BACKGROUND
Teen Beach Movie had done its job for Disney Channel in 2013.
It had brought back the quintessential Disney Channel musical, with a bright and fun atmosphere, lots of peppy young actors, new songs, and plenty of energetic group numbers. What more could you need or want from a Disney Channel musical?
And Disney had been rewarded, with impressive viewing figures that hadn’t been seen in a few years, and numbers that haven’t been rivalled in the years since. Teen Beach Movie was going to be the start of something bigger for Disney Channel; they’d been waiting since 2010 to create a new, fan-driven musical franchise.
In Teen Beach Movie, the two teenage leads, Mack and Brady, had found themselves transported into the world of the 1962 musical film Wet Side Story, where they interacted with the cast, most notably the film’s two main characters, Lela and Tanner, and had to find a way back home, by disrupting the movie villain’s plans.
The most obvious route for a sequel would be for the Wet Side Story characters to come to the present day. The post-credits scene had even given viewers a hint that this would happen, as they arrive on a beach and find themselves getting to grips with the fascinating technology of smart phones. However, although this is the main plot point of Teen Beach 2, the sequel does not pick up where the post-credits scene left off; you may as well just forget it ever existed. And whilst you’re at it, you might as well forget much of the original film even existed, because there are a lot of changes in this sequel. They seem to have come as quite a shock to Teen Beach Movie’s most ardent fans.
Since I wasn’t a fan of Teen Beach Movie, I expected very little from Teen Beach 2, especially as I’d discovered beforehand that the ending of this sequel was particularly “bad”. Once again, I was disappointed by the sequel’s music, as well as the lack of any central villain in this sequel – boo. The only real “thrill” I found whilst watching Teen Beach 2 was in fact that divisive ending, which was quite a twist, but did completely change everything, and made anything you already knew about the franchise kind of irrelevant.
Come on, Disney, you didn’t know you were setting yourself up for failure there? Or were you trying to give yourself an opportunity to put everything back together – including your young fans’ dreams and emotions that you’d apparently shattered into a million pieces – with a third film? It might just be a movie, but this sequel is controversial!
PLOT
Teen Beach 2 begins with Mack and Brady celebrating their three-month “meetiversary”. Brady has blind-folded Mack and leads her to the area of the beach where they first met three months earlier, at the start of summer. Brady was watching the beach musical Wet Side Story on his tablet as Mack was walking by, and it prompted a conversation between them, about how Mack thinks those sorts of films are ridiculous and unrealistic. Brady told Mack to watch the movie, and if she didn’t like it, he’d buy her a mango smoothie. Brady has set up an area for them to re-watch Wet Side Story together, which has now become “their movie” after they both got sucked into it some time before.
As a note, it is unclear exactly how much time has passed between the events of Teen Beach Movie and Teen Beach 2, but as Mack and Brady had only met three months before the start of Teen Beach 2, and they must’ve known each other for a few weeks to have developed the close relationship they have in Teen Beach Movie, there could only be a couple of weeks between the two films’ stories. Their relationship has only been going for three months though, which is also a bit short, considering Brady’s angry reaction in Teen Beach Movie to Mack going off to a different school; I thought they would’ve needed to be together longer – not just one summer – to warrant that response. Young love, I guess!
Anyway, after rewatching Wet Side Story, seemingly from the finale of the film, which is a little bit odd – I like to watch films from the start – Mack and Brady go off night surfing. They then talk about how they’re going back to school tomorrow. Although they attend the same school, they did not know each other before the summer, so Brady in particular is worried about how different their relationship will feel once they are back at school this year. Mack doesn’t seem to be so concerned. She then notices that the necklace that she was given by Lela back in the Wet Side Story film has disappeared; she must’ve lost it in the ocean. Disappointed, Mack says they should head back in.
At school the next day, Brady meets up with his surfer pal Devon, and they catch each other up on their respective summers, with Brady telling Devon about Mack. Devon seems pleased he’s found a “beach bunny”, but Brady makes it clear that Mack isn’t as chill and laidback as they are. Mack then meets up with her friend Alyssa. They also talk about their summer vacations, with Alyssa having done a lot of school-related activities over the summer, but she did get to talk to Spencer at one of them, and Alyssa has a huge crush on him. Alyssa also says she’s glad Mack decided to stay at this school, and Mack responds that she’s decided to start an oceanography club and organise a “Save the Beach” dance to make herself feel better about choosing this school over the private school. Brady comes over with Devon, and Mack introduces Brady to Alyssa. Both Devon and Alyssa are surprised to find that Brady and Mack are a couple, despite being so different…
Later, they find themselves in the same class. Here, Mack talks to Spencer about an oceanography college program, whilst Devon and Brady struggle to focus on the class, with Brady more worried about why Mack is talking to Spencer, and Devon choosing just to mix random chemicals together as part of their class experiment; it doesn’t end well! After school, Brady asks Mack if she wants to go surfing with him, but she’s too busy, and asks him to meet her at the college fair later. Brady says he’ll be there.
In the meantime, Brady heads to his private workshop to work on his surfboard designs, something Mack saw him working on in class, although he refuses to tell her about them, thinking she won’t approve of it. He attempts to work on his college application too, but he gives up on that. Brady’s mother comes to the workshop, and sees the application open on the computer. She tells Brady not to stress himself about it too much. She gets the feeling that Brady is actually stressed about him and Mack, telling him it will likely work itself out. Brady then sees he’s late for the college fair. He rushes to get ready and heads over there in the pouring rain. Back at school, he sees Mack and Spencer talking to a college rep, and realises he missed it. The two argue over the fact Mack is just too busy to spend any time with Brady. They fear the worst for their relationship.
