Build a movie plot around this: What happens to Cody's first board? It shatters.
A documentary crew follows the events of Cody Maverick, a 17-year-old rockhopper penguin who lives in Shiverpool, Antarctica with his mother Edna and his older brother Glen. Cody has wanted to be a professional surfer ever since a visit from legendary surfer Ezekiel "Big Z" Topanga several years ago. When a talent scout shorebird named Mikey (Mario Cantone) arrives to find entrants for the "Big Z Memorial" surfing contest, Cody jumps at the chance despite the lackluster support from his family. En route to the contest, Cody befriends another entrant, Chicken Joe.The entrants arrive at Pen Gu Island, the site of the contest, where Cody meets and immediately falls in love with Lani, an eighteen-year-old female gentoo penguin who is a lifeguard. He also meets Tank "The Shredder" Evans, an egotistical penguin who has won the Big Z Memorial nine times since it was first held after Z's disappearance during a previous match ten years ago. Cody sees him disrespecting Big Z's memorial and immediately challenges Tank to a surfing duel. Tank easily wins the duel while Cody nearly drowns in an accident. Lani rescues him and takes him to her uncle, the "Geek", to help Cody recover from his injuries. Cody wakes up and panics when he can't find the souvenir necklace he got as a kid from Big Z. Geek downplays the necklace, but decides to return it when he later finds it in his hut.While returning the necklace, Geek finds Cody sitting on an koa log and offers to help him make a perfect 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 contest. When Cody gets to the beach, he discovers a shack full of old trophies and surfboards, which are actually Z's belongings. After observing Geek solemnly reflecting in the shack, he realizes that Geek is actually Z and asks him to teach him how to surf. Reluctantly, Z agrees, but says that Cody has to make his own board first. The attempt doesn't go well, however, as an impatient Cody doesn't listen to Z's...