BACKGROUND
Back before Disney Channel elevated the idea of what a television movie could be with their surprise success High School Musical (2006), Disney Channel Original Movies used to be low-budget events, more about teenage and family life, and not the over-the-top, show-stopping musicals that Disney Channel seem to favour now.
It’s a well-known fact that the most memorable DCOMs tend to be those musical movies, with many gaining one, two, or even three sequels. Other non-musical DCOMs that are still remembered by the majority of viewers years after their release tend to feature a rising star of the time, like Hilary Duff in Cadet Kelly (2002).
Unless you are a die-hard Disney Channel fan, if you look at a list of all the DCOMs that have been released since 1997, when they were officially named that, there will likely be plenty of films that you’ve never heard of. For me, those films tended to be anything released before 2003, probably because 2003 was about when I started watching Disney Channel.
Rip Girls was just one of many pre-2003 DCOMs that I had never heard of until I perused the ever-growing Disney Channel Movie list, and I’d like to think that I’m not the only one who didn’t even know about it, let alone hadn’t seen it.
Released in 2000, along with eleven other DCOMs, Rip Girls is a movie set in Hawaii, and featuring a thirteen-year-old girl as she learns about her family heritage, whilst also learning how to surf. Yes, Rip Girls is yet another one of those earlier “sports movies” from Disney Channel, following in the footsteps of Brink! (1998), a movie about skating, and Johnny Tsunami (1999), another surfing movie.
I can’t say I enjoyed Rip Girls particularly. I’ve never been that excited about surfing, or sports in general, with very few of Disney Channel’s sports films interesting me, and I felt like the story was something I’d already seen before. Rip Girls is mostly meant to be centred around the teenage girl, Sydney, and her family heritage, but linked to that is a whole subplot about the family deciding whether or not to sell their inherited family home to realtors so that a huge resort can be developed in the area, something the locals obviously don’t like.
Rip Girls tries to include details about Hawaiian culture, but these become lost in amongst some of Sydney’s teenage angst and her tense relationship with her father. But I’ve seen online that Rip Girls is an underrated gem for many Disney Channel fans, so I’ll try to go easy on it. It wasn’t all bad; I’ve probably just been spoilt by the DCOMs of my childhood.
PLOT
At the beginning of Rip Girls, teenager Sydney is on a flight just about to land in Hawaii. She tells the audience that she was born in Hawaii so this is like her returning home. She left Hawaii with her father, Ben, at a very young age after her mother died. Sydney and her father now live on the US Mainland, with her father’s new wife, Elizabeth.
After landing, the three arrive at a big house. It is an old plantation called Makai that Sydney has recently inherited. The future of this land is why Sydney, Ben, and Elizabeth are here. Sydney takes the opportunity to explore the area and take photographs, with photography being a hobby of hers. She eventually ends up at the beach and watches people surfing. Sydney would love to learn how to surf, but her overprotective father doesn’t allow her to do “risky” things like that. Sydney doesn’t feel brave enough anyway.
Sydney then goes inside the house to explore. It is old and dusty – and she is soon spooked by a random black cat! Elizabeth finds she likes the place, especially some of the pillow fabrics, but Ben reminds her that they agreed not to take anything home with them. Their Hawaiian lawyer, Bo, then arrives to welcome them to the island. He tells the family they must stay on the island for two weeks, as a pre-requisite of Sydney inheriting the land. We also learn she is the sole heir. The plantation is rundown, but the locals are hoping that Sydney and the family might be willing to start it back up again. Ben is adamant that neither he nor Sydney want to do that, preferring to simply renovate the house and sell it.
Sydney later finds an old family photo album in the house and starts flicking through it. She finds a photo of her mother with a surfboard. Sydney tries to ask her father about her mother, but he won’t talk about it; he never talks about her. Sydney likes the picture though, and decides to stick it to the mirror in her room. She has little to no memories of her mother, but at least she now has a photograph.
