YET another feature film about penguins might seem unnecessary after the animated Happy Feet and documentary March Of The Penguins.

Surf's Up proves its worth by doing something different with its computergenerated birds. Rather than a cute and cuddly story, Surf's Up presents a documentary - mockumentary, more accurately - about a Rockhopper penguin called Cody Maverick (voiced by LaBeouf, fresh from playing the lead in Transformers).

He climbs on a surfboard to escape from an unhappy home life and dreams of being like his idol, Big Z, who rode a wave too far and famously died during a competition. He's spotted by a talent scout in Shiverpool and transported to the sunnier climes of Pen Gu Island, where surfers compete for the Big Z Memorial Surf-Off and top emperor penguin Tank Evans (Bader) is determined to hang on to his crown.

Cody is the contest's underdog (underpenguin?) but helped by slacker dude Geek (Bridges at his most laidback) to win both the contest and the attention of lifeguard Lani (Deschanel).

The whole thing is shot like a documentary, complete with talking penguin heads and scratchy film clips from the archives. It's not exactly groundbreaking but Surf's Up proves there's life in penguins yet.

Voices: Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, James Woods, Jane Krakowski, Michael McKean, Diedrich Bader Running time: 85 mins
Rating: Four stars