Meanwhile, back inside the movie Wet Side Story, Lela and Tanner, the two leads, are attempting to play out the story again. It must be so annoying to constantly be replaying your whole lives, and sure enough, Lela is getting tired of it, and wants things to change. After she finds her and Tanner’s whole “meet-cute”, of Lela falling off a stage and Tanner catching her, too tiresome, she goes to the beach. She tells Tanner she feels differently about everything since meeting Mack, and wants more from her life. Lela sees her necklace has washed up on the beach. She takes it and heads into the ocean, hoping to find Mack and Brady. Tanner goes with her, to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble.
Lela and Tanner resurface on a beach in present day. A passerby asks if they are lost and offers them his phone to use. The two are fascinated by this device, confusing the guy. Mack and Brady are just a little further down the beach, and continue to argue. They see Lela and Tanner coming towards them, and the four reunite, with Lela and Tanner explaining how they got there. They are excited by all the new, cool things in this world, but Mack and Brady know they’ll need to convince them to get home. After all, when Mack and Brady were in the musical, they started to morph into the film’s characters. What will happen to Lela and Tanner if they stay here? Lela goes back to Mack’s house, and Tanner goes with Brady, where they remind them that this world isn’t all that great. Lela and Tanner don’t believe it.
In Wet Side Story, the characters are lost without Lela and Tanner, not knowing what to do now. Butchy, Lela’s brother, takes charge and tells biker girl CheeChee to get up on stage and sing Lela’s song, to keep the story on track. CheeChee is interrupted by surfer Seacat, who ruins the song and causes CheeChee to fall off the stage. That hasn’t worked, and they wonder what to do now. In the background, an extra from the film vanishes…
At school, Tanner seems to fit in well with Brady’s friend Devon, and Lela loves all the classes that Mack takes her to. They are introduced as Brady and Mack’s cousins from Iceland and Finland. Mack and Brady realise even school isn’t putting Lela and Tanner off the real world, so they decide to let them tackle the cafeteria by themselves, hoping that will do the trick. However, despite a group of jocks mocking them, Lela and Tanner simply try to get all the students to smile, leading them in a song-and-dance number.
After school, Tanner finds that Lela is too busy with school work to spend time with him. Brady knows that feeling all too well. Tanner talks to Brady at his workshop about this, wondering what this feeling is that he is expressing; Brady tells him it is worry. Tanner is worried things won’t work out between him and Lela. Brady then shows Tanner some of his surfboard designs, and how he is working on a surfboard that won’t need waves. Tanner thinks it is really cool, and yet, Brady still won’t tell Mack about it. At Mack’s house, Lela says she loves it here, and wants more of a fulfilling life than just being someone’s girlfriend, who waits around for them all the time. Mack tries to tell Lela it can be stressful and not so great in the real world sometimes. She then notices that Lela is starting to look like a normal teenager, and not like her 60s musical character.
Mack rushes to the beach with Lela to meet up with Brady and Tanner to discuss this latest development. They see that Tanner is also becoming normal, losing the sparkle from his teeth, for example. Mack says to Brady the only way to get them to go home is to tell them they are movie characters. Brady warns her to tell them gently, but instead, Mack simply bluntly recounts this fact to them, confusing Lela and Tanner. Mack shows them a clip of their film on her phone, sparking an identity crisis. Mack and Brady try to tell Lela and Tanner that being in a movie is great, because everything always works out in them, but Lela isn’t having any of it. She’s done with her old life and wants to stay here, throwing her necklace into the ocean so she cannot return to Wet Side Story.
In Wet Side Story, Butchy and the rest of the characters are starting to realise that the extras are vanishing. They deduce that their problems didn’t start until Tanner and Lela left so that must be the problem; they’ll need to get them back home. Luckily, Lela’s necklace washes up on the beach and the group charge into the ocean to find them.
On the beach in present day, Mack and Brady argue once again over the Lela-Tanner situation, as they search for Lela’s necklace. They then see the rest of the Wet Side Story cast coming out of the ocean, shocking everyone. The group surround Lela, Tanner, Mack, and Brady, as Lela reiterates that she won’t be going home. Butchy tells Lela that people are vanishing, making Mack and Brady realise that without the lead characters, there is no movie, so everyone will vanish forever if Lela and Tanner don’t return. Sadly, Lela decides she can’t be selfish and she’ll have to go back. The group walk into the ocean and return to their film. Mack and Brady now have no reason to communicate further, and it’s time for Mack to set up for her “Save the Beach” dance anyway. They go off separately.
At the dance, although Alyssa and Spencer seem to be getting along well, Brady and Mack still aren’t talking. Devon comes over to Brady and tells him if he wants to fix things with Mack, he’ll have to do more than just stare at her from across the room! As Brady is about to talk to her, all of a sudden, the Wet Side Story cast burst into the hall. They say they have returned to get Brady and Mack’s relationship back on track. Tanner tells Brady he needs to be more confident in himself, and not hide his true self from Mack. This leads to Brady telling Mack all this – through the medium of song – and the dance lights up in a good-humoured dance battle between the girls and the guys. Brady and Mack reconcile.
However, by the end of the song, Butchy realises that they have to get back to their world right away – before vanishing, with Lela’s necklace. The cast wonder how they’ll get back now. Lela asks how Brady and Mack got to their world the first time. They realise it was the yellow surfboard, so they hand it over to Lela and Tanner to surf back to their world. But there are no waves – and the rest of the remaining cast have now vanished too! They really don’t have much time now. Brady figures out this is the perfect time to make his no-waves-needed surfboard. He gives Tanner and Lela some instructions on what to do with the board, whilst Brady and Mack go to his workshop to get some supplies. Mack sees all Brady’s designs and she thinks they are really cool, not believing he’d hide this from her. They promise not to keep any more secrets from each other.
They head back to the beach and assemble the rest of the board. They see the flower pattern on it sparkle, showing this is the way for Lela and Tanner to return. Lela and Tanner go into the water, whilst Mack and Brady realise they are at the cove where they first met. Mack starts to worry that if Lela and Tanner don’t get back in time and vanish, then the movie will vanish, and that will mean they never met, because Brady won’t have been watching Wet Side Story. Brady tells Mack not to worry; they were “meant to be” after all.
