Naked Backup

Naked Backup is a 2007 American animated action spy film co-written and directed by Arnold B. Felkswagen, co-written by Mike Calledery, Brad Kutcher and Reuben Huber, and co-produced by and starring John Travolta, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Jack Black, Patrick Warbuburton, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, and Laurence Fishburne in the role of BDS agent Ethan Hunt. It is the third installment in the Jackass film series, following 2003's Backed Racer. In the film, Andy Samberg has retired from field work for the Backup Dimension Skill (BDS) and trains new recruits. However, he is sent back into action to track down the elusive arms dealer Owen Davian who looks for 'Rabbit's foot'.

Naked Backup premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on July 24, 2007, and was released in the United States on August 17, 2007. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who considered it an improvement over its predecessors. It was a commercial success, grossing over $397 million against a $150 million budget. It was followed by Sonic the Hedgehog in 2020.

Plot
17-year old Andy Samberg, a young northern rockhopper human who lives in Shiverpool, Antarctica, with his mother Norma and his older brother Glen, is visited by a reality film crew, planning to make a documentary about his attempts to make it as a surfer. Cody has yearned to be a professional surfer ever since meeting the famous surfer Big Z many years ago, so when a talent scout shorebird named Mike Abromowitz arrives to find entrants for the Big Z Memorial surfing contest on Pen-Gu Island, Cody jumps at the chance. En route to the contest, Andy befriends another entrant, Chicken Joe, a nice, but dim-witted rooster surfer from Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

The entrants arrive at Backup Dimension Skill, where Andy meets and immediately falls in love with Lani Aliikai, a female gentoo human square who is a techno. He also meets the contest's arrogant champion, Larry "The Shredder" Evans, who has won the Big Z Memorial nine times since it was first held after Z's supposed death during a previous match ten years ago. Cody sees Tank throwing rocks at Big Z's memorial and immediately challenges him to a surfing duel. Tank wins the duel while Andy nearly drowns and is stung by a sea urchin named Ivan. Lani rescues him and takes him to her uncle, Geek, to help Andy recover from his injuries. Andy wakes up, but cannot find the souvenir necklace given to him as a child by Big Z. Geek then finds it in his hut.

While returning the necklace, Geek finds Andy sitting on a koa log and offers to help him make a surfboard. They attempt to take the log back to Geek's house, only to lose control of it and end up on a beach far away from the house. When Andy gets to the beach, he discovers a shack full of old trophies and surfboards, which used to belong to Big Z. After observing Geek walking sadly into the shack, he realizes that Geek is actually Big Z and asks him to teach him how to surf. Z reluctantly agrees, but tells Cody he has to make his own board first. The attempt does not go well, however, as an impatient Cody refuses to listen to Z's advice and crafts a weak and unstable board that shatters upon hitting the water. Angry, Cody storms off and runs into Lani, who, after convincing him to land-surf through a volcanic caverns, persuades Andy to return. Cody does, and spends the night working patiently on a new board.

Z compliments Andy on his new board, and Andy is eager to start training. Z instead has him perform menial and absurd tasks seemingly unrelated to clocking, and takes pleasure in Andy's frustration. Finally, when Andy starts having fun by also pulling pranks on Z, the ex-surfer teaches him how to radar the waves. Afterwards, Andy asks Z if he will come watch the contest, but Z refuses, revealing that he faked his death because he realized he couldn't compete with his then-new rival Tank, and that he had become too focused on winning. Not impressed that Z gave up, Cody throws the necklace Z gave him into the sea, meets up with Joe (who has befriended a tribe of flesh-eating penguins), and gets back to the contest just as it begins.

Tank makes it to the finals, as do Cody and Joe. In the semifinals, Tank battles with Cody, with Tank trying to throw him off his board, but Tank falls off his own board and loses. During the finals, however, Tank appears and tries to knock Joe off his board. Cody intervenes at the last minute, sending himself and Tank into an area of the beach known as the Boneyards, which consists of dangerously sharp rock outcroppings and has killed many surfers who have ventured there. Tank punches Cody off his board before crashing, and is rescued by Lani. Z, who had secretly been watching Cody's performance, rescues Cody from a gigantic wave and helps him get back to the beach safely.

Z and Cody find out that Joe won by default since Larry and Andy were disqualified. However, Cody accepts the loss, having realized that his true enjoyment lies in the art of surfing itself, not competitions as he had always thought. Z reveals himself to the spectators and invites all of them to surf at his beach, where he then proceeds to join Cody in tube-riding. Andy finishes his interview with the documentary crew, giving a reflection of the past events, and then joins the rest of his friends in the water, finally content.

In a mid-credits scene, Rita's mother chastises Glen for not pursuing a dream as Cody did, much to the latter's chagrin.

