The Endless Summer 2 (1994)

I watched the original a few days ago, and I absolutely fell in love with some of the beaches and scenery that were in that one, as well as Bruce Brown's down-to-earth narration, so I might have put the first one up on a pedestal, but I really didn't like this updated sequel, as it was kinda like watching the Eagles in concert after they are all like 50 years old, or how embarrassing the Beach Boys were back in the '80s.The main sensory problem I got with this movie is the poor Gary Hoey soundtrack. The original had more smooth grooves to go along with the zenlike sport, but the Gary Hoey electric guitar kinda turns surfing into a violent and unsettling experience. The photography is still as beautiful as the original, but fails in the interesting department.Likewise, the movie itself seemed more forced. I noticed Bruce wrote it with his wife, and also there was some talking parts and some dumb staged humor (the original had the same, but they didn't resort to the real people acting and having dialogue, more of pantomimes). The only difference between this movie and somebody's surfing home movies is the better cinematography and the title of "Endless Summer", but other than that, you tend to lose interest in the film if you're not a surfer, whereas the original was about more than surfing; it was about interpersonal relationships and traveling aimlessly with a sense of adventure, not sight gags and a planned itinerary.

I hate this film. Not because it isn't terrific. It's as good as good gets. My problem has to do with the films results. People all over the place watch Wingnut and Pat rip it up all over the globe and think, "Wow, I'd love to do that!" Next thing you know they're out in the line up trying to stand and getting in my way when it's already crowded enough. So I cannot stress this anymore...DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM. Watch "When Sharks Attack" instead.

this film lives up the hype of being even better than the legendary original. the style is precisely that of the original, but the leap is the technical quality of the photography. much of the photography is so beautiful and astonishing that it looks like james cameron computer generated it. you watch it, thinking "how the heck did they film that?" now i am a jersey boy, born in nyc, know nothing about surfing. but i know a great film and this is one.

Thirty years after making the greatest surfing movie of all time - "Endless Summer", with Mike Hynson and Robert August as two surfers who try to achieve the ultimate dream (an endless Summer of waves, girls, sun, and surf)- Bruce Brown decided to shoot a sequel. He took two more surfers, a shortboarder and a longboarder, and traveled the world again. This time around, the surfing world is much larger than just Hawaii and California, so the guys don't really get to play "surfing ambassador" on this trip like the two other guys did in 1964.Robert August makes a guest appearance. Since completing his surfing odyssey in 1964, he's now known as one of the greatest surfboard shapers in the business, specializing in longboards. One of the greatest tragedies in the world is the fact that the board he used in "Endless Summer" ended up on a used surfboard rack and was sold, lost forever to a nameless surfer who probably didn't know what he had. However, August has made a living creating duplicates of that board and they continue to sell well. But I'm deviating from the movie.Again we have Bruce Brown giving narration to the film, although in this movie the cameras recorded sound, so we can hear the surfers reactions to the waves and rides rather than have Brown interpret them for us (though I miss his narration - it was much funnier in his retelling). And we have the familiar tune from The Sandals, but recorded with better guitars. This time the two title surfers go to places not normally associated with water sports, such as Alaska and France. But even here, with the improvement in wetsuit technology in the past 30 years, surfers are riding waves. We also get treated to a brief history of surfing at the beginning of the film, which is a nice tribute to the sport which has done well for Brown.Interspersed between the surfers' travels are clips from surf competitions, famous moments in surf history, and some fantastic underwater photography. While the trailer to the movie focused on the big action scenes (a la the "X Games" influence of ESPN), the movie itself actually follows a less MTV-heart attack pace, showing us the grace and beauty of moving on a wall of water. The advances in camera technology have really benefitted filmmakers, and it shows in this movie.So is the sequel as good as the original? Yes, if not better. While I miss the relaxing humor of Bruce Brown's narration that was in the original, the photography of the sequel is much better. I'd suggest watching both.