Surf's Up 2: Wavemania
Director: Henry Yu
Production Company: Sony Pictures Animation and WWE Studios
Voice cast: Jeremy Shada, John Cena, Triple H, Vince McMahon, The Undertaker
Strength: Moral
Weakness: Dialogues, Comic relief
Runtime: 84min
Rating: 6/10
PLOT: Cody Maverick is a misfortunate surfer penguin who, in the first movie, had sacrificed fame and fortune to save his friend during an important contest. The sequel begins with him attempting to change his life for the better in hope of something grand. And he gets just that, with the sudden arrival of his childhood heroes, The Hang 5. Soon, Cody and his friends join a quest to search for the mysterious surf spot, which only the bravest surfers dare to ride upon.
REVIEW: As past movies would indicate, most movies produced under WWE Studios is a recipe for blandness. "Surf's Up 2: Wavemania", with the rather obvious wrestling reference in the title, was no exception. The sequel promises to build on the relatively impressive success of the first movie, and does so by introducing a new cast of characters: The Hang 5, which are voiced by several WWE superstars. And truth to be told, that's about all the instant appeal the movie manages to muster. The dialogues could have definitely been better, the animation was no major improvement from the first movie, and the potential comic relief was missing in quite a lot of scenes.
The movie does deserve credit in one specific aspect, and that's in the plot development. Compared to the glaring weaknesses, the steady progression of the story, along with the utilization of concepts like selflessness and friendship, made the ultimate moral stand out quite positively. Granted, the movie served its purpose of promoting WWE to a larger scale of audience, but it seems all the focus was on that only. The story lacked a lot of depth it could have had, and the setting itself (penguins as surfers) provided no real contribution to how the story could be perceived. For example, if one would replace the birds with humans, there would have been no real change to the plot. Nonetheless, if you were a fan of the first "Surf's Up" and are a WWE fan in general, give this movie an honest watch. John Cena never gives up on anything. You shouldn't either.
Reviewed by Shams Rashid Tonmoy
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