Mack says goodbye to Lela and Tanner before they leave, telling Lela that if she isn’t happy in Wet Side Story, then she should change it, and make it her story. Mack gives Lela one of her “Save the Beach” bracelets, so she’ll remember her. Lela, Tanner, and Brady go into the water with the board, but as Brady goes to start it, he sees that the board won’t start. Brady struggles to access the motor, but finally does, only to discover it’s not working. He needs a small screwdriver or something to fix it. Lela hands him her hairpin to try, as Tanner panics that he is starting to vanish. The pin does the trick and they speed off on the board.
Everything seems great. Brady returns to the beach, and Mack watches as he comes back to her. But then, Brady simply walks past Mack, with just a brief nod of acknowledgement. It’s clear the two have not met – so did Lela and Tanner make it back?
Brady meets up with his friend Devon, and they hear a party going on down by the beach. They decide to crash the party, this being the “Save the Beach” event that they saw being advertised at school. They like the idea of seeing a film on the beach. Mack returns to the party, and helps Alyssa and Spencer, who are seemingly now a couple, sell tickets to the party guests. Brady asks Mack about the projection screen and the outfits. Mack explains it is a 1962 beach party fundraiser, and that the film Lela Queen of the Beach is the movie they’ll be playing, showing that Lela did get back to the film, and she has changed the story to suit her. Brady lightly mocks Mack about her love for this “ahead-of-its-time” film. Mack tells Brady to watch the movie, and if he doesn’t like it, she’ll buy him a mango smoothie – the same thing that Brady said to Mack about Wet Side Story in their original timeline.
Brady waits for the movie to start. Mack introduces it to the crowd, and stands up and does the opening dance number whilst on the back of a pickup truck. The crowd cheer as they see Lela Queen of the Beach start up on the screen. We also see that the whole cast returned, including Tanner and Butchy. Brady laughs at Mack for singing and dancing in front of everyone, before joining in after Mack tells him that sometimes you just have to spontaneously break into song! The party ends with Mack seeing Lela wearing one of her “Save the Beach” bracelets and winking at her through the screen. Brady and Mack dance together, showing that they were destined to fall in love.
CHARACTERS & CAST
After Teen Beach Movie, Mack and Brady have continued their relationship over the course of the summer, but now find themselves navigating their summer romance whilst back at school, however, they discover that they are very different people at school. Brady is carefree and less studious, and him and his friend Devon don’t take school too seriously. He’d rather spend time creating new surfboard designs. Mack, on the other hand, is incredibly focused on her studies, like her friends Alyssa and Spencer, who are already planning for college. Mack and Brady reunite to deal with Lela and Tanner arriving in their world, trying to dissuade them from staying there, although in order to do this, Brady would rather gently tell them that they are just characters in a movie, whereas Mack just rips the band-aid right off! This causes a divide between them that the Wet Side Story cast have to try and fix; to have them come back together and realise they are a good couple, despite their differences. Then they end up not ever meeting after Lela changes the story of the musical, but they still meet anyway, just a few months later, showing they were always destined to be together. Maia Mitchell and Ross Lynch returned to play Mack and Brady.
Lela and Tanner, the two leads of Wet Side Story, have gone back to living their lives within the movie after the events of Teen Beach Movie. They’ve found each other, so Lela should be happy…but she’s not. Instead, Lela finds herself rejecting her conventional musical character’s story, wanting more for herself. When she sees her necklace, that she gave to Mack at the end of their time in Wet Side Story, has washed up on the beach, she decides to go to Mack’s world, to find herself. Tanner goes with her, to keep their relationship on track. In the real world, both Lela and Tanner think it’s a wonderful place, wanting to stay forever, and ignoring Mack and Brady’s attempts to tell them otherwise. Lela in particular loves it there, because she can be smart, independent, have a voice, and make her own choices. Tanner likes it too, although he is concerned that he and Lela want different things and could end up drifting apart. When they learn that her fellow cast members are disappearing because her and Tanner aren’t there, Lela accepts she’ll have to go back. Mack gives her some parting advice, to change the musical to suit her, not make herself conform to it, and that is how the new film Lela Queen of the Beach came to be. Garrett Clayton and Grace Phipps reprised their roles as Lela and Tanner here.
Much of the other cast members from Teen Beach Movie returned for Teen Beach 2 as well, including the other bikers and surfers, although this time they are all friends, and there is no segregation between the two groups. They find themselves shocked by Lela wanting to go “off-script” at various points in the film, and can’t understand why she wouldn’t be carrying on as normal. The cast are completely helpless without Lela and Tanner, and when they discover that the absence of the leads is making the rest of the cast disappear, they come together once again to get Lela and Tanner to return home.
With Tanner and Lela gone, and the movie’s plot going off the rails, Butchy, Lela’s brother, tries his best to act as the new leader of the cast. For example, he encourages everyone to keep calm and just try and carry on with the story, so he gets fellow biker CheeChee to get up on the stage at Big Momma’s and sing Lela’s song from the film, “Falling For Ya”, except this is a very different version of the song and it does nothing to help them. When Butchy and the others discover cast members are vanishing all over the place, he knows they’ll need Lela and Tanner back. Luckily, Lela’s necklace washes up on the beach again and they use that to get to present day – although Butchy needs some coaxing to get into the water, as he is scared of everything apparently, including water. Butchy is the first one of the main cast to vanish, after returning to the real world to help Mack and Brady, taking the necklace with him. But he returns to have a role in Lela Queen of the Beach, so he was fine! John DeLuca returned to play the role of Butchy in this sequel.
In amongst the rest of the cast, we have CheeChee and Seacat, Lugnut and Giggles, and Rascal and Struts. All of them appeared in Teen Beach Movie, although since the majority of the story revolved around Mack, Brady, Lela, and Tanner, they didn’t get much of screen time for themselves. This time, though, many of them had greater roles to play.
