Johnny Kapahala: Back On Board

There was a time when television catered to adults and small children. Prime time at night was for the big folk while afternoons and Saturday mornings was full of cartoons that would keep the youngest members of the family happy. There was some teen programming but not much. The most forgotten demographic back then was what we now call the ‘tweens’. These are the in between kids; not quite in the midst of their teen years but no longer a young child. Now, largely thanks to the Disney cable channel this long forgotten group has a voice. Disney has an increasing amount of programming just right for these kids. In something of a blessing to parents everywhere Disney is not interested in sheer quantity; there is quality here as well. From series programming to ‘made for cable’ or video movies Disney has come up with safe, wholesome and enjoyable programming that even the adults can watch and enjoy. One of the Disney Channel’s latest offerings in ‘Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board’. Rather than dilute a film to pabulum; bland and uninteresting, this film has comedy, drama and excitement. While the film depends heavily on extreme sports there is heart here. The emotions are portrayed in a real and sensitive fashion. There are bounds between the adults and kids that just might help the young people watching, not to mention their parents. Some people may complain that with hundreds of channels on cable there is nothing the whole family can watch. Films like this just show that they are just not looking in the right place.

Johnny Kapahala (Brandon Baker) was born and raised in the island paradise of Hawaii. As such it is no surprise that he is a world class surfer. Some years ago he expanded his horizons, moved to Vermont and mastered the extreme sport of snow boarding. He traded huge waves for the challenge of mountainous rocks and snow. As the film opens Johnny has returned to Hawaii to attend the wedding of his beloved grandfather, Johnny Tsunami (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), master surfer and the young Johnny’s mentor. His parents, Melanie (Mary Page Keller) and Pete (Yuji Okumoto), are overjoyed to have their son back home. Grandpa’ future wife Carla (Robyn Lively) is much younger than him which is more of a concern to Pete than Melanie. Pete is having a little difficulty accepting having a new step brother, Chris (Jake T. Austin) who is younger than his own son. Chris is a sullen, withdrawn boy who resents being uprooted from the mainland and given a new family. Johnny’s parents are planning on staying in the city for a few days and leave Johnny to hitch a ride with Sam (Jonathan 'Lil J' McDaniel), a friend of the family and surfing buddy of Johnny. Sam also turned to snow boarding having just returned from Iceland. One their way to Johnny’s grandfather’s place the pair come across some boys dirt boarding. The dirt board is like the old skateboards but on a larger scale. It has bigger wheels that bring the larger, wider board higher off the ground. The dirt board is perfect for all terrains. At his grandfather’s house Johnny enters his old room to find it in a state of complete disarray; Chris has moved into it. The elder Johnny is out at the beach trying in vein to teach his soon to be step son to surf. After a few wipe outs the boy runs off shouting he doesn’t want to learn. What Chris really wants to do is join a local dirt boarding group known as the Dirt Devils. They are run by a board salesman in the area, Troy (Phil Brown) who is far from reputable. His main goal is financial; hope to turn the Dirt Devils into a marketing bonanza with a lucrative contract to a national manufacturer. When Grandpa and Carla add mountain boards to the inventory of their new surf board shop Troy becomes determined to run the competition out of business. The team leader of the Dirt Devils is Jared (Andrew James Allen) who takes an instant dislike to Johnny. In fact all the Dirt Devils immediately set upon Johnny with the exception of the object of their collective attention, Valerie (Rose McIver). She seems to have a bit of a crush for young Johnny. Her attraction to Johnny gets Val kicked out of the Dirt Devils. With an opening Chris hopes he can get in but the test is an extremely dangerous stunt.

The main reason this work works, especially for the target audience is it deals honestly with their emotions. The ‘tween’ years area tumultuous time and there is little entertainment that doesn’t talk down to them or relegate them to middle children characters. It is natural for the tween to look up to teenagers and this film shows that there are teens out there that are worthy of emulation like Johnny and others like Jared who are outright dangerous. There are strong moral values here but the kids will never feel that they are being preached too. All they will know is they are watching something that adeptly combines drama, comedy and romance with some exciting stunts. This film flows nicely. Director Eric Bross has most of experience in more adult television like the revised ‘Kojack’ or ‘Martha Behind Bars’. This seems to help that he is not a ‘kids program’ director. He treated this film just like any ‘regular’ feature. The flow is easy going but still moves along at a nice clip. There are really no dead spots in the presentation.

Brandon Baker is one of the new Disney protégés who should have a good long career ahead. His style is naturally and unaffected, he comes across as a young man who truly is involved with his family. Also reprising his original role is Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. He has a long resume in television and film often for martial arts oriented role. He has great chemistry with the younger members of the cast and sells his performance. All of the cast is well done and gives just the right balance to the emotional focus of the film.

Like almost every Disney DVD release I have had the pleasure to review this one maintains their high standards. I was impressed by just how bright and vivid the colors are. They just pop off the screen. The Dolby 5.1 audio is full, filling the room. The attention to the background sounds like waves crashing or the wheels against the ground is perfect. There are a couple of extras such as the required behind the scenes featurette called ‘The Dirt on Dirtboarding’. Balancing so many stunts was a challenge for the cast and crew but the results here are great. These stunts are given more screen time with the second feature ‘Angle On: Board Stunts’ where dirt board legend Akoni Kama shows his stuff. It is rare to come across a well film like this intended for the whole family but this one works very well.

Posted 10/08/07