Chasing Mavericks is a passable cliche-ridden surfing destiny film.It didn't really connect with me at all, but it is a well made film that held my interest for its duration. Jonny Weston is a capable lead, but the other characters were lacking. There was definitely room for more of Abigail Spencer.

It's a real life story of a teenage boy chasing his dream. That dream is about riding the biggest wave known as Mavericks. The story itself has great depth with exploration of emotions and how to deal with them starting from love, fear and loss....all of them are portrayed simple but deep enough to get the attention of the viewers. Surfing itself is represented really good, from training, psyche and joy perspective...all pieces fit together really nice making it a good Family-Drama movie to watch at any time.

Review: I totally haven't got a clue about surfing, so I thought that this movie was going to be uninteresting, but I actually enjoyed it. It's quite a heart warming story, which happens to be true, with a great performance from Gerard Butler, who made the film watchable. The individual characters were a good mixture, which brought entertainment to the movie, and the journeys that they all go through kept it interesting. It does get a bit corny near the end, but when you see the real footage of Jay, it does give purpose to the movie. Watchable!Round-Up: For a Gerard Butler movie, I was surprised that this didn't get a major release! I do think that its one of his best films, and the storyline was well put together by the director. If your not a surfing fan, there are other elements to the movie that are worth watching because you do end up getting caught up in the emotional side of Jay and Frosty's story. It's a shame that it flopped at the box office because you can tell that the actors went out of there way to bring Jay's story to the big screen.Budget: $20million Worldwide Gross: $6millionI recommend this movie to people who are I to there wind surfing dramas. 6/10

I wanted to see this movie because 1) It was shot ON LOCATION in my beloved college town of Santa Cruz, 2) It stars hottie Gerald Butler, and 3) I'd heard it was one of those "Based on True Events" stories I JUST CAN'T RESIST about plucky, inspiring people who make you want to be a better person...So I loaded it into the DVR (...entirely unaware of the story of the teen surfer who had tackled a killer 70 foot wave at Mavericks back in 1994) and watched it today, hoping for nothing more than some good shots of Gerard Butler in a tight wetsuit...At first, I confess, I was put off by "After School Special" vibe I was getting from this movie...not to mention that all the female characters seemed like "Insert Beach Chick Tool With A Heart of Gold" types...so I kept wandering off to make lunch, clean the house, etc, etc......Then I realized I'd missed all the good footage of sexy young bucks surfing (Fun Fact: Young Jonny Weston who plays Jay Moriarty actually had 10 years of surfing under his belt before starring in this movie!)...So I rewound just to catch the all best shots of hot young surfers and my favorite shots of the Santa Cruz shoreline...and finally started to realize what was about to pay off in the last 30 minutes of this otherwise predictable movie at the historic big waves set up at Mavericks!!SO...I hit pause and actually Googled the REAL story of Jay Moriarty's historic, epic day at Mavericks at the age of 16, a day that made surfing history in 1994...So by the time I returned to the movie for the last 30 minutes...I was on the edge of my seat! I knew how the story would end, but how the hell would they film it??I watched the end of the movie, then spent another TWO HOURS on YouTube learning how the filmmakers captured those last 30 minutes! That turned me into a big fan of the film!At the end of the day, this is a lovely True Life Story with a big heart. Yes, I was crying by the end of the film. It's a lovely story.Filmmakers should watch the last 30 minutes with great respect for the Big Wave Surfers and cameramen who captured that sequence! NONE of the final climatic footage was done with CGI! That's all real bad ass Big Wave surfers, tackling real bad ass big waves at Mavericks, shot by real bad ass cinematographers!! (Who 6 expensive Red Epic high def digital cameras on the day in the process!) It's an impressive story. Check out all the Behind the Scenes stories on YouTube.Big props to the stunt surfers and cinematographers who captured the last 30 minutes of this movie! Elizabeth