CheeChee is asked by Butchy to perform Lela’s song, which Seacat then takes over. CheeChee is loyal to Butchy and her fellow cast, and is a tough girl, not afraid to push others out of her spotlight – however, it would seem that with Tanner gone, Seacat wants to be front-and-centre of something for a change, so when Butchy disregards Seacat to perform Lela’s song, choosing CheeChee instead, he feels he has no choice but to force his way into the song, making for quite a comical scene! CheeChee is also one of the group to confirm that she has seen people vanishing from the beach. She ends up being the last of the side characters from Wet Side Story to vanish.
CheeChee was played by Chrissie Fit. Fit went on to be cast as Florencia “Flo” Fuentes in Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) and Pitch Perfect 3 (2017), before landing recurring roles as Kelly in I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021) for Amazon Prime Video, based on the film of the same name, and as Melania in Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens (2020-23).
Jordan Fisher was cast as Seacat, who went on to land the recurring role of Holden in the Disney Channel series Liv & Maddie (2013-17) around the time of Teen Beach Movie. He also won Season 25 of Dancing with the Stars (2005-present) in 2017. Since his time with Disney, Fisher has had much success in both screen and stage productions. In film, he played John Ambrose McClaren in To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020) for Netflix. On stage, Fisher replaced Anthony Ramos as John Laurens/Philip Hamilton in Hamilton on Broadway in 2016, and was cast as Orpheus in the 2019 Broadway production Hadestown, before starring in the lead role of Dear Evan Hansen from 2020 to 2022. In 2026, Fisher was cast as Seymour in the Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors.
Like CheeChee, Lugnut also confirms that people are vanishing from the film, and tries to tell Butchy about it, although he is so scared by this that he can’t get his words out to tell everyone. Everyone sees for themselves shortly after anyway. He and Giggles also try to distract the cast from their struggles and boredom whilst Lela and Tanner are away. When Butchy wonders what they should do, Lugnut suggests a rumble, but Butchy discounts that, choosing to get CheeChee to recreate Lela’s song. When that doesn’t do anything for the story, Giggles then shakes her hips, as she did in Teen Beach Movie a lot too, with the fringing on her outfit distracting everyone from their troubles for a moment or two!
Lugnut was played by William T. Loftis, who was part of the choreography team that worked on the film adaptations Wicked (2024) and Wicked: For Good (2025). Giggles was played by Mollee Gray, who had been a dancer in the High School Musical trilogy.
Finally, within the rest of the Wet Side Story cast, there is also Rascal and Struts. Struts was one of the biker girls, so named because of the bright pink heels she struts around in. Rascal was one of the cool surfer dudes, and has continued to be like that, by going with the flow with everything. These two, along with the rest of the characters, come to Mack and Brady’s world to retrieve Lela and Tanner, before returning again to fix Mack and Brady’s relationship. They also vanish, later coming back as part of the new film Lela Queen of the Beach. Although it is very different to Wet Side Story, the whole cast seem happy and comfortable with their new roles in the movie.
Struts was played by Jessica Lee Keller, who went on to be part of the ensemble in Rent: Live (2019). Rascal was played by Kent Boyd, who was the runner-up in Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance (2005-24) in 2010, and had a recurring role as Jordan in the ABC Family series Bunheads (2012-13).
There are also some new characters in Teen Beach 2. One of these is Mack’s friend, Alyssa. Like Mack, Alyssa is very studious and throws herself into extracurricular activities even when she is not in school. For example, Alyssa’s summer consisted of science camp, a student government conference, and a college tour. And at that student government conference, she got to spend time with Spencer, who, Alyssa thinks, is the cutest boy in school. Alyssa is very happy that Mack has returned to school and didn’t go off to prep school. She seems a bit surprised that Brady is Mack’s boyfriend, as he doesn’t even have a school bag, and came to school in flip-flops, but Alyssa doesn’t spend the whole movie trying to warn Mack off Brady – because she is too busy with her classes, and trying to figure out how to talk to Spencer without being so awkward!
Alyssa was played by Piper Curda. Prior to Teen Beach 2, Curda had been cast as Kumiko Hashimoto in Season 3 of the Disney Channel series A.N.T. Farm (2011-14), going on to star as Jasmine Kang in the series I Didn’t Do It (2014-15), also for Disney Channel. Since then, Curda has secured a recurring role as Kira Yu in the CBS series Matlock (2024-present), which stars Kathy Bates, and voiced the main role of Mabel Tanaka in Pixar’s Hoppers (2026). Curda also appeared as Honor Atherton-Yoo in the film May December (2023), which starred Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore.
Spencer is Alyssa’s love interest in Teen Beach 2, but is also a friend of Mack’s, as he tells her about an oceanography college program she might be interested in, even going to the college fair with her to speak to a college rep about it. He wants to help Mack with her oceanography club too, by combining forces with his Environmental Studies Society. Spencer later asks Alyssa to dance at the “Save the Beach” dance, and in the new timeline at the end of Teen Beach 2, he is seemingly in a relationship with Alyssa.
Ross Butler was cast as Spencer. Around this time, Butler was cast in the recurring role of Brett Willis in the Disney Channel series K.C. Undercover (2015-18), which starred Zendaya. Butler then starred as Zach Dempsey in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why (2017-20). Following on from that, Butler appeared as Eugene Choi in the superhero film Shazam! (2019) and its sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023). Butler was also cast as Trevor in To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You and its sequel To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021), part of the To All the Boys film franchise on Netflix.
Devon is Brady’s best friend, and he is a chilled-out surfer, who isn’t very focused in school, like Brady, and just wants to be surfing any time he can, like Brady. Like Alyssa, Devon is a bit surprised that Brady is going out with a studious, smart girl like Mack, even if she can surf, but he also doesn’t get involved in their relationship, or try to convince Brady that Mack isn’t right for him. Instead, Devon encourages Brady to fix things with Mack at the dance, which works out. At the end of Teen Beach 2, in the new timeline, Devon is also the reason that Brady goes to the “Save the Beach” party, where he meets Mack, so although Devon is not overly present in Teen Beach 2, his actions make a huge difference to the film.
