Johnny Tsunami facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Johnny Tsunami
VHS cover
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	Buena Vista Television
Release
Original network	Disney Channel
Original release	July 24, 1999 (1999-07-24)
Chronology
Followed by	Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board (2007)

Johnny Tsunami is a 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM). 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. It was nominated in 2000 for the Humanitas Prize in the Children's Live-Action Category. The film was followed by a sequel, Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board, released in 2007.

Plot

Johnny Kapahaala, a boy living in Hawaii, is a surfer who has good friends and a happy family, including parents Pete and Melanie, and his paternal grandfather, the famous surf legend Johnny Bartholomew Tsunami. When Pete gets a sudden job transfer, the family is forced to move to Vermont, while Tsunami stays in Hawaii.

In Kapahaala's new town, there are two schools: a private school where the students are skiers known as Skies; and the public school where the students are snowboarders known as Urchins. Johnny goes to the skiers' school, but would prefer to snowboard because he thinks it is more like surfing. After some difficulty, Johnny eventually learns how to snowboard with help from a new friend named Sam Sterling.

At his new school, Johnny becomes good friends with a girl named Emily, who is Headmaster Pritchard's daughter. However, a skier named Brett likes Emily too and thinks Johnny is not right for her. The Urchins ride the side of the mountain that belongs to the skiers and are confronted by the Skies. Later, Emily nearly falls off the mountainside while learning how to snowboard with Johnny and his new friends.

A fight ensues between Johnny and Brett regarding the incident, but is immediately dispersed when a snow ranger arrives. 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 first sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps and relocating also means a promotion to sergeant major. Pete tells Johnny that Sam moving away would be best, as he wants Johnny to fit in with his peers at private school. A fight occurs between Johnny and Pete. 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 Tsunami. Via telephone, Pete demands the boys be sent home immediately, but Tsunami refuses until they are willing to return. Melanie tells Pete her feelings about him unnecessarily punishing Johnny and tells him he needs to stop forbidding Johnny 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.

Johnny and Sam enjoy surfing and the warm weather in Hawaii, but they decide to return to Vermont along with Tsunami. Pete is shocked to see his father in Vermont, and the two have a heart-to-heart talk about Pete's punishment in forbidding his son from snowboarding with his friends. Pete admits he went too far in punishing Johnny. Tsunami encourages Pete to go easy on Johnny and let him make his own mistakes so he can learn from them. Tsunami tells Pete the more he tries to punish Johnny, the more resentful he will be towards his father later in life. The next day, Johnny is amazed to learn Tsunami has great snowboarding ability, and they decide to ride the skiers' side of the mountain, where the best rides are.

Brett and his gang encounter Johnny and Tsunami, and decide to have a one-race challenge between Brett and Johnny Kapahaala. If Johnny wins the race, then the skiers must share the mountain with the snowboarders. If Brett wins, then he is awarded the Tsunami Medal, a prize given to the best surfer in Hawaii. Pete encourages Johnny to win the race to keep the medal in the family. He wins the race, despite Brett's cheating attempts, allowing him and Emily to begin a relationship. Brett's friends congratulate Johnny and are inspired to learn how to snowboard with the Urchins.

Johnny's parents throw a celebration party. Brothers Randy and Ronnie, who own the opposite sides of the mountain, reveal their story as they were the original Sky and Urchin. Their parents divorced long ago and they could not agree on what should happen when they inherited the mountain after their father died 10 years earlier. The mountain was split between the two, with the Skies having the best rides. Randy and Ronnie decide to reunite the mountain and open a new shop which allows everyone access to the best slopes. The brothers thank Johnny for helping them see the error of their ways.

Cast

• Brandon Baker as Johnny Kapahaala
• Yuji Okumoto as Pete
• Mary Page Keller as Melanie
• Lee Thompson Young as Sam Sterling
• Kirsten Storms as Emily
• Zachary Bostrom as Brett
• Gregory Itzin as Headmaster Pritchard
• Cylk Cozart as Sgt. Sterling
• Steve Van Wormer as Randy and Ronnie
• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Johnny Tsunami
• Gabriel Luque as Matt
• Taylor Moore as Jake
• Anthony DiFranco as Eddie
• Noah Bastian as Aaron
• Anne Sward as Miss Arthur
• Kevin Clifford as Garbage Man

Songs

• "The Way" - Fastball
• "Fire Escape" - Fastball
• "Nowhere Road" - Fastball
• "Rolled" - Jeffries Fan Club
• "Crystal 52" - Jeffries Fan Club
• "So Down" - Jesse Camp and the 8th Street Kidz
• "Life Jacket" - Simon Says

See also

In Spanish: Johnny Tsunami para niños