The next day, Sydney sees that black cat again and follows it to an old shed. It is seemingly full of old equipment for the plantation, but Sydney finds a surfboard at the back, with the word “Naniloa” painted it on. She is headed to the beach with the board when she knocks over a girl on a bicycle. This girl is initially annoyed with Sydney, but her attention is then drawn to the cool surfboard. The girl introduces herself as Gia. Gia knows all about her family history and why Sydney is on the island, which makes Sydney feel a bit insecure… Sydney invites Gia back to the house, and starts showing Gia some of the photographs she’s taken since they arrived here. Gia thinks they are really cool and says she should take some photos of the surfers whilst in the water. Sydney isn’t so sure her dad would want her to do something like that though.
However, Sydney chooses to go to the beach the following day, despite her father wanting the three of them to have a family day together. He isn’t happy about her walking to the beach alone, and meeting up with people he doesn’t know. But he allows her to go, as long as she promises not to go in the water, because she doesn’t understand how dangerous the rip tides and currents can be. Sydney promises not to go in the water.
Sydney pretends to leave for the beach with only her camera, but once Ben and Elizabeth have gone inside, with two real estate agents, Sydney sneaks back to grab the surfboard she found yesterday and goes to the beach. There, she meets up with Gia, who introduces her to some of her friends. One of these friends is a boy called Kona, who is not able to surf at the moment because one of his arms is in plaster after a skateboarding accident. He stands on the beach and talks to Sydney about different surfboards, before realising that Sydney has never surfed before. Gia, Kona, and the others say they have to teach her how to surf.
After some practice on the board on sand, Gia thinks Sydney is ready to go in the water. Despite Sydney feeling scared, as well as her promise to her father, she follows Gia in to the ocean. Tut-tut; your dad is going to be so mad at you, Sydney! Unsurprisingly, Sydney wipes out almost immediately, but she’s fine. However, we then see that someone is higher up the beach watching Sydney and Gia through binoculars…Creepy… When Sydney comes home, she lies to Elizabeth about the surfing she did that day, and then changes the subject by asking about why her dad seems so stressed out right now. Elizabeth tells Sydney not to worry about it; it’s just “grown-up stuff”.
It soon becomes clear why Sydney’s father is stressed out and that’s because of Sydney’s inherited land. The real estate agents from the day before invite the family to their office to discuss plans. It turns out these realtors are only too excited to have a teenager inherit the land with a father who has no desire to stay in Hawaii and actually needs money from the sale. Prime targets for a scam. Well, to be fair, the realtors aren’t con artists, but they don’t care about this community. It turns out they want to use Sydney’s land to build a huge resort complex, something they’ve wanted to do for a while but the previous owner, Sydney’s great-aunt, would never sell, so they were unable to. The realtors show off their grand plans, but Sydney isn’t interested and leaves the adults to talk. Sydney just wants to practise her surfing.
Once the meeting is over, Sydney goes down to the beach to meet up with Gia. Sydney finds that her surfing is definitely improving as she manages to stand up on the board for the first time! Gia and Sydney then watch Kona skateboarding, where Sydney tells Gia she likes Kona. Gia plans to tell Kona immediately, but Sydney begs her not to say anything. The girls then go back out in the water, but Sydney catches a bad wave and struggles under the water. Gia can’t get to her quick enough. Luckily, Kona has seen Sydney struggling and runs into the water to save her. Together, Kona and Gia get her to the shore.
Sydney is alright but has a small cut on her head. Gia says they should take her to her mother, Malia. Sydney must’ve passed out or something because she later wakes up in Malia’s house. She tells Malia that it was like she had an out-of-body experience. Malia gives her a herbal drink to make her feel better. Sydney still feels scared to go back in the water though, so Malia tells Sydney that she knew Sydney’s mother. They both loved to surf, and that board Sydney has, which got damaged in the near-drowning-incident, was Sydney’s mother’s, with “Naniloa” being her mother’s nickname. Sydney wants to know more about her mother, so Malia takes her to a mountaintop overlooking a sacred beach. Malia tells her that this is where she used to go with Sydney’s mother, as this is where the whales come sometimes and when they do, there is a ceremony for the event. Sydney hopes to be able to experience that during her stay in Hawaii.
