I really expected Surfs Up to be reference for HD animation because I thought Sony would spend a zillion on the transfer, and it is IMO the worst looking digitally animated film on available on an HDM disc. Did anyone take the kids to see it in a decent theater? Check out the scene inside the volcano if you doubt its incredible cruddiness. Audio even lacks for being lossless. Heard stronger DD+ mixes than either of the two lossless tracks offered on this disc.

Anyone else see/hear this?

It's a mockumentary. It supposed to looked distressed and dirty. Sound was awesome.

Really good BD release.

I didn't see it in the theater but we rented it from blockbuster today. I agree it looks terrible and I'm not talking about just the documentory scenes.

I really expected Surfs Up to be reference for HD animation because I thought Sony would spend a zillion on the transfer, and it is IMO the worst looking digitally animated film on available on an HDM disc. Did anyone take the kids to see it in a decent theater? Check out the scene inside the volcano if you doubt its incredible cruddiness. Audio even lacks for being lossless. Heard stronger DD+ mixes than either of the two lossless tracks offered on this disc.

Anyone else see/hear this?Dude, my family and I watched Surf's Up tonight. And it had fantastic audio and video quality. Could there be something wrong with your setup?

It has fantastic video quality in the sense that it is faithful to the movie -- it is supposed to look "bad."

yep. thought it looked and sounded great. I like the style they used for the film..

Not big on the movie although it looked great. It was supposed to have a "documentary" look with different (simulated) film stocks.

Yup it looked like that in the Theaters.

OK. Directors intent. Thanks for the input. Still looks like crap to me and is outclassed by a few DD+ tracks in terms of audio. Still disappointed.

Sincere thanks for the input though.

There are many moments when the film looks amazing, but then of course there are a lot of film shots that are suppose to look bad, and night shots were suppose to have grain. I wouldn't change a thing. If it looked razor sharp all the time, it would have ruined the style for the film.

Don't know what someone is talking about even the best shots looked bad. How can you say that?

It's a great looking film.

Great looking, decent sound... okay story. The writing was better than Happy Feet and a few other animated features, but still nothing that breaks it out of the sterile mold that is plaguing animation these days.

Dan

I didn't see it in the theater but we rented it from blockbuster today. I agree it looks terrible and I'm not talking about just the documentory scenes.
That would be the whole movie, then... ALL of the scenes were "documentary" scenes.

I rented and watched it today (first time), and I thought it looked great. I also realized that the occasional "crappy" video/grain/etc was intentional and done for effect. I'm strongly considering adding it to my collection permenantly.

I thought it was the most "filmlike" looking animated movie I have seen. I was very pleased with the PQ. Much better than something like Happy Feet in every respect.

Surf's Up is supposed to look that way. Now if you want to see the best of the best in Animation, I suggest you watch the ChubbChubbs save X-mas on that disc, it's the best I've ever seen by a long shot, it's way better than Open Season :eek:

I watched this last night, the PQ and AQ were quite good, but not the best I've seen. The story on the other hand...ugh. Basically the same plot of Pixar's 'Cars'.

this movie looked amazing the water looked fantastic.

There is either something very wrong with your setup or you are too anal. Surfs up looks amazing.

this movie looked amazing the water looked fantastic.

There is either something very wrong with your setup or you are too anal. Surfs up looks amazing.

+1 completely agree with both comments. You should get your setup checked out.

This was a boring horrible animated flick...even the parts that were not supposed to be grainy looked crappy...The movie was a flop...Very disappointed....I agree with the OP...Took "forever" to load:mad:

even the parts that were not supposed to be grainy looked crappy...

what parts were not suppose to be grainy? :confused:

Then entire movie was meant to be the filming of a documentary. :confused:

but still nothing that breaks it out of the sterile mold that is plaguing animation these days.

