Beautiful Wave

(2011) Beautiful Wave DRAMA/ ADVENTURE

What can I say, I'm a sucker for 'road trip surfing' movies which this set up can be similar to "Blue Crush 2", another movie not liked by the masses, but I still kind of liked it because of it's 'uniqueness' despite secondary acting. Directed by David Mueller who also provided the story along with Lynn Salt, stars Aimee Teegarden as Nicole asked to move in with her mother's estranged grandmother who happens to own a store, selling surfing boards. Although Nicole is a great swimmer, she still has a fear of the ocean water, which is why she reads a lot during her spare time, but she somehow inherits this old van anyway, for it may be a sign that she yearns for adventure. Now, I just want to say that the first 30 minutes of this is a little blatant, perhaps somewhat convoluted and that the chemistry don't seem 'relatable' until they (2 guys and 2 girls to be exact) go on a road trip to search for a particular beach where Nicole's grandfather used to surf, which is supposed to be on some undisclosed location somewhere in Mexico. She decides to go there, after discovering a drawn out map, secretly located in the van. And until they go on that road trip, the relatable chemistry I'm referring about are the harmless verbal squabbles, which 'we' as people often do not see in many 'road trip' movies, because we had all done it, such as which direction to drive or whose paying for what, and on what conditions. Pointing out that if someone is tagging along with someone else, that rules would have been made which is no different with any house you live in. It's all very relative and expected, that without those familiar squabbles, would make those other road trip movies very boring. And finally, I hate drama movies where it always have to end in a big hug. Here is a movie which would not stoop to that kind of level, since a persons actions should be judged for what they do in the future and in most cases, a hug doesn't solve anything. My rating might've been higher had the 30 minute set up be much tighter.

Too slow-paced for me. And it's like the movie couldn't decide if it was about this girl coming out of her shell and overcoming her dad's drowning, or about these teenagers surviving a perilous road trip. And I don't get why they would put up with this drug-using, irresponsible jerk.

This is a movie with a slow build - made for teenagers without any gratuitous violence or sex - unusual for that alone. But, add in the fantastic soundtrack and setting and this becomes an indie gem. The audience is assumed to be intelligent, not needing to have every little bit of plot nuance or character trait spelt out to them and as a result, the characters evolve gradually and by the end of the movie we are left feeling just a little bit more positive about human nature and wishing that we could embark on a trip in a beaten up camper ourselves. The universal themes of love, attraction, loss and acceptance are intertwined with the more specific environmental issues, but you never feel preached at - just very chilled out. It would be good to see more movies made at this pace - more art-house than blockbuster but none the worse for that.

"Life's a lot easier if you let go of whatever is holding you back." Nicole (Teegarden) is sent by her mom to Santa Cruz for the summer to live with her grandmother. At first she resents the fact that she has to go but soon changes her mind after meeting new friends...and the sport of surfing. After watching "Soul Surfer" I was actually more excited to see this then I normally would have been. I knew it wasn't going to be like that but I wasn't looking forward to "Soul Surfer" the first time either and that surprised me with how good it was. After 20 minutes I realized how wrong I was in my expectations. For those that have seen the movie "Surfer, Dude" this is more comparable to that one then this one. No real plot to speak of, or really surfing for that matter. Again though I know this movie is not made for me so I may be being to hard on it but to me this was boring and seemed to have no point. Although if I was a teenage girl I may feel different about it. Overall, a movie that I thought was boring but also it wasn't made for me. I say C.

Nice storyline, one my grandchildren can watch! Good veteran actors and young ones did well too. Wonderful photography! I enjoyed it very much! I liked the bit of mystery and a bit of a look back to the sixties. Thank you for showing Hallmark movies Now!