Johnny Tsunami
| Johnny Tsunami | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Ann Knapp Douglas Sloan |
| Directed by | Steve Boyum |
| Starring |
Brandon Baker Lee Thompson Young Kirsten Storms Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Yuji Okumoto |
| Theme music composer | Phil Marshall |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Gerald T. Olson |
| Cinematography | David Hennings |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Film Roman |
| Distributor | Disney-ABC Domestic Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney Channel |
| Original release | July 24, 1999 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board (2007) |
Johnny Tsunami is a 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie. It was nominated in 2000 for the Humanitas Prize as Children's Live-Action Category. Johnny Tsunami is the predecessor to Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board, released in June 2007. The film focuses on a young surfer from Hawaii who must adapt to new challenges when his father's job forces the family to move to Vermont.
Johnny Kapahaala (Brandon Baker), a boy living in Hawaii, is a surfer who has good friends and a happy family, including his parents, Pete (Yuji Okumoto) and Melanie (Mary Page Keller), and his paternal grandfather, the famous surf legend Johnny Tsunami (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). When Pete gets a sudden job transfer, the family is forced to move to Vermont, while Johnny Tsunami stays in Hawaii.
In Johnny Kapahaala's new town, there are two schools: one is a private school where the students are all skiers, known as Skies; the other is the public school where all the students are snowboarders and known as Urchins. Although Johnny goes to the skiers' school, he would prefer to snowboard because he thinks it is more like surfing. Although he has a hard time at first, Johnny eventually learns how to snowboard with some help from a new friend named Sam Sterling (Lee Thompson Young).
While at his new school, Johnny becomes good friends with a girl named Emily (Kirsten Storms), who is Headmaster Pritchard's daughter. However, a skier named Brett (Zachary Bostrom) likes Emily as well and does not think Johnny is right for her. The Urchins decide to ride the side of the mountain that belongs to the skiers and are confronted by the Skies. Later, Emily attempts to learn how to snowboard with Johnny and his new friends, but nearly falls off the mountainside in the process.
A quick fight ensues between Johnny and Brett regarding the incident, but is immediately dispersed when a snow ranger arrives. When Johnny arrives home after a meeting with his parents and the headmaster concerning the fight with Brett, Sam tells Johnny that he is moving to Iceland, as are his father's orders since he is a sergeant major in the U.S. Marine Corps. Pete tells Johnny that Sam moving away would be for the better, as he wants Johnny to fit in with his peers at private school. A fight occurs between father and son. Johnny wishes his grandfather were there because he understands him better than Pete; however, Pete feels that Johnny Tsunami – a surf bum – is a bad influence on his son. Johnny and Sam run away from home and fly to Hawaii on a cargo plane to stay with Johnny's grandfather. Via telephone, Pete demands the boys be sent home immediately. Johnny's grandfather refuses to send them home until they are willing to return. In Vermont, Melanie finally tells Pete how she has been feeling about him unnecessarily punishing Johnny and tells him he needs to stop forbidding their son from his friends and let him snowboard. Pete tries unsuccessfully to defend his actions with Melanie, who reveals that she wishes that he could be the easy-going husband that she once loved, before he became the way he is.
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