Devon was played by Raymond Cham Jr. He went on to voice the character Mark Walker in the Disney Channel and Disney XD series Mech-X4 (2016-18) shortly after Teen Beach 2, and was cast as CJ in the teen drama web series Five Points (2018-19). More recently, Cham Jr. was cast as Wolf in the sitcom Sort Of (2021-24). He also recently played Urkel in the Hulu series Paradise (2025-present).
Finally, we have Brady’s mother, who makes a brief appearance in Teen Beach 2. She shows up at Brady’s workshop after his difficult first day back at school. She seems supportive of both Brady’s surfboard creations and his relationship with Mack, encouraging her son to talk to him about it all. Brady isn’t particularly forthcoming with his thoughts and feelings though, but his mother does say that she thinks it’ll all work out.
Brady’s mother was played by Beth Lacke, who went on to be cast in another Disney Channel Original Movie, as Diane in Christmas…Again?! (2021). She was also cast in the recurring role of Lynne Bowen in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019-23).
MUSIC
As Teen Beach 2 mostly takes place in present day, the soundtrack of Teen Beach 2 consists of more contemporary music styles, although there are still a few sequences that take inspiration from the 60s within this film.
One of these is “Best Summer Ever”, which Mack and Brady watch together to celebrate three months since they last met. It also represents Brady and Mack’s mood as they say goodbye to a great summer. This song sounds like a lot of other Disney Channel musical opening songs, but I don’t mind this one. The only strange thing about it is that Mack and Brady choose to start watching Wet Side Story from this point, even though “Best Summer Ever” seems to be the finale song of Wet Side Story! “Best Summer Ever” was written by Matthew Tishler and Amy Powers, and was performed by the main cast, including Ross Lynch as Brady; Maia Mitchell as Mack; Grace Phipps as Lela; and Garrett Clayton, who got to sing for Tanner in Teen Beach 2, after Spencer Lee sang for the character in the first film. John DeLuca also got to sing in Teen Beach 2, after Butchy’s vocals were provided by Jason Evigan in the first film.
Following on from that a little while later, Brady and Mack get into an argument after Brady misses the college fair. Brady goes back to his workshop and records a song to deal with his frustrations and worries for their relationship. This song is “On My Own”, which was written by Ross Lynch, Riker Lynch, Rocky Lynch, Ellington Ratliff – four of the five members of the band R5 – and Evan Bogart, and was performed by Lynch.
When Lela and Tanner arrive into Mack and Brady’s world, they are so fascinated by everything that they end up singing the song “Right Where I Wanna Be”, detailing everything that they love about being in this place they’ve been in for just a few minutes. It’s a super cheesy song, something that they should’ve left back in Wet Side Story – but Lela and Tanner don’t know any better, I suppose! “Right Where I Wanna Be” was written by Adam Schlesinger, and was performed by Clayton and Phipps.
Back in Wet Side Story, the rest of the characters struggle to figure out what to do without Tanner and Lela, so Butchy tells CheeChee to get up and sing Lela’s song “Falling for Ya”. However, CheeChee has her own style and it is very different to Lela’s so the song gets changed up, from a romantic ballad into a faster version of this song, which sees CheeChee and Seacat battle for control of the microphone. “Falling for Ya” was my favourite song in Teen Beach Movie. This version of the song isn’t bad, but I don’t feel it is as good as the original. “Falling for Ya” was performed by Jordan Fisher and Chrissie Fit here.
At Mack and Brady’s school, Tanner and Lela are trying to fit in with their new surroundings, and Tanner struggles to do that. Playing in the background as Tanner struts down the hallway in his very Tanner way is the song “Wanna Be with You”. It is therefore not performed by a character in Teen Beach 2. “Wanna Be with You” was written by Sam Hollander, Josh Edmondson and Charity Daw and performed by Jordan Fisher.
Later, as Tanner and Lela see that some people in high school aren’t so happy, after they are teased by jocks, they decide to try and change things in the only way they know how – with a song! “Twist Your Frown Upside Down” sees Lela and Tanner, with Mack and Brady’s help, eventually get everyone singing and dancing with a big smile on their faces. It was written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis, and Chen Neeman, and was predominantly performed by Phipps, Clayton, Mitchell, and Lynch.
“Silver Screen” is the song that Brady and Mack sing to Lela and Tanner after Mack kills all their dreams by telling Lela and Tanner that they aren’t real people, and are actually just characters in a movie, making them realise that they don’t belong in Mack and Brady’s world. This song tries to soften the blow, by telling them that being in a movie is great, because everything always works out, whereas the real world can be messy and unpredictable. Sadly, the song does nothing to sway Lela and she is determined to stay. “Silver Screen” was written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis, and Chen Neeman, and was performed by Lynch and Mitchell.
Quite a while later, at the “Save the Beach” school dance that Mack has organised, “Rescue Me”, written by Tanner “Augie Ray” Underwood, Jintae Ko, and Sabrina Carpenter, and performed by Carpenter, is playing. At this point in the film, Spencer has asked Alyssa to dance with him as this song is playing. “Rescue Me” is another song not performed by any character in Teen Beach 2.
Shortly after that, the cast of Wet Side Story appear back in present day to encourage Brady to fix things with Mack. This leads Brady to get up on stage and sing “Gotta Be Me”, saying how he is going to be himself and hopes that is enough for Mack. Mack and the rest of the cast join in with the song. “Gotta Be Me” leads to Mack and Brady reconciling, as Brady falls into Mack’s arms. “Gotta Be Me” was written by Niclas Molinder, Joacim Persson, Johan Alkenas, Charlie Mason. This group number was performed by the cast. The cast even performed this song on Dancing with the Stars on 12th May 2015.
