel was mostly negative.

Jeremy Shada Jeremy Shada (; born January 21, 1997) is an American actor, musician and singer. He is best known for his work as the voice of Finn the Human from the American animated television franchise ''Adventure Time'' and Lance in '' Voltron: Legendary ...

and Melissa Sturm respectively replace

Shia LaBeouf Shia Saide LaBeouf ( ; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series ''Even Stevens'', a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and 2002 and won a Dayt ...

and

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel ( ; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress and musician. She made her film debut in ''Mumford (film), Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film ''Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known f ...

as Cody Maverick and Lani Aliikai.

Jon Heder Jonathan Joseph Heder (; born October 26, 1977) is an American actor. He is best known for his breakout lead role as the title character of the comedy film ''Napoleon Dynamite'' (2004). He also voiced the character in the Fox animated serie ...

and

Diedrich Bader Karl Diedrich Bader (born December 24, 1966) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his comedic and voice acting roles. He has appeared as a series regular in television sitcoms ''The Drew Carey Show'', '' American Housewife'', ...

return as Chicken Joe and Tank Evans, respectively, while

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor and professional wrestler. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he is the current WWE Championship, Undisputed WWE Champion in his record 14th reign, which is ...

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by his ring name the Undertaker, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway ...

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...

Saraya Bevis Saraya-Jade Bevis (; born 17 August 1992) is an English professional wrestler. She is known for her time in All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she performed mononymously as Saraya, and in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Paige. She ...

, Michael Cole, and

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon ( ; born August 24, 1945) is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his later-estranged wife Linda McMahon, Linda, is a co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest ...

make up the rest of the cast.

Plot

A teenage

northern rockhopper penguin The northern rockhopper penguin, Moseley's rockhopper penguin, or Moseley's penguin (''Eudyptes moseleyi'') is a penguin species native to the southern Indian Ocean, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. It is described as distinct from the southern rockho ...

named Cody Maverick lives in obscurity on Pen Gu Island, where he teaches children to surf in his own

surf school ''Surf School'' is a 2006 American teen sex comedy written and directed by Joel Silverman and starring Corey Sevier, Laura Bell Bundy, Harland Williams, and Sisqó. The screenplay concerns a group of misfits who must learn to surf in one week s ...

alongside

gentoo penguin The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a penguin species (or possibly a species complex) in the genus ''Pygoscelis'', most closely related to the Adélie penguin (''P. adeliae'') and the chinstrap penguin (''P. antarcticus''). The earl ...

Lani Aliikai, opposed by his rival Tank Evans, who also runs his own surf school. Cody's best friend Chicken Joe is a world-famous surfer as his prize for winning the 10th Big Z Memorial surfing competition, performing in competitions around the world and calling himself "El Pollo Loco". Chicken Joe leaves his world tour to visit Pen Gu Island. At the same time, "The Hang 5", a team of extreme surfers and thrillseekers (consisting of

giant otter The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of mustel ...

Mr. McMahon,

puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

Paige and penguins J.C.,

and

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

, and their announcer

Seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

), arrive on the island. Since Cody was a big fan of them from childhood, he invites the whole team to his place and throws a party in their honor. At the party, Mr. McMahon reveals that the team are on a journey to a mythical surf spot called the "Trenches" to ride a

rogue wave A rogue wave is an abnormally large ocean wave. Rogue wave may also refer to: * Optical rogue waves, are rare pulses of light analogous to rogue or freak ocean waves. * Rogue Wave Software, a software company * Rogue Wave (band), an American in ...

, and further reveals to his team that he is retiring and came to the island to find his replacement. After Mr. McMahon and Paige choose Lani, Cody and Tank respectively convince J.C. and Hunter to sponsor them as potential replacements for McMahon, the Undertaker randomly selecting Chicken Joe so that he will also have a candidate, unaware of his fame. The group subsequently leaves the island atop a

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

. Having approached an unknown coastline, they walk (and later surf) through a

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

for a time (encountering

quicksand Quicksand (also known as sinking sand) is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it crea ...

