Johnny Tsunami

Johnny Tsunami is a Disney Channel television film about a thirteen-year-old Hawaiian boy, Johnny Kapahaala, whose life is upended when his family leaves the islands for Vermont. He leaves behind the ocean, his friends and his grandfather, a well-known surfer also named Johnny Tsunami. In his new home Johnny struggles to fit in at school, where the local students are not welcoming, and he misses the sport he grew up with. He eventually takes up snowboarding and finds a friend and teacher in Sam Sterling, a student at a rival school, but his adjustment brings further complications.

The film was released in July 1999 and runs 88 minutes. It is a family drama made for television, produced by Film Roman and Disney Channel, and it was directed by Steve Boyum. It stands first in the chronological list of the five films he directed, ahead of Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire, Motocrossed, Timecop: The Berlin Decision and Supercross. The screenplay is credited to Douglas Snow, Ann Austen and Douglas Sloan, with Gerald T. Olson producing. Brandon Baker plays Johnny, and the cast includes Yuji Okumoto, Mary Page Keller, Lee Thompson Young, Kirsten Storms and Zachary Bostrom, among 22 credited performers.

Audience response has been moderate and durable rather than enthusiastic. On IMDb the film holds 6.3 out of 10 from about 6,700 votes, while on TMDB it rates 6.1 out of 10 from roughly 157 votes. The much larger IMDb sample suggests a steady base of viewers who remember the film fondly enough to rate it above average, without it standing out as a high point of the channel's output.