The romantic song “Meant to Be”, which first featured in Teen Beach Movie, not once, not twice, but three times, gets another reprise in Teen Beach 2. This time, it is a slower, more melancholic version of the song, as Mack and Brady wonder whether they’ll forget about each other if Lela and Tanner don’t get back to Wet Side Story in time. Lela and Tanner also sing this song, as they consider their relationship as well. “Meant to Be (Reprise 3)” is therefore performed by Lynch, Mitchell, Phipps, and Clayton.
To round off Teen Beach 2, the group finale song is “That’s How We Do”, which is a song from Lela Queen of the Beach, with Mack recreating the dance and singing along to it for all the people at her “Save the Beach” party. The random words they sing in the chorus are apparently meant to imitate the sound of a soda can being opened – but you could also say it is a rip-off of Grease’s “We Go Together”[1]. I personally think it’s the latter. Unfortunately, although I think “That’s How We Do” is a ridiculous song, it is catchy and the stupid chorus keeps getting stuck in my head… “That’s How We Do” was written by Mitch Allan, Dan Book, Nikki Leonti and performed by the main cast.
The End Credits song for Teen Beach 2 is “Starting Over”. It was written by Bobby Huff and was performed by R5, Ross Lynch’s band at the time. Despite not being a song that features within the main film, I actually think it’s pretty good.
So, that is the main soundtrack of Teen Beach 2, with the new original songs. It is also worth mentioning that two songs from Teen Beach Movie play during Teen Beach 2, during the portions of the film where Brady is playing Wet Side Story in the background whilst he is in his workshop. The first is “Surf Crazy” and the second is “Falling for Ya”. These clips take the audience into the film to see what the Wet Side Story cast are up to.
Outside of that, there are some uncredited songs used as background music during Teen Beach 2 as well. The first is “Beat Roadrunner” by Mark Roberts and John Powell. Excerpts of this song are used twice, as Brady’s friend Devon arrives to school, and then whilst Devon is goofing around in class. You can also hear a song called “Now I Know Just What I Want” as Brady rushes to get to the college fair to meet Mack. It seems to have come from a Turkish television series called Meleklerin Aşki. Following that, whilst Mack talks to Lela in her room, Mack plays some music. It goes with general techno-style music, into “So In Love With You” by Joey Diggs. Finally, the song “Trampoline” by Latch Key Kid is playing during Mack’s party at the end of Teen Beach 2. It is also played briefly by the band at the dance, before “Rescue Me” plays.
The soundtrack for Teen Beach 2 was released on 23rd June 2015, a few days before the film’s premiere. It topped the US Billboard Top Soundtracks and US Billboard Kids Albums charts, and peaked at No. 10 in the US Billboard 200 chart[2]. Teen Beach 2’s performance in the Billboard 200 chart was still good, but was not as impressive as the No. 3 spot that the Teen Beach Movie soundtrack occupied in 2013. However, a song from Teen Beach 2 was nominated for Choice Music: Song from a Movie or TV Show at the Teen Choice Awards, which Teen Beach Movie did not achieve. This song was “Gotta Be Me”. It lost out to “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa, featuring Charlie Puth, from Furious 7 (2015).
Composer David Lawrence was back to work on the score for Teen Beach 2, having composed the score for Teen Beach Movie.
PRODUCTION
Teen Beach Movie was the hottest film of 2013 – on Disney Channel. It had achieved better viewing figures than any Disney Channel Original Movie had since 2009, and it was the perfect summer musical to suit the channel’s target audience.
So, naturally, Teen Beach 2 was coming to the channel, although it was not officially announced until April 2014, nine months after Teen Beach Movie had premiered. The announcement was apparently made during Ardy’s Pre-Show Party at the Radio Disney Music Awards on Saturday 26th April 2014. It was confirmed that the original cast would be returning, with a brief outline of the plot stating that the Wet Side Story characters would be appearing in Mack and Brady’s world. Its premiere date was set for some time in 2015[3].
It wasn’t just the main cast that were back; so was director Jeffrey Hornaday. Robert Horn also returned to work on the story, having written the screenplay with Vince Marcello and Mark Landry for Teen Beach Movie. Horn worked alongside Dan Berendsen to come up with the story for Teen Beach 2. Berendsen has a history of working on the screenplays for Disney Channel Original Movies. His credits include writing the screenplays for Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003); Twitches (2005) and Twitches Too (2007); Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009); and Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009).
The actual screenplay for Teen Beach 2 was credited to Matt Eddy and Billy Eddy, who have both co-written other DCOMs, including Zapped (2014), Bad Hair Day (2015), and Invisible Sister (2015). More recently, the duo co-wrote the Nickelodeon and Paramount+ movies Monster High (2022) and Monster High 2 (2023).
The cast and crew were also back in Puerto Rico to film Teen Beach 2. Once again, many of the scenes were filmed outside on the beach. Most of the beach scenes were filmed in Fajardo on the east coast of the island, as they had been in Teen Beach Movie[4]. The film also returns to sets like Big Momma’s within Wet Side Story, however, there were a couple of new locations in this film, with the most important being Mack and Brady’s high school, Windy Bluff High School… Why would anyone name a school that, even a fictional one? The filming location for this high school appears to be Robinson School in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The exterior of the building is clearly visible in the opening scenes of the school.
The cast were excited to be back, knowing that Teen Beach 2 had to be bigger and better. This meant harder and tougher dance routines for the many musical numbers. This time, dance rehearsals were said to have taken place for eight weeks prior to filming beginning, with choreographer Christopher Scott working with the young cast again.
“Best Summer Ever” was apparently the most rehearsed, as it involved lots of props, including frisbees, coconut drinks, and sunglasses, as well as a lot of partner work. This dance takes place on the sand, which was tough for some of the cast to deal with, as the sand was really hot at times, and it also isn’t that easy to dance on anyway! “Gotta Be Me” was the cast’s favourite one to be a part of, as it was a whole group number with everyone in the same place, which doesn’t happen often in either Teen Beach Movie or Teen Beach 2. To match the more modern musical styles in the soundtrack of Teen Beach 2, there were more modern dances included, however, “That’s How We Do”, which is the finale number for Teen Beach 2, and is reminiscent of the 1960s beach musical style again, there are numerous dance steps mentioned that are inspired by those types of steps popular in the 60s, like the Pony and the Mashed Potato, encouraging people to dance along. In Teen Beach 2, these include the Milkshake, the Wiggle Worm, and the Praying Mantis[5].