), before reaching a

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

, at which the group stops for the night. The next day, while searching the jungle, they find a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

, the remains of an ancient penguin civilization that worshipped the art of surfing, Tank discovering a golden surfboard. Further, the group uses improvised

hang gliders Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

combined with

surfboard A surfboard is a narrow plank used in surfing. Surfboards are relatively light, but are strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding an ocean wave. They were invented in ancient Hawaii, where they were known as ''papa hee ...

s to cross a

lava lake Lava lakes are large volumes of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a volcanic vent, crater, or broad depression. The term is used to describe both lava lakes that are wholly or partly molten and those that are solidified (sometim ...

on Cody's suggestion (from having viewed

hieroglyph Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters. ...

s from the temple), during which, due to his bickering with Tank, he almost knocks Chicken Joe into the lava, and the 5 harshly berate him for his behavior. Feeling immense guilt, Cody leaves overnight, while the group, feeling remorse (except for Tank, obviously) for the way they spoke to Cody (especially J.C., who said that Cody was nothing like them and he never will be), since if it wasn’t for Cody, they never would’ve gotten over the lava, moves onwards towards the Palisade. While walking back, Cody comes across another set of hieroglyphs depicting the civilization's champion riding the waves of the island and his eventual death in The Trenches, leading to Cody deciding to return to warn Chicken Joe and Lani. Meanwhile, the rest of the group arrives at The Trenches, where Seagull is struck by lightning and disintegrated; Lani deduces the "RTL" catchphrase of The Hang 5 as being in reference to the act of "ride the lightning", i.e. surfing during a

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

, which they have previously done worldwide. After admitting that all members of The Hang 5 are by definition "crazy" and that one must "RTL" to join, Lani declines membership, Chicken Joe accepts an honorary membership from the Undertaker, and Tank reluctantly agrees to "RTL" in order to acquire the fame and fortune associated with being a member. Assembling before the formation of a rogue wave, The Hang Five and Tank ride atop of it as lightning rages overhead. Having changed his mind, and in fear for his life, a redeemed Tank swims off behind the wave, pursued by lightning because of his surfboard's metallic nature, while The Hang 5 continues maneuvering between lightning bolts; the Undertaker is struck by lightning and falls into the water. He is rescued by Hunter and brought to the shoreline while Paige and McMahon got a wipe out, where his heart is found to have stopped beating; the Undertaker is subsequently revived by Chicken Joe through the use of

jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

stings (as natural AEDs). The group then witnesses J.C. brought both Cody and Tank after saving them the process. After such a selfless act, Mr. McMahon invites Cody to join their team, but he refuses, having become unwilling to abandon his friends and his island. Impressed by Cody, Mr. McMahon decides to stave off his

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

and desire for "fish milk" to remain with the team further.

Cast

as Cody Maverick, a 17-year old

and long time fan of Hang 5. Shada replaces

from the first film. * Melissa Sturm as Lani Aliikai, a

and Big Z's niece. Sturm replaces

from the first film. *

as Chicken Joe (aka "El Pollo Loco"), a

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

and Cody's teammate who is now a full-fledged surfer after winning the Big Z Memorial Surf-Off. Heder reprises his role from the first film. *

as Tank "The Shredder" Evans, a

king penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller than but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid, and krill. On foraging trips, king pen ...

, Cody's rival and the main antagonist, reprising his role from the first film. Later in the film he eventually reforms. *

as J.C. *

as The Undertaker *

as Hunter *

as Paige, a puffin. *

as Mr. McMahon, a giant otter. * Michael Cole as a Seagull * Zoe Lulu as Kate * Declan Carter as Arnold *

James Patrick Stuart James Patrick Stuart (born June 16, 1968) is an American actor. He portrays Valentin Cassadine on the daytime soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and tel ...

as an Interviewer and Announcer

Production

Since the release of the original,

Mario Cantone Mario Cantone (born December 9, 1959) is an American comedian, writer, actor, singer, and television host. He is best known for his numerous stage shows. He played Anthony Marentino in '' Sex and the City'' and Terri in '' Men in Trees'' (2006– ...

and

from the film had mentioned the possibility of a sequel several times. On March 1, 2016,

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

announced that they have partnered up with

for a ''Surf's Up'' sequel. Henry Yu was hired as the director of the film, making this his directorial debut while Abdul Williams was tapped to write the screenplay. The project was initiated by

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

(WWE), which inquired with Sony for a possible project that would help expand their brand and reach a new generation of audiences. According to Yu, WWE thought that ''Surf's Up'' had "a really fun vibe. It's really light-hearted. It's got a lot of goofy, cartoony fun." He also remarked that the film is "about surfing – it's about sports. So we thought it was a natural fit." All character designs had to be approved by WWE.

Reception

''Surf's Up 2: WaveMania'' was universally panned by critics and audiences, with criticism being aimed at the film's poor animation quality, voice acting, cliche writing and abandoning the first film's themes in favor of promoting WWE stars. In 2023,

Letterboxd Letterboxd ( ) is an online social cataloging service for film founded (partially with investment company Tiny since 2023) and owned by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011, and headquartered in New Zealand. Members can rate and review ...

ranked it #6 on the worst animated films of the 2010s.

References

External links

Official website
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