Beautiful Wave

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.

This is a beautiful, peaceful movie which speaks to the heart. I'm surprised it has gone unnoticed and the ratings do it absolutely no justice. Beautiful scenery, great soundtrack, and a simple yet engaging story about a cute, quiet girl from New York who learns to see life from a new perspective as she uncovers her families past.

Story: A young girl Nikki who never leaves her room, constantly reading books and shutting herself off from the outside world, is sent to her Grandmother for the summer, who owns a surf shop in California. As she discovers more about the families past, and embarks on a road trip to Mexico, things start to change.

The character development seems to move too fast at the start, but everything falls perfectly into place as the movie continues.

Warning: not a typical movie about blonde babes and surfing.

Loved the surfing scenes and the burgeoning romance between the young couple. Also a great line by the grandfather about needing to look deeply enough in the enemies eyes until you can see yourself and then you can talk to them. Good movie James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 2/18/2021

This movie had a very dramatic storyline. There IS surfing and a awesome indie rock soundtrack, but it also a story on a teen's search of her place in life after her father died saving her. Nicole (Aimee Teegarden) goes through a soul-searching trip(after finding her grandpa's 1960's van) along with a co-worker of her Grandma's (Patricia Richardson)surf shop, and 2 guys whom (at times)did not seem to go along too well. A must-watch movie if you are in great family dramas, or the environment (seaturtles clearly are apart of the movie.) And in the end of this flick,you'll feel better about life and the environment.

"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.