Sydney then returns home to find that Elizabeth and Sydney’s father have been incredibly worried about her since she hadn’t come home on time. Sydney’s dad was out looking for her, but comes back to see she has returned home, but he is not at all happy. Sydney tells her father she hurt herself surfing, causing her dad to freak out and start shouting at Malia who brought Sydney home. It’s clear there is bad blood between the two of them, but Sydney has no idea why, making it even more obvious to her that her dad is keeping secrets.
The next day, Sydney talks to Gia on the beach about what happened the night before with Gia’s mother and her father. Gia lets it slip that Sydney’s mother was in a surfing accident, but when she sees that Sydney didn’t know, Gia backtracks, saying she probably has gotten it all wrong and that’s not even what happened. This leads Sydney to do some research. She finds an old article about her mother and goes to tell Gia about it, but she’s busy praying for better waves. This is soon interrupted by a group of boys starting a water fight… Sydney goes to Kona to talk instead. First, Kona shows Sydney a picture he drew of her surfing; Sydney loves it. Then, Sydney asks if he can take her to Kaala Loa, which was mentioned in the article. He says it’s abandoned and they’ll have to get there on horseback but they can definitely go. Sydney walks around Kaala Loa and feels like she remembers being in one of the bedrooms; it turns out this was Sydney’s mother’s childhood home.
Later, Sydney and her family find that the realtors have agreed plans for their new resort and promise a good price for the land. They will need an answer about the sale soon. Back home that night, Sydney isn’t sure what to do about the sale, when Kona and Gia come to take her to that sacred beach for a luau as the whales are coming back. At the party, Kona and Sydney kiss for the first time, but the evening takes a turn, when, whilst watching the whales, Sydney asks Malia to tell her about her mother’s accident. Malia isn’t sure whether she should be the one to tell Sydney but does so anyway. One day, Malia and Sydney’s mother went out surfing together, and the waves were great; everything was fine. As they headed back to the beach though, Sydney’s mother was struck by multiple huge waves and nobody was able to save her from drowning… Instead of getting closure, learning about the accident makes Sydney angry, angry with her mother for leaving her, and angry at her father for keeping her mother’s death a secret for so long. Sydney has a heart-to-heart with her father when Sydney has calmed down a bit, and says he doesn’t like to talk about it because he feels guilty that he wasn’t at the beach that day and wasn’t able to save her. He then felt even more guilty when he found love with Elizabeth so struggled to talk about it. They then talk about the sale of the land. Her father says it is Sydney’s decision on the house, and not his, but he can’t lie; the money from the sale would be good for the family.
Sydney goes to meet up with her friends again, but she cannot find Gia anywhere, and Sydney learns that the whole community is mad at her because the local paper has printed a story saying that the resort is coming. Sydney tries to tell them that nothing has been decided yet, but she is ignored. Sydney then goes to speak with Malia, but only finds Kona there. Kona is helping Malia fix up Sydney’s surfboard, by putting his drawing of Sydney on to it. Kona tells Sydney that Gia stood up for her in front of the others, and lets Sydney know where Gia might be.
She finds Gia on a small stretch of beach; this is Gia’s hiding place, somewhere she goes when she’s trying to work things out in her mind, like why her father doesn’t visit her more often. Talk soon turns to the resort complex, and the fact part of the beach is going to be designated for tourists only. Sydney says the lagoon with the whales will be preserved, but Gia reminds her the whales won’t come with all the increased tourism. Gia says she hoped that by showing Sydney the island she wouldn’t want to sell the land. Gia says that her mother wanted her to do that. Sydney then accuses Gia of only being her friend to stop the sale of the land. Gia tries to say that she really is her friend, but the conversation turns into an argument, and Sydney walks off, saying she’s definitely selling the land now and can’t wait to get off this island. At the realtors’ office, paperwork is laid out in front of Sydney. She only has to sign on the dotted line. Sydney sees her former friends outside and wonders if she’s doing the right thing.
