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

Johnny Tsunami was, surprisingly not bad at all. I acknowledge it as one of the better Disney Channel movie like High School Music (Yes I was harsher on my critics, but hey, it was more hyped and I had higher expectations). Johnny comes back to Hawaii for his grandfather's wedding. His grandfather, a widower, is getting married to a widow. Does the widow had kids you ask? Yes she does, a 12 year old son named Chris... making that Johnny's uncle. Chris wants to be in a group named the Dirt Devils, they kind of resemble the group back from Johnny Tsunami... or to a bigger extent, that one group from Brink. Not to mention that Chris is in denial with the marriage. That's basically how the plot goes (yeah, I'm not good at explaining stories without spoiling). Alright, on the the pros and cons... pros first. The biggest improvement between this and the prequel is the acting. Even being rated G and a Disney Channel movie, the acting isn't bad at all. I was able to watch the whole movie without thinking, "oh wow that scene or phrase was terrible." If you watched the prequel, you'll watch this with relief. Now the cons... unfortunately there are a bit more cons (though all are at a lesser extent). One is the new character Chris. Chris is some emo wannabe, and a very hated character in my opinion. You'll see, even in the end. Another con is the weak plot. The prequel had a simple story as well, but the plot in this movie is very limited. Your grandfather's getting married, you solve a kid's problems, and you meet (another) girl. The story tries to twist the elements around... And probably the biggest problem is Johnny comes back to Hawaii to see his new family... so what? There's almost no connection to the prequel whatsoever. And if you make a sequel to this movie, the plot except the fact that Grandpa Johnny got remarried would be nonexistent. Also one last thing is Val and Johnny. What happened to Emily? Then again, he never says anything about Val or Emily being his actual girlfriend. Well this is all I could say. This movie isn't bad, but it's just the weak plot that ruins it. But don't worry, it's watchable.

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.