The filmmakers insist no one will confuse the animated musical "Happy Feet" with the wry, animated "Surf's Up," which is done in the style of a fake documentary, a la "This Is Spinal Tap," about penguins competing in a surfing competition. The film opens June 8.

The market can bear another animated penguin movie, said Shia LaBeouf, the voice of a young penguin surfer who becomes protege to a has-been champ (Jeff Bridges).

"People would get sick of it if we weren't telling a good story and our whole allure was penguins," LaBeouf said. "But our allure is we're stretching the medium. Animation has never been done like this, in this tone, in this mockumentary 'Spinal Tap' way."

"Surf's Up" connects the dots between surfing and Hawai'i, despite the stretch that is making penguins the protagonists. In addition to the voices of LaBeouf, Bridges, Zooey Deschanel and Jon Heder, it features the voices of real-life pro surfers Kelly Slater, Rob Machado and Sal Masekela. Sony unveiled plans for the movie at a December press conference in Turtle Bay. And in Hollywood recently, at a "Surf's Up" press event at Sony studios, the company studded the space with surfboards and flowers, creating a Hawaiian lu'au setting.)