Dan

No kidding. Animation may have started to run its course with the onslaught of such themed titles over the last few years. I mean.... its getting to the point where new movies in the genre just change around a few settings, voices, and get a new animal that does slapsticky, cliched stuff and then thats that. Enough already.... get creative. Everything seems centered on force-feeding the environmentalist propoganda or some other sappy BS left wing-politic viewpoint. :rolleyes:

At least Surfs Up was pretty much just about surfing and didnt try some backdoor, Hillary-approved nonsense message....thanks for that! ;)

Something is not right because I thought Surf's Up looked phenomenal throughout... but I also happen to really love this movie... the final shot before the credits is one of the best things I've ever seen in HD.

Surf's Up is my fave animated movie of the year; movie looked awesome. Maybe with the obsession some here have over grain and such - nevermind that it was artificially added - the incredible detailing on the characters, lighting, and water effects (best animated water I've ever seen) are lost on them.

Worst looking animated movie I've seen. I popped in Finding Nemo(SD) and it blows it aways. I won't even go into how boring the movie was. Glad I rented this otherwise I'd have to use it as a frisbie.

yep. thought it looked and sounded great. I like the style they used for the film..

sound was weak no bass at all really, and it did look like dvd as far as pq goes, I told my girl I "wasted" $30 on a blu ray disc and all I got was dvd quality for both the sound and picture...

Go to Special Features and watch the Progression Reel. The video, audio, and animated characters in this movie are all outstanding.

I have no idea how Surf's Up looked in the theater, but it looked and sounded absolutely fantastic on Blu-ray video.

just wait till you see rataouille. it will be new reference material for animation.

i seen it in the cinema right after i watched shrek 3. and it made shrek 3 look like it was animated 10 years ago.

it just scary to see how much further advanced pixar is, compared to the rest.

for me rataouille was not just the best animated movie i have seen this year. but the best movie i have seen this year.

just wait till you see rataouille. it will be new reference material for animation.

i seen it in the cinema right after i watched shrek 3. and it made shrek 3 look like it was animated 10 years ago.

it just scary to see how much further advanced pixar is, compared to the rest.

for me rataouille was not just the best animated movie i have seen this year. but the best movie i have seen this year.

I will definitely get Ratatouille, that movie will be the new best reference animation film on any HD format. I also agree with the comments about Shrek 3, that series is starting to look dated and was a very boring movie with a bad story line.

Ratatouille was by far the best animated movie of the year, and definately one of the better movies of '07

I thought the added grain really stood out and made the movie loose some 'POP'. I know its the style and that it looked as good as intended but given that the other 99% of animated flicks dont look like this, it was a let down as the OP stated.

I'm going to watch this one tonight and I'll be back with my thoughts of it afterwards.

UPDATE: I watched it tonight and I thought they way they "shot" the movie was awesome! Very realistic looking. The bright scenes were very clear and detailed, while the darker scenes looked like film was used......very cool effect. I don't WANT (or expect) every single movie under the sun to be like looking through a window........don't you guys appreciate the artistic side of movies?

IMHO, this is the worst movie I've ever seen. Even the kids commented on how bad the content and video quality was (in the theater). I suggest this be a rental at best!

Lol i guess some don't get the 'joke' in the whole movie LOL!

There's Beowulf that's coming soon from Paramount. But i found it pathetic that they took real actor. I mean wtf, couldn't done the movie with the real people? LOL if you do animation with real people in it, isn't it more fun to create whole new people?

Lol i guess some don't get the 'joke' in the whole movie LOL!

And then on you go to knock a film you have not seen ;)
There's Beowulf that's coming soon from Paramount. But i found it pathetic that they took real actor. I mean wtf, couldn't done the movie with the real people? LOL if you do animation with real people in it, isn't it more fun to create whole new people?

Seconded (Thirded? Fourth…ded?) on Ratatouille… hands down, the best picture of the year. I've seen it 3 times in the theaters - twice on 2k DLP projectors - and it brought me to tears every time; not only a gorgeous (GORGEOUS!) picture, but humorous, moving, and top-notch storytelling to boot… the Pixar Trifecta.

