Teen Beach Movie

Plot

Brady and McKenzie ('Mack') are surfing near her grandfather's beach hut. Mack then walks in on her grandfather and Brady watching their favorite film, a 1960s musical titled Wet Side Story, where bikers and surfers battle for the privilege to hang out at Big Momma's. Brady learns that Mack promised her aunt that, after her mother died, she would attend a private school, and she is leaving the next day. Mack asserts that although going is her choice, she feels it is what she has to do, since it is what her mother would want. She tells Brady they will have to break up.

Before Mack leaves, she decides to surf a 40-foot wave that is about to hit the beach. Alarmed, Brady gets on a jet ski and goes after Mack. They get swept away and end up on another beach. They soon realize they have been swept inside Wet Side Story. Seizing the moment, Brady joins the original cast in singing, to Mack's dismay. Brady relents and informs Mack that there will be a storm and giant wave that should bring them back home at the end of the movie. They go into Big Momma's, and introduce themselves to the surfers just before the bikers appear and start the surf and turf war. After, Mack and Brady are invited by surfers to come to a party at Big Momma's later that night. Suddenly, their clothing is changed to fit the movie and Mack's surfboard appears nearby.

That evening during a dance, Mack and Brady are arguing while the movie's female lead, Lela, is singing on stage. Tanner, the male lead, falls in love with Mack after she bumps into him, and Brady catches Lela when she falls off the stage. This interferes with the movie's plot, in which Lela falls into Tanner's arms, not Brady's. They decide to make Tanner and Lela fall in love to fix things. Brady also tells Mack about the villains of the film, Les Camembert and Dr. Fusion, who are going to use a machine to affect the weather to make the surfers and bikers leave so they can control Big Momma's and turn it into a beach resort.

Lela and Tanner express their love for Brady and Mack, who subtly suggest to them that there may be someone else they are really meant to be with. That night Mack joins Lela and the other biker girls for a sleepover, while Brady hangs out with Tanner and the surfer boys at Big Momma's. While talking about love, their modern relationship views conflict with the 1960s views. Mack and Brady do not make any progress with Lela and Tanner. The next night, Lela tells Mack that she would like to surf.

Mack and Brady realize that they are morphing into the movie when Mack falls into water and her hair does not get wet. They then begin singing and are unable to stop. After the song Mack and Brady are captured by Les Camembert and Dr. Fusion and taken to the villains' lighthouse lair.

Lela and Tanner fall in love with each other and soon realize that their friends have been kidnapped. They convince the bikers and surfers to team up and save Mack and Brady. Meanwhile, Mack admits that she is glad that she ended up in the movie and does not have to attend private school. When Mack says she thinks Lela is braver than her, Brady denies that, saying that Mack is the bravest girl he knows.

The surfers and bikers free Mack and Brady, and destroy the villains' machine. The movie's plot returns to normal, and Mack and Brady realize they are able to return home. After saying goodbye to everyone, Mack and Brady get on the surfboard and ride a wave, which sends them back to the real world, where no time has passed since they left. The 40-foot wave is still approaching.

Brady allows Mack to surf the giant wave, which she successfully does. Mack's aunt is upset about her delaying their flight but accepts her decision to spend the rest of the year with Brady. Mack and Brady celebrate by singing a song on the beach.

In a post-credits scene, Lela, Tanner, Butchy, Cheechee, Seacat, Giggles and Struts wash up into the real world. A modern day surfer thinks they are lost and allows them to use his cell phone, which they marvel at as they attempt to use it.

Production

The script was written by Vince Marcello, Mark Landry and Robert Horn, from a story by Marcello and Landry. Pre-production of the film began in January 2012. Teen Beach Movie is the third DCOM filmed in Puerto Rico, the first two being Princess Protection Program and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. On March 28, 2012, local Puerto Rican press covered part of the filming, which took place in the island. Most beach scenes took place in Fajardo in the east coast of the island, while indoor scenes, such as McKenzie's bedroom, a diner-style restaurant, with plenty of room for the dance numbers, and a kitchen, where filmed inside an undisclosed warehouse in Bayamón. At the time, the film was titled Teen Beach Musical.

Mariella Pérez Serrano, the then-executive director of the Puerto Rico Film Corporation and Carlos Aníbal Vázquez, Unit Production Manager, were the main responsible for the local production of this film. "The film industry relies heavily on trust and recommendations for the work they do. It is also important to know the professionals working in the field to personally promote Puerto Rico as a destination for filming", said Pérez Serrano. She also said that Disney spent about eight million dollars in Puerto Rico to film this production.

"We filmed the outdoor scenes in Fajardo", revealed Vázquez. One of Puerto Rico's lead newspapers, Primera Hora, knew, moreover, that the cast of the musical filmed in the beach house of the then-Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño. The film's soundtrack features ten original songs composed in rhythms of surf rock, Motown R&B, rockabilly and pop.

Teen Beach Movie was the only Disney Channel Original Movie that was released in 2013.

Annette Funicello film dedication

Before the opening credits, The premiere of the film contained a memorial to beach party film star Annette Funicello (who died on April 8, 2013), which read "In memory of Disney Legend Annette Funicello, the world's most beloved beach movie star."

Critical reception

Teen Beach Movie received generally favourable reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 86% approval rating based on 7 reviews, while Metacritic reported a score of 54 based on 6 reviews. Entertainment Weekly gave the movie a C grade, saying "The good news? Two tunes in this attempt to reverse-engineer a new High School Musical are decent...But the rest is dull as sand." Brian Lowry from Variety wrote, "It’s too bad the makers didn’t do a slightly better job casting the key roles, but taken on its own terms the (overlong) 95-minute Disney Channel original plays like a brightly colored beach blanket, albeit one that’s a little rough around its sandy edges."

Ratings

The premiere in the United Kingdom had 597,000 viewers. The United States premiere just hours later received 8.4 million viewers during its first airing and 13.5 million viewers in L+7, becoming the second-highest rated Disney Channel Original Movie. The Dance Along version on July 27, 2013, garnered 3.7 million viewers. In Canada, the movie delivered 818,000 viewers. The Australian premiere had 113,000 viewers.

Broadcast

The movie originally premiered on July 19, 2013, in the United States, Canada, the UK, and Ireland on Disney Channel. It premiered on August 4, 2013, in Southeast Asia and on August 9, 2013, in Australia and New Zealand, both on Disney Channel.

DVD release

The film was released on DVD on July 30, 2013, in North America, on August 19, 2013, in the UK and Ireland, and on August 21, 2013, in Australia and New Zealand.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on July 15, 2013. The album was the fourth best-selling soundtrack of 2013 in the United States with 407,000 copies sold for the year. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 chart. As of July 2015, it has sold 462,000 copies in the United States.

Sequel

On April 27, 2014, the sequel, Teen Beach 2 was announced as slated to premiere in 2015 on Disney Channel, with production set for July 2014 in Puerto Rico. Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Grace Phipps, Garrett Clayton and John DeLuca reprised their roles in the sequel. The remaining actors who portray the bikers and surfers, Jordan Fisher, Chrissie Fit, William Loftis, Kent Boyd, Jessica Lee Keller and Mollee Gray, are also confirmed to return for the sequel. The sequel revolves around the characters from Wet Side Story after the first film's post-credits scene, when they were transported into the real world. Teen Beach 2 premiered June 26, 2015, with 7.5 million viewers.