The costume designer on Teen Beach 2 was Anthony Tran. Tran had also worked on the costume designs for Disney Channel series, such as Mighty Med (2013-15) and Andi Mack (2017-19). More recently, Tran worked as a costume designer for the series How I Met Your Father (2022-23) and Star Trek: Discovery (2017-24). Some of the characters had similar costumes as they had in Teen Beach Movie, such as Butchy in his leather outfit, and Giggles in her fringe costumes. These Wet Side Story characters still kept their 60s-inspired clothing, however, other characters go on a journey, like Lela, who starts off in her movie outfits, and gradually becomes more normal, ending up wearing a simple white top with a checkered shirt over the top, showing her progressing from a 1960s character to a regular present-day teenager. At one point, Lela does wear an outfit reminiscent of Jackie Kennedy’s pink suit. Tanner also wears a recreation of the red jacket that was made iconic by James Dean in the final number of the film[6].
RECEPTION
After a red-carpet premiere for the film on 22nd June 2015, attended by the cast, Teen Beach 2 premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 26th June 2015, coming to other Disney Channels internationally over the next few weeks.
As Teen Beach Movie had proven to be popular, with viewership and reviews alike being considered highly positive, it was hoped that the same would be achieved by Teen Beach 2. After all, it’s always expected that the first sequel in a musical DCOM franchise is going to be bigger and better than the original – although this doesn’t always mean a big jump in viewership between the sequel and the first film. High School Musical 2 (2007) reaching 17.2 million views, compared to High School Musical’s 7.7 million in 2006, was an anomaly. Similar viewing figures is acceptable for a sequel.
In 2013, Teen Beach Movie premiered to 8.4 million viewers. However, in 2015, Teen Beach 2’s premiere was only seen by 5.8 million viewers, but still with a large showing for the demographics Kids 6-11 and Tweens 9-14. That’s not to say this figure of just under 6 million was bad, because it wasn’t; in fact, this was slightly above average at the time, with the DCOM premiere preceding Teen Beach 2, Bad Hair Day, only being viewed by 4 million. However, it is clear to see that, for some reason, Teen Beach 2’s fan turnout was considerably less than the turnout the first film had just two years before. Higher viewing figures for Teen Beach 2 were swirling around numerous news outlets around the time of the premiere, which used additional days’ worth of viewing figures – the same happened with Teen Beach Movie – however, as this type of data was not widely publicised for all DCOMs, it is much fairer to solely compare them by their premiere viewing figures[7].
Teen Beach Movie sits within the Top 10 Highest-Rated DCOMs of all time, and was the only Disney Channel movie to be released in 2013, so it was the most-watched DCOM of 2013. Teen Beach 2 has neither of these accolades to its name. Its viewership of 5.8 million was nowhere near enough to reach that Top 10 list – 10th position is held by Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension from 2011, with 7.6 million viewers – and it was not the only Disney Channel movie to premiere in 2015, so was not the most-viewed DCOM of that year. The film to do that was actually another Disney Channel musical, and one directed by Kenny Ortega of High School Musical fame: Descendants. Descendants was viewed by 6.6 million on its premiere, so, granted, not that much more than Teen Beach 2, however, it spanned a major franchise. Descendants simply outshone Teen Beach 2.
Descendants also had better reviews overall, from critics and audiences, than Teen Beach 2. Critics were kinder to Teen Beach 2 than viewers were, which is odd for a Disney Channel movie, which tend to be cruelly criticised by critics, who seem to expect too much from this type of film, but are warmly received by the average viewer.
In this case, Teen Beach 2’s controversial ending was the main issue for fans. It saw Brady and Mack forget each other due to the fact Wet Side Story, the musical they had initially bonded over, was changed by Lela to become Lela Queen of the Beach, causing Brady and Mack to meet later, and completely undo any of the events from Teen Beach Movie and most of the ones from Teen Beach 2. By having this ending, Teen Beach 2 had managed to alienate its own fans, with those who hated this ending feeling that Teen Beach 2 completely ruined Teen Beach’s legacy. It even opened up a major plot hole, because, as we learnt in Teen Beach Movie, Mack was supposed to go to Dunwich Preparatory Academy for her second-half of high school, something she’d agreed with her aunt years before. She only didn’t go to that school because of Brady, so it could be argued that Mack would not have still been at the same school as Brady by the end of Teen Beach 2, since they hadn’t met and she no longer had a reason or motivation not to go, so they wouldn’t have met anyway. Her and Brady’s visit to Wet Side Story also made Mack rethink her school choices, but she wouldn’t have done that as that film no longer existed.
Many also disliked the fact that parts of the film were left unexplained, for example, how did Lela change Wet Side Story, and why was she the only one able to do that? Did the other characters not have any say in this change to their story? It was also pointed out that if there was no Wet Side Story, then Mack and Brady couldn’t have gone into it, which was the catalyst behind Lela feeling lost in her movie world. Without those two arriving, it is likely that Lela would never have felt empowered to change the film, so it wouldn’t have become Lela Queen of the Beach. This is the problem when you start messing about with the idea of multiple timelines on screen; it opens up a lot of plot holes and issues that viewers are only too happy to point out. For me, I hadn’t considered many of these plot holes when I was watching the ending of Teen Beach 2. I actually felt the ending made some sense, and for those that want that “fairytale ending”, you should consider the fact that Mack and Brady met without Wet Side Story, signalling that they were always meant to be together; it was fate, or destiny, or whatever. But reading these plot holes now, the fans were quite right to point these out. I just didn’t care enough about the movie to notice at the time!