But back OT… Surf's Up was plenty enjoyable - if not spectacular - and looked good for the style they were trying to emulate (also saw it on a 2k DLP projector), but what bugged me the most about it were the on-the-surfboard shots with the camera that would swing around from a shot of the wave to a close-up of the surfer's face, then they'd cut to a wide shot showing the surfer doing the same moves, but… where's the camera on the surfboard? That's not realistic! ;) Seriously, though, this movie is pristine in its imperfections… you gotta learn to love the grain.

There's Beowulf that's coming soon from Paramount. But i found it pathetic that they took real actor. I mean wtf, couldn't done the movie with the real people? LOL if you do animation with real people in it, isn't it more fun to create whole new people?Umm, have you seen Ray Winstone? He doesn't look a thing* like Beowulf… and Angelina Jolie doesn't really have a tail! :rolleyes:

But what a tail she does have, eh? Eh? Nudge nudge, wink wink… say no more.

*Too much?

Umm, have you seen Ray Winstone? He doesn't look a thing* like Beowulf… and Angelina Jolie doesn't really have a tail! :rolleyes:

But what a tail she does have, eh? Eh? Nudge nudge, wink wink… say no more.

*Too much?

hmm i thought all her best assets are seen from the front.

Ratatouille was by far the best animated movie of the year, and definately one of the better movies of '07

The best animated movie in a pathetic year of animated movies. I liked it though, but I don't know how well it will transfer from film to BR.

I will again reiterate what others have said and repeat myself too: Surf's Up is supposed to imitate surfing documentaries in their use of various film stocks, video cameras, etc., so it won't look pretty and grain free.

However, I had zero trouble with the transfer. Would have liked a more aggressive sound mix, but that's a small thing.

I'm glad I rented it because I just didn't feel it was good enough for repeat viewing. YMMV.

Dan

The best animated movie in a pathetic year of animated movies. I liked it though, but I don't know how well it will transfer from film to BR.

I saw a preview for Ratatouille on a Blu-ray disc recently (was it Are We There Yet? ) And it looked fantastic! I do not expect it to disappoint in any way on Blu-ray.

I liked [Ratatouille], but I don't know how well it will transfer from film to BR.Considering that it never once in the production and/or mastering process touched any manner of film stock, I'd say it should "transfer" fairly well. :cool:

I agree with the OP, this one looks bad, which is apparently intentional.

HTS gave it a 5/5 for video; HDD gave it a 4/5; DVD Talk gave it 4.5/5 and Secrets gave it a 4/5.

Those are good video scores and the 4/5 would reflect my opinion of the PQ. Anyway, I thought it looked great. To each his own though.

I thought the PQ looked great in this film. The problem I think is people want to see the Chicken Little standard full blown animation without much variances. This movie was different and was able to use different styles in a CG film and still translate well. The grain looked very good for grain compared to any film and the shots of the surfing scene at the end was outstanding. So were a lot of the close ups of the surfers while being interviewed.

I guess if you hate grain at all and just want to see the one style clean animation - which is understandable since I love it too- then this is not for you. However, for it's different styles which were complimentary to the documentaries they were mocking, it looked very good. I feel they(directors) were very creative on this movie. I was surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did.

I agree with the OP, this one looks bad, which is apparently intentional.

:rolleyes:

I liked the movie but I hate this grain look the directors use. Like 300. I wish they didn't use that.

If you're complaining about the grain then it's intentional. Most of the scenes are amazing looking. This is very good movie, way better than the other penguin movie. I love the camera movement too. If you watch the extras they show you how they did the handheld camera effect.

This was the first title to "lockup" my S1 :(

Other than that , once I understood how it was filmed, it looked just like expected, most shots were awesome, not as clear as "Open Season" though.

Running 1080i out HDMI/DVI to my "legacy" Tosh 50HDX82 RP.

All 'n All, I did really enjoy this movie as I "get" the "mocumentary" style.

Could not stand "Happy Feet"-though the kids loved it.

I didn't see it in the theater but we rented it from blockbuster today. I agree it looks terrible and I'm not talking about just the documentory scenes.

