Surfing penguin? Cowabunga, dude

Unfortunately, the success of the Oscar-winning dancing penguin animated hit “Happy Feet” overshadowed the release this summer of “Surf’s Up” (Sony, $29), a clever, beautifully rendered 3-D animated comedy about a young Rockhopper penguin (Shia LaBeouf) who leaves his home in Antarctica to participate in a surf-off on the exotic Pen Gu Island. The documentary-style comedy follows Cody as he comes face to face with his long-lost idol Big Z (Jeff Bridges), as well Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), a surf nerd, and a beautiful lifeguard named Lani (Zooey Deschanel). The extras are kicky fun, including deleted scenes, a look at the casting and voice recording sessions, and breezy commentary from directors Ash Brannon and Chris Buck and producer Chris Jenkins.

There’s a Noah’s Ark-load of animals in the bloated comedy “Evan Almighty” (Universal, $30), the sequel to the popular Jim Carrey comedy “Bruce Almighty.”). Star Steve Carell is the main reason to watch the extras, which include outtakes, deleted scenes and ad-libs from the actor. Also included is a look at how the ark was designed and built, and the trials and tribulations of training so many animals and making sure predators never caught site of prey animals.

Gentle sheep grazing on the bucolic hills of New Zealand turn really nasty in the frightfully funny import “Black Sheep” (Weinstein, $25). Written and directed by Jonathan King, the black comedy finds a genetic experiment involving going terribly wrong and turning the furballs into flesh-eating killers. Peter Jackson’s WETA Workshop created the grisly sheep. Extras include friendly commentary from King and Nathan Meister and a featurette on the special effects.

This season of Animal Planet’s “Meerkat Manor” has been quite a downer with the murder of Mozart’s one-hour-old pups by a rival female, the death of Carlos and most especially the demise of the “reality” series star, Flower. For those who want to relive the time when Flower, the beloved Shakespeare and Carlos were still alive and well, the first season of the addictive series (Animal Planet, $25) about the Whiskers family of meerkats arrives on DVD today.

Aardman’s Nick Park, the creator of “Wallace and Gromit,” won his first Academy Award for his 1990 clay-figured, stop-motion animated short “Creature Comforts,” in which animals are interviewed about life at the zoo. The animals’ voices were supplied by Britons of all walks of life who were interviewed on several subjects. The short was later turned into a BBC series; an American version had a disappointingly short run on CBS. The entire U.S. series, thankfully, is being released in a two-disc special set, “Creature Comforts America -- The Complete Season One” (Sony, $30). Extras include some very amusing deleted scenes and extensive interviews with several of the animals.

In Danny Boyle’s full-throttle horror film, “28 Days Later,” a virus turns the inhabitants of England into flesh-eating, angry zombies. In the uneven sequel, “28 Weeks Later” (Fox, $30), a far more virulent strain of rage threatens the world. Extra include deleted scenes, a passable making-of featurette, a look at choreographing and rehearsing the “infected,” and satisfying commentary from director/co-writer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and producer/co-writer Enrique Lopez Lavigne.

Also new this week

“Reign Over Me” (Sony, $28): Despite generally strong reviews, audiences stayed away from this Adam Sandler-Don Cheadle drama about two college friends -- one who lost his wife and children in 9/11, the other with an unfulfilled married life -- who reconnect. Extras include a behind-the-scenes documentary and a bluesy guitar jam session between the stars.

“You Kill Me” (Weinstein, $30): Ben Kingsley goes comedic with good results in this farce about an alcoholic hit man from Buffalo who is sent by his boss to San Francisco to clean up his act. Extras include commentary from director John Dahl.

And

“Wrong Turn 2: Dead End” (Fox, $27); “Michael Palin: Pole to Pole” (BBC Home Video, $50); “Captain and Tennille in Hawaii” (Retroactive Entertainment, $20)