After the meeting, Sydney heads to Gia’s house and talks with Malia, who says it was probably unfair to expect this of someone who left the island so young, but that she’d hoped Sydney would have felt at home here and wouldn’t have wanted to sell. Malia gives Sydney a locket, which contains a photo of Sydney and her mother together. Sydney then tries to find Gia, but Kona doesn’t know where she is. Sydney then has a horrible thought: that Gia has gone surfing alone. Sydney runs to the place where she found Gia the other day, and finds all her stuff on the beach and her board in the water. Sydney grabs Gia’s board and swims out in to the sea, where she sees Gia struggling in the water. She manages to get Gia on to the board and paddles back to the beach with her. Gia has hurt her arm but she’s mostly alright. The two apologise for their fight, and Sydney tells her the good news: that she didn’t sign the contract and that her and her family are going to live here now! Malia and Ben, Sydney’s father, also make amends for the past.
The movie ends with Sydney out in the ocean, where she drops a lei into the water. She says this is a memorial to her mother, and hopes that by staying in Hawaii, she’ll continue to learn about her and feel closer to her.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Sydney Miller is only thirteen-years-old, but she’s found herself in the position of owning a former plantation in Hawaii, thanks to family connections on her mother’s side. Sydney is excited to be back in Hawaii, as she left when she was very young and hopes to be able to feel closer to her mother by being there. But instead of being involved in boring property discussions, Sydney wants to hang out with people her own age and learn how to surf, something her father would never let her do normally. This is Sydney being rebellious, I guess! Sydney soon learns that inheriting land here comes with quite a responsibility. Sydney is already aware of the community’s thoughts on the situation, and knows about the dangers of destroying natural environments, so she realises that she doesn’t want to sell, and would rather stay in Hawaii, wanting to learn more about her mother. When Sydney realises that she was being manipulated by Gia and her mother to get her to reconsider selling the land though, she feels betrayed and wants to sell out of spite – but she just can’t do it. She loves life on the island, and luckily, her father and stepmother are happy to stay.
Camilla Belle was cast as Sydney, having already acted in a few small roles prior to Rip Girls. One of these was appearing as Jane in A Little Princess, the 1995 adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. She was then cast as Cathy Bowman in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), the first (of many) Jurassic Park sequels. Around the time of Rip Girls, she also starred as Lizzie in the television movie Back to the Secret Garden (2000). Belle may also be known for her role as Nora in the film From Prada to Nada (2011), which starred former Spy Kids actress Alexa Vega as her sister, Mary. More recently, Belle appeared as Melyssa in the comedy series Dollface (2019-22), and in the recurring role of Pearl Serrano in Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021-present).
Ben Miller is Sydney’s father. He does not want to be in Hawaii with all those bad memories of his wife’s death, and only wants to be there for the required two weeks. In that time, he seemingly pushes for the sale of the land, despite their lawyer’s attempts to get them to consider starting up the plantation again, or at least stay in the house permanently. It doesn’t work, and that is partly due to financial concerns. Although Ben tells his daughter that the decision on whether to sell the land or not is up to her, Ben is certainly the one calling the shots with all the realtor meetings, and clearly doesn’t expect Sydney to consider staying in Hawaii. He probably hoped that if he never told Sydney about her mother and their life on the island, then she’d have no ties to the area and wouldn’t want to stay, but it’s because of his secrecy and overprotective nature that Sydney starts to dig deeper in to learning about her mother. When the truth is revealed, Ben tells Sydney he never told her about her mother because he felt guilt that he couldn’t save her on that day. He does also say that the choice of selling the land is solely up to her, and that they could talk about staying if that’s what she wanted. Well, she did want to stay, so Ben had to learn to get through the difficult moments of the past and move forward!
Ben was played by Dwier Brown. He was cast as John Kinsella in the movie Field of Dreams (1989), which starred Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones. He later appeared as Dr. David Herlihy in Season 3 of ER (1994-2009) and guest starred in many other series.
Elizabeth Miller is Ben’s second wife and Sydney’s stepmother. She is the only mother that Sydney has ever really known, however, the three of them are not a particularly close family unit. It seems like Elizabeth is quite wary of not acting too much like Sydney’s mother, and she tries to explain away some of Ben’s overprotectiveness. Elizabeth also states during Rip Girls that she has always felt like the ghost of Sydney’s mother has been following them around, because Ben is so determined to keep the circumstances of Sydney’s mother’s passing a secret. In the end, Ben manages to move past this and they both seem happy with Sydney’s decision to stay in Hawaii.