Then I would say that it might be time to trade in the Z2 for something better, because the non-Documentary shots in the film were stunning in high def.

This is what makes our hobby so great.This is a movie many saw but the effect on
people was greatly different. We have every reaction from great to terrible (very few in-between?). Makes we what to get it just to see what all the fuss is about!

IMHO, this is the worst movie I've ever seen. Even the kids commented on how bad the content and video quality was (in the theater). I suggest this be a rental at best!

Film or digital presentation? If film, opening weekend or how far after? Film doesn't look that good after the first few runs in a theater. DLP and digital projection do not have those problems, so I've stopped going to see anything that isn't Digitally projected now at the theater.

On BD, it looked great for the most part.

Worst looking animated movie I've seen. Glad I rented this otherwise I'd have to use it as a frisbie.

Good one. Use it for frisbie golf over water hazards ... if you lose it, no big deal.

Then I would say that it might be time to trade in the Z2 for something better, because the non-Documentary shots in the film were stunning in high def.Hmmm thats odd since I no longer have a Z2, I have brand new Mitsu HC1500(720p DLP) purchased a month ago. So much for trade in the Z2 remarks huh?

Every other Blu-ray is stunning on the projector and even SD look great. Surfs up just looks bad. Then again maybe you just like the documentary style while I hate it.

In case anyone believes this is a "bad" transfer, take a look at the short that is included on the BD.
It's called "Chubb Chubb" or something like that.
It looks fantastic.
If that doesn't clue you in the PQ of the main feature was intentional....

I am amazed that anyone would fail to "get it."

This is a very clever and funny flick.

I bought it as a blind buy, and thought it was very enjoyable.

The documentary style was fantastic.

In fact, anyone who has this BD should watch the special features (they are in HD, btw). The hand-held cam technology is very interesting as is the "Making Waves" featurette.

Just watched this and was pleasantly surprised. The story wasn't too bad, but I liked all of the 'mockumentary' style interviews. Some funny little stuff in there.

Visually I thought it was incredible. The dried water spots on the camera lens which only showed up during certain lighting conditions, flares, grain, scratches it all was very convincing. The amount of detail you can pick up is what makes this BD top notch.

Exactly. I think some people are not seeing the artistic qualities and how well the details -albeit small-, but nonetheless very well done. Is a welcomed change from the standard always bright flashy one style animation. This is no Pixar, but it doesn't have to be, nor did it try to be like many others.

Exactly. I think some people are not seeing the artistic qualities and how well the details -albeit small-, but nonetheless very well done. Is a welcomed change from the standard always bright flashy one style animation. This is no Pixar, but it doesn't have to be, nor did it try to be like many others.

I watched Meet the Robinsons for the first time last time last night and I personally like the look of Surf's Up far more than something like that. The visual style is just far more creative and interesting.

I thought the PQ looked great in this film. The problem I feel they(directors) were very creative on this movie. I was surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did.
The problem is they added the noise and soft focus to keep your mind off the insipid and boring dialog and plot. Right from the opening scene. Like fifth grade intelligence. Like pass the pot around dude!

With Surfs-Ups there is no justification to blow $30 on the AVC Blu-ray disk. A regular SD disc has more than enough resolution to show the noise, distortion and soft focus. Real surfing documentaries shot on film have noise but the detail and focus are still there. This is a poor and heavy handed imitation by unimaginative filmmakers without talent.

First we have 300 with its added noise and now Surfs Up. Is this another example of society regressing? The plot is so boring that I was forced to concentrate on the added noise and soft focus added to each scene. Does the dreaded coarse Macroblocking effect qualify as entertainment? Rather its torture to the videophile!

As a photographer I do everything in my power to avoid noise and distortion. Its not what we see after all. I delete pictures that are out of focus without question, as its no fun to go through life without out being able to see clearly. Just because Sony lost focus does not mean I have to too.

I would definitely keep this work off my resume. A huge waste of high technology. Next time concentrate on character development and plot dudes.

