Surf's Up (2007)

A totally funny sendup as well as a character-driven story of penguins-who-surf and the similarly humanlike hangers-on who do or don't believe in their beloved craft of riding the waves. James Woods does a fair Don King sendup while the heroes of the story are both true to themselves and grow personally. The show is consistently hilarious and even got loud guffaws from one woman in the upper seats on opening weekend. Some have criticized Robin William's characters as stereotypes but, people, every cartoon character is stereotypical: Valley guy/girl, nerd/brain, airhead/ditz, leader/jock, etc.; broad-brush character portrayal is what "caricature" means. 4.5 stars. [6/9/07 updated 3/30/08]