Elizabeth was played by Lauren Sinclair. Sinclair had previously been cast as Agent Winters in the movie Face/Off (1997), starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, and starred as Emma in the thriller The Mystery of Spoon River (2000).
Soon after arriving on the island, Sydney literally bumps into Gia, knocking her off her bike. It looks like these two have a real friendship, bonding over surfing and Gia showing Sydney around the island, however, it later is revealed that actually Gia was initially pretending to be Sydney’s friend in the hopes that Sydney might decide not to sell her family’s land, not wanting further development on the island. This causes an argument between them as Gia tries to say it started off that way, but now she knows Sydney, they have become friends. Sydney doesn’t believe her and storms off, threatening to go ahead with the sale. Knowing that Gia has upset her friend, she decides to go surfing alone to clear her head, but this turns out to be a big mistake as she is knocked off her board and injured. Luckily, Sydney shows she is still Gia’s friend by coming to her rescue, and the two reconcile, apologising for their fight. Gia was played by Stacie Hess.
Gia “pretending” to be friends with Sydney was her mother, Malia’s, idea. But Malia wasn’t doing this to be mean or even doing this solely to protect the community. She actually did this because she wanted Sydney to learn about her family heritage, because if she knew more about it, then she might feel connected to the area and would want to stay. This probably wasn’t the way to go about it, and this causes friction between Sydney and Gia, as well as friction between Malia and Ben, who accuses Malia of putting Sydney’s life in danger when Malia brings her home after Sydney’s surfing incident. In the end, Malia and Ben put the past behind them, and decide to be friends again now that Sydney and her family are planning to stay on the island. There is also something that was never resolved in Rip Girls and that is the identity of the person watching Sydney surfing with Gia on the beach early on in the film. We’re led to believe that this is a big mystery that will be revealed later – but then it’s not. It’s not really known who this person is, but I believe it is most likely to be Malia, checking that Gia was doing as she was told.
Jeanne Mori was cast as Malia. She had previously guest starred in episodes of series, such as Night Court (1984-92); Sister, Sister (1994-99); and ER (1994-2009). She was also cast as Helm in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
Sydney’s love interest in Rip Girls is skateboarder Kona. Kona clearly likes Sydney, as he dives into the ocean to save her from drowning, despite his arm being in plaster, which was completely ruined afterwards. No doubt Kona’s doctor was not happy with him about that! The two also kiss at the luau, however, we don’t see very much between them after this point, with the plot’s focus moving to Sydney’s mother and the sale of the land. I’m sure with Sydney choosing to stay in Hawaii, they managed to rekindle their teenage romance! Kona was played by Brian Christopher Stark, who went on to be cast as Zack in Season 5 of the MTV anthology series Undressed (1999-2002).
We also have Bo, the Miller’s lawyer on the island. Bo makes it obvious that he doesn’t agree with the Miller’s plan to sell, or with the realtors’ plans to build a huge resort complex on the land, but he is not paid to give his opinion so he doesn’t actually say very much in the movie after his initial introduction. I guess he was glad that they decided not to sell. The reason I mention Bo is because actor Keone Young appeared in another DCOM: Return to Halloweentown (2006), where he was cast as Silas Sinister. Young also has links to other Disney projects, including voicing Lord Qin in the direct-to-video Disney sequel Mulan II (2004); voicing additional characters in Disney Animation’s Wish (2023); voicing the character of Luong Lao Shi in Disney Channel’s animated series American Dragon: Jake Long (2005-07); and voicing characters in Disney XD’s Star Wars Rebels (2014-18).
PRODUCTION
Despite being set in Hawaii, strangely, Rip Girls was filmed in Queensland, Australia.
