Surfing is like life, you can’t get off the board until you’re finished…

Ride Your Wave is now playing at select Cineplex Events screens all across the country and while it’s a GKids affair that on the exterior looks a little too syrupy and goofy for North American audiences it’s got a really strong message in its undercurrent that works for any age.

Hinako is a surf-loving college student who has just moved to a small seaside town. When a sudden fire breaks out at her apartment building, she is rescued by Minato, a handsome firefighter, and the two soon fall in love. Just as they become inseparable, Minato loses his life in an accident at sea. Hinako is so distraught that she can no longer even look at the ocean, but one day she sings a song that reminds her of their time together, and Minato appears in the water. From then on, she can summon him in any watery surface as soon as she sings their song, but can the two really remain together forever? And what is the real reason for Minato’s sudden reappearance?

From Director Masaaki Yuasa; Ride Your Wave carries a light yet consistent theme that is evident throughout his work as we get an undeniably sweet story of first love married with the real world issues surrounding grief and how we as individuals process it all.

With his slightly exaggerated visual style and a story that balances elements of fantasy and raw reality from screenwriter Reiko Yoshida; Ride Your Wave is the kind of ride that is typical of some of the work coming out of Japan and allows for the genuine heartache of the moment to come through.

Geared very heavily for the young adult crowd the film plays right with the sensibilities and captures the rush of emotion of being young and in love for the first time.  It all feels relevant to the experience of a younger person without feeling like it is pandering or talking down to the audience in general as Yusa succeeds in crafting something light yet still relevant at the same time as it straddles many different genre lines to give us something that is simply one of a kind.

The voice performances are solid and well rounded and the characters genuinely engaged not just with the rush of first love but in how we process loss and grief.  It paints a fanciful yet realistic look at grief telling its audience that there’s really no easy answers and that you just have to ride it out for as long as it takes.

While it’s got some clunky and occasionally goofy moments, don’t dismiss Ride Your Wave because its simplistic style of storytelling is actually incredibly effect as it resonates on some very relevant and emotional levels for the viewer.  Sure it will play better for the Young Adult crowd but it’s got plenty of layers in it all that anyone can genuinely enjoy.

Ride Your Wave is playing at select screens across Canada as a part of the Cineplex Events series.