Johnny Tsunami

Infobox_Film
name= Johnny Tsunami


caption = "Johnny Tsunami" promotional advertisement
imdb_id=0206064
writer=Ann Knapp
Douglas Sloan
starring=Brandon Baker
Lee Thompson Young
Kirsten Storms
director=Steve Boyum
music=Phil Marshall | distributor=Disney Channel
released=start date|1999|07|24
runtime= 88 minutes
language=English
movie_series= Disney Channel Original Movies
awards=
preceded_by =
followed_by =""
producer=Gerald T. Olson
budget=|

"Johnny Tsunami" is the 10th Disney Channel Original Movie and was released in 1999. It is the predecessor to "", released in June, 2007.

Plot Summary

The movie starts out when Johnny Kapahala (Brandon Baker) is living in Hawaii. Johnny has good friends, a great family, and a grandpa who is a surf legend. But then, his dad gets a job transfer and makes his wife and Johnny move to Vermont.

In Johnny's new town, there are two schools: one is a private school where the students are all skiers, and the other is the public school where all the students are snowboarders. 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 Sam Sterling (Lee Thompson Young). While at his new school, Johnny meets a girl named Emily (Kirsten Storms), whom he becomes good friends with. However, a skier named Cory likes Emily as well. During one incident in the mountain, the Urchins (the students from the public school) decide to ride the side of the mountain that belongs to the skiers and are confronted by the Skies (the private school students). A quick fight ensues between Johnny and Cory, but is immediately dispersed when a snow ranger arrives. When Johnny arrives home after a meeting with his parents and the principal concerning the fight with Cory, Sam tells Johnny that he is moving to Iceland, as are his father's orders since he is a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. Intent on doing something to prevent the move, Johnny and Sam fly to Hawaii on a cargo plane to stay with Johnny's grandfather. Johnny and Sam have a great time in Hawaii surfing and enjoying the warm weather, but they decide to come back to Vermont along with Johnny's grandfather, the famous Johnny Tsunami. Johnny, to his amazement, finds out that his grandfather has great snowboarding ability and they decide to ride the skiers' side of the mountain, where the best rides are. Cory and his gang meet Johnny and his grandfather and they decide to have a one-race challenge between Cory and Johnny. If Johnny wins the race, then the skiers must share the mountain with the snowboarders. If Cory wins, then he is awarded the Tsunami Medal, a prize given to the best surfer in Hawaii. Johnny goes on to defeat Cory, allowing him and Emily to begin a relationship.

The two brothers who own the opposite sides of the mountain finally reveal their story. Their parents couldn't agree on what should happen when they inherited the mountain, which ended up being split between the two families. After the race, they finally re-unite.

Cast

*Brandon Baker - Johnny Kapahala
*Yuji Okumoto - Pete Kapahala
*Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa - Johnny Tsunami
*Mary Page Keller - Melanie Kapahaala
*Lee Thompson Young - Sam Sterling
*Kirsten Storms - Emily
*Zachary Bostrom - Cory
*Gregory Itzin - Headmaster Pritchard
*Cylk Cozart - Sgt. Sterling
*Steve Van Wormer - Randy & Ronnie
*Gabriel Luque - Matt
*Taylor Moore - Jake
*Shajuan Franklin - Eddie
*Noah Bastian - Aaron
*Anne Sward - Miss Arthur
*Ray Bumatai - Mike

Trivia

*The scenes in Vermont were shot in Utah.
*The sequel to the movie was the largest gap between original film and the sequel that Disney has had, spanning nearly eight years.
*Unlike the sequel, , this film will not be released to DVD but was released on Video on March 5, 2002.
* Goof -- At the scene where both Emily and Sam are at the bottom of the cornice about to fall off, we see Sam take off Emily's board. When Johnny comes back with the Ski Patrol, the officer yells down to the two of them. We can see Emily's orange board still attached to her when he calls down and they respond.

External links

*imdb title|id=0206064|title=Johnny Tsunami