But it wasn’t all bad for Teen Beach 2, as there were still plenty of positive comments about the film, with some saying the sequel was still enjoyable and fun, even if they felt the first film was better. Teen Beach 2 had some good music, and retained the same atmosphere and energy that made it a great summer movie for kids, tweens, and teens.
With this in mind, it would make sense that Teen Beach 2 was recognised at the Teen Choice Awards in 2015. Both Ross Lynch and Maia Mitchell were nominated here, in the categories of Choice Summer TV Star: Male and Choice Summer TV Star: Female. They both lost out to two of the cast from the series Pretty Little Liars (2010-17): Tyler Blackburn, who played Caleb Rivers, and Ashley Benson, who played Hanna Marin. But Teen Beach 2 did win the award for Best Sound Editing – Long Form Musical in Television at the Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards, beating out Descendants, as well as a win for Music Technician Richard David Brown, who worked on Teen Beach 2.
LEGACY
Just like Teen Beach Movie, Teen Beach 2 was promoted in a variety of ways, through the use of merchandise, its CD soundtrack, and its DVD release. The DVD release even included a replica of Lela’s necklace from the film.
Outside of this, Teen Beach 2 also got another beach party at Walt Disney World’s Typhoon Lagoon, which followed the same general idea as the beach party that had existed in 2013 to promote Teen Beach Movie. This time the Teen Beach 2: Beach Party event was part of the resort’s 2015 Coolest Summer Ever celebration, and ran from 22nd May to 5th July 2015. It once again included beach-themed games for guests to play, like limbo, hula hooping, and a water balloon toss, as well as new music from the sequel being played, and dancers on hand to teach the new choreography to guests. The main cast, of Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Grace Phipps, and Garrett Clayton, also made an appearance at Typhoon Lagoon for the first beach party on 22nd May 2015.
However, with a new musical franchise to promote, Teen Beach 2 was passed over for an appearance at the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade in 2015, whereas the cast had been invited to perform two songs from Teen Beach Movie in the 2013 parade. In 2015 though, the Descendants cast performed instead. The Descendants cast were also at the D23 Expo in August 2015, but so were the Teen Beach 2 cast, where they went on stage to do a dance tutorial. They also met fans and gave interviews to further promote the film.
The big question was: would there be a Teen Beach 3? Fans were eager for a third film, if only to correct Teen Beach 2’s ending. They wanted a whole movie to get Mack and Brady to remember Wet Side Story and everything that had come afterwards. To be honest, I think that would’ve just opened the films up to even more plot holes. Sometimes it’s best to just leave things alone! The cast were asked about a third film. They said they had not heard that there were discussions going on about it, but said they would likely return for it, and hoped it might get a theatrical release, like High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)[8].
By the time 2016 had rolled around though, and Teen Beach 3 was still not announced, fans started to lose hope. The actors were getting older and were moving away from their Disney projects. Even Ross Lynch, the youngest of the main cast, was showing intentions of leaving Disney, as the fourth and final season of his show, Austin & Ally (2011-16), finished airing in January 2016. It would seem Teen Beach 3 was not going to happen.
Since 2025 though, there have been rumours flying around online that a Teen Beach 3 is in development. Some said it was being developed alongside Camp Rock 3, which was formally announced in September 2025. However, Teen Beach 3 has still not been confirmed. I personally am doubtful that this third film will ever happen and do not want it to exist – but I also know this is Disney, so anything is possible. Every week, they seem to announce some new film or something, and it nearly always annoys me…
FINAL THOUGHTS
Teen Beach 2 was the much-anticipated sequel after Teen Beach Movie made a splash when it came to Disney Channel. It was thought this would be the start of a new musical franchise that could have three, four, or more films.
However, for whatever reason, its viewing figures were not as good, despite a similar level of promotion and much of the same cast. It would then be eclipsed by Descendants, which premiered just a month later – and that franchise has hit more than four films. Ouch. But I think the ending is really what let this sequel down, irritating its most dedicated fans, something no sequel should ever do or risk tarnishing its legacy.
Frankly, if you really love Teen Beach Movie, then you may as well just ignore Teen Beach 2 completely. Sure, the same amount of hard work and commitment from the cast and crew was put into Teen Beach 2, but if you’re going to mess around with timelines to the point that nobody can make any sense of it and it creates untold levels of annoyance and anger as viewers find plot hole after plot hole, then it’s not worthy of being watched.
Just give yourself a break from the stress of it all. Take a deep breath, clear your mind, and forget Teen Beach 2 ever existed – or is that Wet Side Story that never existed?
I’m sorry. Did that touch a nerve?
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘‘Teen Beach 2’ Cast Dance Rehearsals’, Behind the Fact YouTube Channel, 30th December 2016.
[2] Credit: Keith Caulfield, ‘Billboard 200 Chart Moves: ‘Teen Beach 2’ Bounds Into Top 10’, Billboard.com, 4th July 2015.
[3] Credit: Disney, ‘Disney Channel Set to Begin Production on ‘Teen Beach Movie 2’’, TheWaltDisneyCompany.com, 27th April 2014.
[4] Credit: Discover Puerto Rico, ‘Seeing is Believing: Experience Film Locations in Puerto Rico’, DiscoverPuertoRico.com, date unknown.
[5] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘‘Teen Beach 2’ Cast Dance Rehearsals’, Behind the Fact YouTube Channel, 30th December 2016.
[6] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Inside the Fashion I Teen Beach 2’, Disney Uploads YouTube Channel, 11th June 2015.
[7] Credit: Patrick Hipes, ‘‘Teen Beach 2’ Ratings Ride Live+3 Wave’, Deadline.com, 1st July 2015.
[8] Credit: Avery Thompson, ‘‘Teen Beach 2’ Cast Reveal Hopes For 3-D Sequel – Interviews’, HollywoodLife.com, 26th June 2015.
The Disney Purist 