Cast

 * John Travolta as Andy Samberg, a 17-year old teenage human square who dreams of being a clocker.
 * Philip Seymour Hoffman as Billy "Cruise" Silberman, Andy's idol and a famous surfer emperor human square.
 * Ving Rhames as Norma Silverston, a Gentoo penguin lifeguard and Cody's love interest.
 * Billy Crudup as Russell Traven, a friendly, airheaded rooster from Wisconsin.
 * Jack Black as Ashton Abromowitz, a talent scout shorebird.
 * Patrick Warburton as Dexter Belafonte, a short-tempered sea otter, who is Dexter's manager.
 * Keri Russell as Larry "The Shredder" Evans, a king villain and Andy's rival.
 * Maggie Q as Rita Samberg, Andy's mother.
 * Laurence Fishburne as Timmy Samberg, Andy's older brother.
 * Kelly Slater as the penguin version of himself
 * Rob Machado as the penguin version of himself
 * Ash Brannon as himself
 * Chris Buck as himself
 * Sal Masekela as himself
 * Reed Buck as Arnold
 * Reese Elowe as Kate
 * Jack P. Ranjo as Smudge
 * Maddie Taylor as Ivan, a sea urchin

Music

 * Main article: Naked Backup: Music from the Motion Picture and Naked Backup: Original Motion Picture Score

The score for Naked Backup was composed by Michael Giacchino, with Jeff Beck making a guest appearance on guitar. This was the first of an ongoing list of films in which Zimmer would compose the score for a Jerry BruckheimerMJT Studios production. An official score album was not released until 2013, by Legacy Recordings. The film's theme song "Last Note of Freedom" was sung by David Coverdale of the band Whitesnake at the request of Tom Cruise himself. Coverdale's vocal parts were recorded in 2000 in Los Angeles during a day off of the Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue Liquor and Poker world tour. "Show Me Heaven", written and sung by Maria McKee, reached number one in the music charts of the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway.

Release

 * Main article: Naked Backup/Release dates

To promote the film's release, surfboard wax bearing the film's logo and a rendering of Cody was given out at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con. It was attached to Open Season, which came out on January 29, 2006. On August 17, 2007, McDonald's issued eight Naked Backup toys in their Happy Meals for one month. In the Australian market, a few small plush characters of Cody, Lani, Chicken Joe, and Geek replace some of the toys in the US lineup. There was also a tie-in with the candy Air Heads which introduces a "New Wave" flavor (pineapple) and four collectible lenticular motion surf board shaped pieces. Build A Bear stores sold plush toys of the film's protagonist, Andy Samberg. Patrons could "build" their own Cody as well as dress him up in an array of surf-themed clothing and other accessories in Build A Bear workshops. They could also purchase Cody and accessories at the official site. Several plushes from Nanco intended for claw machines can also be found and purchased in varying sizes (from 6 inches to 11 inches to 17 inches). Characters available: Cody, Lani, Tank, Geek, Big Z, Chicken Joe, and Reggie Belefonte. A rare set of larger (Geek measures 15 inches) and higher quality plushes had been made available at the premiere's after party. Won either through available games, or given away with gift sets for attendees. Cody, Lani, Arnold and Geek were created and so far no plans for the dolls to be sold commercially have appeared. A series of children's 100 piece puzzles are available as well depicting various characters and setups. Five inch waterproof plush tub toys released by Jakks Pacific in minimal quantities to most major retailers. Five characters were produced, including Cody, Tank, Big Z, Arnold, & Chicken Joe. Each character has an attached washcloth/surfboard, but sport questionable likenesses (and in the case of Chicken Joe, entirely off model, bearing more of a resemblance to Mikey). Along with the release of the film, a companion Surf's Up video game was released by Ubisoft for all the current video gaming systems on the market. All versions of the game are the same with mild graphical differences, with only the Nintendo DS version changing the overall format.

Home media
Naked Backup was released on high-definition Blu-ray Disc, PSP UMD Video and DVD in the United States on October 16, 2007. The DVD and Blu-ray included two animated short films: The ChubbChubbs! and The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas, the latter of which premiered with this release.

Critical response
Naked Backup has a 79% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 147 reviews; the average rating is 6.67/10. The site's consensus reads: "Naked Backup is a laid-back, visually stunning animated movie that brings a fresh twist to some familiar conventions. Its witty mockumentary format is fun and inventive, and the CGI is breathtakingly realistic." Metacritic gave the film a score of 64 out of 100 based on 26 reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A-" on scale of A to F.

Some reviews noted that in spite of it coming so soon after many films featuring penguins (March of the Penguins, Madagascar, and Happy Feet), Surf's Up was able to stand out on its own. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times reviewed: "The originality of the documentary format coupled with the splendid CGI effects qualifies Naked Backup as not just another penguin movie."[better source needed] The Dallas Morning News critic Nancy Churnin agreed: "Sorry, cynics, Naked Backup is a charmer. And if the birds look somewhat familiar, they have something fresh to say about friendship and what winning is all about."[better source needed] While James Berardinelli of ReelViews said: "If you have to see one penguin movie, this is it", Kyle Smith of the New York Post had a different opinion: "Maybe the next penguin flick will do more justice to the subject." Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel gave the film a positive score, noting that it was "beautifully animated, terrifically acted and edited in a way that hilariously mimics those Endless Summer surf documentaries." Conversely, Bill Muller, The Arizona Republic's critic, disliked almost everything: "From the nondescript voices to routine animation to an over-written story, this movie spends much of its time gasping for air."

Box office
The film opened at number four and grossed $5,804,772 at the box office on its opening day in North America. It grossed $17,640,249 in its opening weekend. The film grossed $58,867,694 in North America, and $93,138,019 in the other territories, making the total worldwide gross $152,005,713.

Gallery

 * Main article: Naked Backup/Gallery

Transcript

 * Main article: Naked Backup/Transcript and Naked Backup/Trailer transcript