Johnny Kapahala

When a month ago I heard that the original Disney channel movie Johnny Tsunami(1998) was returning with a sequel, I was psyched. The original was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and to put it easily enough, I was excited to see an update.

Now, when the movie begins, we immediately reacquaint ourselves with Johnny Kapahala, now 17 and back in Hawaii to visit his famous virtuoso surfer Grandfather, whose getting married. Now at the start of the movie, I got a little confused at first. Johnny meets up with a friend who I had no clue was suppose to be Sam from the first Johnny Tsunami. Yeah, Lil' J replaces Lee Thompson Young from the first movie.

Now, in the first movie, Young played Sam Sterling, a snowboarder Johnny meets in Vermont, who shows him the ropes and what not. I thought he was the coolest character back then. Now 7 years later, his character seems to have faded, along with his look, which isn't Lee Thompson Young's fault. Lil' J doesn't look anything like Lee Thompson Young, and he doesn't even pull his character off good at all. I thought it was kind of funny how when Johnny and him meet up again, Johnny doesn't even try to make a good attempt at being overjoyed by seeing him again. It was like Bradon Baker was saying to himself, "Yeah, that's not Sam".

Simply enough, I think Young reprising his role would have definitely been better, and a note to any director or whatever making a sequel to a movie series: If you can't get the actor to play as the character from the previous movie, don't add the character in the script! Or at least find someone who looks like the guy! Thankfully, Sam's role is very small in the movie, so I don't care. The plot of the movie revolves around Johnny going back to Hawaii preparing for his Grandfather's wedding, and learning he has an uncle, whose 12. Yeah, the next annoying character in the movie is Chris, Johnny's 12-year old uncle. Chris is a misguided pre-teen generally getting into the wrong crowd, and Johnny's there to veer him away from that.

You'd think that since they're back in Hawaii, surfing would be the main sport in the movie. Whelp, it's not, it's dirt boarding, which is a welcome change, as it shows how interesting and fast-paced the sport can be.

All in all, Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board showed me my childhood is dying quickly, but is a decent sequel, even through it's shortcomings. 6/10

Erle Stanley Gardner found a formula that worked. He subsequently built what he called a "fiction factory," to manufacture copies based on that formula. It featured a sort of circular slide rule that in various spins could and did produce scores of books.

Disney's cable property does this now. The formula is simple: find yourself and at the same time (usually) reconcile some problem with a relationship with your parents.

The spin of the wheel this time has dirt skateboards and Hawaii. Nothing else differs from the formula.

It must be hell to have airtime to fill, and unrelenting obligation. Its yet another reason you won't find much worth watching on TeeVee.

This time the mom is a redhead, an artifact of a different Disney story factory.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Johny is back and better then ever in this wonderful sequel to the hit Original Disney Channel movie, Johny Tsunami. Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board picks up a few years later as we see the little boy that we have learned to love has become more mature. The story is nothing great but it surprised me as a pretty interesting story line for a sequel to a movie that came out in 1999. The amount of drama that has been put into the movie makes you actually care what happens to the characters. But it's not all slow and touching drama. The dirt boarding and other extreme moments is what really makes this movie shine. All the stunts look very real, and makes you think that you could do it. When the action gets going, it never stops. The energy you get from viewing such events gives you a certain rush. Simply there's nothing like it in it's kind. Disney played the safe card and produced a solid sequel which has its moments. A definite see, for anybody interested in extreme action or anyone who are fans of tho old Johny Tsunami. This will deffently not ruin the first film, if anything, it will revive the Johny Tsunami legacy for all you old fans out there.

I've seen many movies and this one of them. I love when jony. My fav part was when we found it after watching the first movie... the first movie got me to watch the second one. I stayed out of the swimming to watch this 3 star masterpiece. The only thing i recommend is to make a jony part 3. Overall this movie was a solid 3/3.

Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board was probably one of the better sequels out there, not better the johnny Tsunami, but actually equal, id give both about 7 stars( an i have) to begin, we find johnny, a Hawaiian native, Vermont placed surf and snowboard champ, going back to Hawaii for his grandfather, the original "Johnny Tsunami",s wedding to a much younger bride, johnny meets his new uncle, a 12 year old Dirtboader named Chris, who is against the wedding all together, an at the same time as the wedding, Johnny's grandfather is opening a surf store that caters to dirt board sales, but along the time, confronts a rival shop owner, intent on getting the kapahalas, out-of-business.

The movie is good, it has laughs, not too much drama, an a new sport involved, dirt boarding, so expect something different.

All in all, its a good flick, that i highly recommend