Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board

Plot summary

Johnny "Pono" Kapahala, a seventeen-year-old snowboarding champion from Vermont, returns to Oahu, Hawaii, for the wedding of his grandfather, local surf legend Johnny Tsunami. Johnny is excited about the marriage as he anticipates having an uncle to hang out with, but he discovers his "Uncle Chris" is a 12-year-old brat.

The next day, Sam and Johnny catch Chris heading off with the Dirt Devils, a team of dirtboarders. They follow him to a barge set up with a skate park. Before Chris can skate, Johnny and Sam show him up by skating the barge. Annoyed, Chris runs away. When he gets home, he fights with Johnny and tells him to leave him alone. So, the next morning, Johnny goes surfing. He bumps into Valerie, a member of the Dirt Devils Chris has a crush on, and gives her a surfing lesson, which makes Chris jealous and upset. Forced to hang out with Chris, Johnny and Sam blackmail him into coming with them for a day. With Val, they go dirtboarding and ride ATVs. To his surprise, Chris has a good time, and he and Johnny finally start to get along.

The group heads out to a dirtboarding event to meet Akoni Kama and possible sponsors, but the Dirt Devils kick Val out of their group for hanging with Johnny and Chris, the "competition." Chris runs away from home again, and when Johnny and Sam find him, Chris is fighting with Jared, the leader of the Dirt Devils, on joining his group. Chris agrees to do a dangerous jump the next day during the rehearsal dinner for Carla and Johnny's wedding, which is also the night before the opening of the shop.

Carla decides to move back to Pennsylvania in a conversation with Johnny's grandpa, which Chris overhears. After getting some encouragement from Val, he feels guilty about causing their break-up, but doesn't know how to mend it. Johnny then says that Chris is lucky he has a smart nephew and eventually, with help from Val, Sam and Johnny fix the surf shop. They decide to stop hanging out with the Dirt Devils. The opening of Johnny's grandpa's store is a huge success, and even pro dirtboarder Akoni Kama comes. Meanwhile, across the street, the Dirt Devils find Troy in a heated argument with Val's dad over negotiations for him to move to California.

Johnny and Chris finally reach terms of friendship, and Chris helps Johnny with the race by describing the course set up by Val's father. The race begins with Troy in the lead for a large portion of the time, until the ending when he falls when doing one of three required tricks and crashes into the barrier at the finish line. Johnny wins, and Troy is arrested after the police find out he told Jared, who is released back into his parents' custody, to trash the shop. Carla and Johnny's Grandpa finally get married, and both families are finally happy.

Cast

Brandon Baker as Johnny "Pono" Kapahala

Jake T. Austin as Chris, Carla's son and Johnny's paternal step-uncle

Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa as Grandpa Johnny "Tsunami" Kapahala, Johnny's paternal grandfather

Robyn Lively as Carla, Johnny's second wife and Johnny's paternal step-grandmother

Mary Page Keller as Melanie Kapahala, Johnny's mother

Yuji Okumoto as Pete Kapahala, Johnny's father

Jonathan "Lil J" McDaniel as Sam Sterling, Johnny's best friend

Andrew James Allen as Jared

Rose McIver as Valerie "Val", Johnny's best friend

Phil Brown as Troy

Akoni Kama as himself

Thomas Newman as Bo

Fasitua Amosa as Officer

William Wallace as Officer

Mountainboarding

Mountainboarding stunts performed by:

Akoni Kama

Leon Robbins

Kody Stewart

Jarrad Cronin

Ryan Slater

Ben Toulmin

Joe Lawry

Production

The film was shot in New Zealand, at Studio West in West Auckland.

Home media

The DVD was released on October 9, 2007.