I’m not sure why this would be, especially as other Disney productions have filmed in Hawaii before. Johnny Tsunami (1999) is just one of those. Although not set or filmed entirely in Hawaii – some of the film is set in the snowy mountains of Vermont – the portions of the movie that are set in Hawaii were filmed there[1]. This was just one year prior to Rip Girls. Hawaii is closer to the USA than Australia too, so it seems an odd decision. I can only assume it was a budgetary reason. The good news is Disney now do tend to use Hawaii for their Hawaiian-set movies and television series, including the Disney+ series Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. (2021-23), and the 2025 live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch.
In terms of specific filming locations in Queensland that Rip Girls used, these details are hard to come by, with only Cabarita Beach being specifically mentioned[2].
Rip Girls was directed by Joyce Chopra. Chopra is known for directing the movie Smooth Talk (1985), which starred Laura Dern and Treat Williams and won the Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival. The screenplay was written by her husband, screenwriter and playwright Tom Cole. Chopra then directed The Lemon Sisters (1990), starring Diane Keaton. Chopra went on to also direct some episodes of television series, such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001-11) and Everwood (2002-06).
Rip Girls was written by Jeanne Rosenberg, who had previously co-written the screenplay for the Disney live-action film White Fang (1991). Rosenberg was later credited with working on the story for Bambi II, the direct-to-video sequel of Disney Animation’s Bambi (1942), alongside director of the film Brian Pimental.
MUSIC
Much like many Disney Channel movies, Rip Girls’ soundtrack consists of mostly pop music.
This film’s most famous song was actually removed from the Disney+ version of the film. This song was “Rev It Up”, performed by Irish girl group B*Witched, known for their 1998 single “C’est la Vie” amongst others. They even performed “Rev It Up” at a 1999 concert filmed at Disneyland, as well as some of their biggest hits – as did UK boy band Five. However, probably due to copyright issues, the song has been removed from Rip Girls, as it appears on Disney’s streaming service. It was played during the scene when Sydney manages to stand up on her surfboard for the first time. The song that replaced “Rev It Up” was “I Know You Can Do It” performed by Tyler van den Berg. I think this song is just as much fun as “Rev It Up” and suits the scene.
Another piece of pop music used in Rip Girls, when Sydney is at the beach with Gia and she introduces Sydney to her surfer friends, is apparently called “Girltoy” and performed by the band Girltoy. Randomly, it comes from the 1988 album titled Seeking the Death Penalty; not exactly a song you’d expect to hear in a Disney film!
There is also the song “It’s Like That” performed by The Sha Shees, featuring Doc One, and written by Stanley A. Smith and Michael Layne. This song plays as Sydney finds Kona working to fix Sydney’s surfboard at Malia’s house. “It’s Like That” was credited in the End Credits of Rip Girls.
The only other song actually credited in this movie is the song “No Ke Ano Ahiahi”, performed by Moe Keale from “South Sea Island Magic”. This is a traditional piece of Hawaiian music, which is being played as Sydney, Gia, and Kona arrive at the luau ceremony. “Hukia Mai A”, another traditional Hawaiian piece, is used when Sydney meets up with Gia and her friends again after the initial meeting at the realtors’ office, discussing plans for this new resort. It was performed by Kapono Beamer & Mac Prindy.
Then, there is background music playing when Sydney approaches Gia’s friends and they confront her about the news article stating her and her family are selling their land. This song is not easily audible over the dialogue, so I’ve been unable to find it.
Phil Marshall is credited as being the composer for Rip Girls. He worked on the music for multiple 1990s and early 2000s Disney Channel Original Movies, including Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century (1999) and its 2001 sequel; Johnny Tsunami (1999); Stepsister from the Planet Weird (2000); The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000); and Pixel Perfect (2004).
RECEPTION
Rip Girls first aired on Disney Channel on 22nd April 2000.
It is not known how well Rip Girls did in terms of viewing figures on its premiere date. This is the case with many of the older Disney Channel Original Movies from the late 1990s and early 2000s. It looks like around 3 million was around the average for this time.
Judging by the audience reviews I’ve read for Rip Girls, the majority of them are positive. It seems that few people know about Rip Girls, but those that do love it.