This movie brings into question the polices of Sony Pictures releasing consistently shallow type pictures. But even these superficial movies have been quite good technically. Now we get a double dose for the first time. In ain't pretty dudes.
My solution is to switch to Netflix to rent rather than buy, least I make a fool of myself again.

Here is the lead review from IMDB:
http://imdb.com/title/tt1051265/#comment

Note to Kris Deering: you missed the call on this one buddy :)

Kris.
How in the world could you possible give this movie four stars for video quality?

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/mrg-151-october-2007-part-1.html

Remember quality as in quality as compared to other High Definition movies. This is your ratings system. Why are you ignoring your own ratings system? Is there some else occurring which has influenced your decision making ability? Do you want to tell us about it?

This is a poor and heavy handed imitation by unimaginative filmmakers without talent.

Geez, you're going beyond critique and into disgruntled former employee territory. :eek:

I'm watching this right now with my kids and I couldn't disgree with the OP more. I think it looks incredibe, the look is different than something like Chicken Little but in my opinion just as good looking. Beautifully done.

In case anyone believes this is a "bad" transfer, take a look at the short that is included on the BD.
It's called "Chubb Chubb" or something like that.
It looks fantastic.
If that doesn't clue you in the PQ of the main feature was intentional....

I am amazed that anyone would fail to "get it."

This is a very clever and funny flick.


+1 for Chubb Chubb, saw "Surf's Up" again with the kids (seems to get better visually with each viewing once you "get" the style). You can pick up the detail of the water splashing on the "lens" among other things.

Of course, not sure if it is a bug or not, but had to completly stop the movie and restart (3-4 minutes load) to get back to the menu to watch the shorts.

OMG, that is what computer animation is all about, crystal clear and highly detailed. Fairly funny concept especially the intro where a band of huge warriors get "eaten" by the Chubbs. :eek:

I'm watching this right now with my kids and I couldn't disgree with the OP more. I think it looks incredibe, the look is different than something like Chicken Little but in my opinion just as good looking. Beautifully done.

+1...

The OP is waaaay wrong.

Watched this on Saturday Morning with the girls..I was cracking up, great movie.

Kris.
How in the world could you possible give this movie four stars for video quality?

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/mrg-151-october-2007-part-1.html

Remember quality as in quality as compared to other High Definition movies. This is your ratings system. Why are you ignoring your own ratings system? Is there some else occurring which has influenced your decision making ability? Do you want to tell us about it?

quality should be compared to how it looked in the theater, not how it looks compared to other films. by your standards all b&w films would receive 0 stars for lacking color.

The movie looked great and sounded better, but the intentional grain is annoying kinda like 300. Hopefully this does not become a trend because we all have invested thousands of dollars to get crystal clear pictures and now filmmakers are intentionally making our movies look like crud. Wait until Grindhouse is released on blu-ray, then the complaining will really begin :)

The movie though was boring and I agree with the person that said it was the same plot as cars. It is damn near identical. I didnt like cars either, snooze fest!

This movie ruled, way better than Cars and Ratatouille. I just watched it tonight, after having it in my BD collection since it came out. I am glad I waited since I now have a lossless setup. Both sound and video were awesome despite the style used.. I thought the PQ was reference when there was no distortion.

Looking back on this one I think I underscored it a bit. I would probably give it a 4.5 now. I still think it is one of the better looking animated features and a testament to Sony's stance on keeping the artist's intentions intact.

I watched this last night, the PQ and AQ were quite good, but not the best I've seen. The story on the other hand...ugh. Basically the same plot of Pixar's 'Cars'.
And Cars wasn't even about the plot... it was all about nostalgia and kitsch Americana.

Looking back on this one I think I underscored it a bit. I would probably give it a 4.5 now. I still think it is one of the better looking animated features and a testament to Sony's stance on keeping the artist's intentions intact.

I agree... The picture is beautiful and the sound is very engaging. Plus you can't go wrong with the dude, man.

Still incredible PQ to me.