Many said it was a decent movie from Disney Channel, showcasing Hawaiian culture and its great scenery. Yes, all that great Australian scenery… I guess it’s not that obvious if you haven’t been to either place, like me; I wasn’t able to tell it wasn’t filmed in Hawaii. Others also said it handled some mature themes well, such as the death of a family member, and the responsibility we all have to understand and appreciate our heritage, as well as environmental concerns about staying connected to the land and nature. Many say that Rip Girls is an underrated DCOM.
On the other hand, though, some didn’t like the predictable plot and felt that the communication issues between Sydney and her father were unbelievable, saying that Sydney’s father was written poorly.
I personally did not enjoy much of Rip Girls, finding that the storyline was a little overly dramatic, like why would Gia go out surfing alone when she knew the risks? Or, how could Sydney have let her father keep secrets about her mother for this long, only for chance encounters with strangers to have them all come out? I also didn’t like Sydney’s father much; he was really pushy with the sale of the land, only to then say “it’s completely your decision – but we really do need the money”.
Camilla Belle and Stacie Hess were both nominated at the 22nd Young Artist Awards for their performances in Rip Girls, in the categories of Best Performance in a TV Movie (Drama): Leading Young Actress and Supporting Young Actress. Belle actually lost out to Shadia Simmons for her role in another 2000 Disney Channel film, The Color of Friendship.
LEGACY
Rip Girls is regularly compared with fellow DCOM Johnny Tsunami (1999), which happened to be released only a year before and also features a young teenage surfer, only in this case, the main character is a teenage boy, and in Johnny Tsunami, the lead character moves away from Hawaii, whereas Sydney moves to Hawaii in Rip Girls.
Others have said that Universal’s movie Blue Crush (2002) was a failed copy of Rip Girls. Although Blue Crush is about a group of female friends learning to surf in Hawaii, it does seem quite different to Rip Girls, with its maturity level being a big differentiator. Another is that it was based on a 1998 article by Susan Orlean about young surfer girls in Maui, and therefore could not have taken ideas from Rip Girls’ story.
Now, there are over 100 Disney Channel movies, of all different genres. Yet, despite Rip Girls premiering in a time when Disney Channel seemed to favour quantity over quality, at least in terms of production value, not necessarily story, Rip Girls has managed to make it onto lists ranking some of the top 50 or even top 40 DCOMs. For example, it was ranked at No. 39 in a Top 40 list for Entertainment Weekly, with other Disney Channel “sports movies” like Brink! (1998) and Johnny Tsunami being favoured ahead of it. Rip Girls was said to be forgettable but enjoyable; not the best review tagline, but it’s still good for Rip Girls to make it onto this Top 40 list[3]. Rip Girls was also included on a Teen Vogue list without a particular order of the best 48 Disney Channel movies[4].
Rip Girls recently celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025, however, as not too many people have heard of it, there wasn’t much fanfare around the milestone date, apart from the odd comment on social media and online.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It would seem that I began watching Disney Channel just as the tide was turning around their original movies. Their movies became high budget affairs, with more star quality, from around 2003/2004.
Rip Girls was from a different era of DCOM, and one that I don’t particularly like. It’s not the movie’s fault; it’s just not the type of movie I’m used to seeing from Disney Channel.
But if you did watch Rip Girls or Disney Channel movies in the late 1990s and early 2000s, then chances are you remember this movie, or others similar to it. It tells a story about family and heritage, which is important; encourages kids to listen to their own intuition; as well as touches on the necessity of respecting our natural environment.
I’m sure Rip Girls encouraged a generation to try out surfing too!
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Revealed Travel Guides, ‘Lesser-Known Hawaii Movies and TV Shows’, RevealedTravelGuides.com, date unknown.
[2] Credit: D23, ‘Ask Archives’, D23.com/ask-dave, date unknown.
[3] Credit: EW Staff and James Mercadente, ‘The 40 best Disney Channel Original Movies, ranked’, EW.com, 1st July 2024.
[4] Credit: Kristi Kellogg and Liv McConnell, ‘The 48 Best Disney Channel Original Movies We’ll Never Outgrow’, TeenVogue.com, 20th February 2023.
The Disney Purist 