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Rating: 3 stars

All movies seen on 08/29/2007

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Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style (1992)

Directed by Don Barnhart

Comedy

Most recently watched by zombiefreak

Overview

Kelly’s grandpa invites the whole gang to his little hotel “The Hideaway” in Hawaii for summer vacation. They expect a marvelous time at the beach - without Belding. Upon arriving, they quickly learn that not only is Belding there, but they also have to help Kelly’s grandpa from losing his hotel. Meanwhile Zack meets (again) the love of his life, Jessie and Slater bet with Lisa that they won’t fight, and Screech gets kidnapped by the Pupuku clan.

Rated NR | Length 92 minutes

Actors

Mark-Paul Gosselaar | Tiffani Thiessen | Mario López | Dustin Diamond | Elizabeth Berkley | Lark Voorhies | Dean Jones | Dennis Haskins | Rena Sofer | Dan Gauthier | Victor Brandt | Blake Boyd | Donald Li | Glen Chin | Ed Call | Eve Brent | Blaire Baron | Paul Napier | Biff Yeager | James R. Sweeney | Ashlee Lauren | Clarissa Mancuso | Chris Chinn | Michelle Cummings

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

This originally appeared as a review for PopSyndicate.com in 2007.

Renew your love for the Zack Attack

So you’ve got all of the original class Saved by the Bell seasons on DVD, as well as The College Years. For all this time, you’ve been missing two things: the TV movies Hawaiian Style and Wedding in Las Vegas. Good news: Lions Gate has packed them both into one volume! Now all you’re missing is Good Morning, Miss Bliss.

The show was extremely successful in the early 1990s and it was the semi-adult fare that my generation grew up with, from middle school through college. It helped renew a more youthful interest in NBC and aided in their catapult to dominance in 1994 when my generation latched onto youth-targeted shows like Friends. The show was so successful that NBC decided in 1992 to launch a primetime tv movie and in 1994, the series was wrapped with another tv movie featuring the wedding of Kelly and Zack.

Hawaiian Style

Six teenagers in Hawaii by themselves. Yeah, ok. But nonetheless, Zack and co somehow get to Hawaii for summer vacation to stay at Kelly’s grandfather’s kitschy hotel and somehow by the most co-inky of co-inky-dinks, Mr. Belding is there at the same time leading a tour of high school administrators.

Hawaiian Style was filmed in 1992, during the extended last season of the show at the end of Elizabeth Berkley and Tiffani Amber-Thiessen’s contracts, but it actually aired in 1993 before the last season. Like any good SBB episode, there’s a central predicament. In this case, Grandpa Harry Kapowski is facing hotel closure due to the Royal Pacific Hotel (a big hotel chain) trying to force him out of business. And no one can tackle a good cause like Bayside High School students, am I right? Don’t we all remember when the an oil field popped up outbehind the football field or when Jessie got addicted to caffeine pills? The solution? Become employees of Grandpa’s hotel, whilst ruining the image of the Royal Pacific Hotel.

But a good cause is never enough to confound these Tigers. No, there’s a veritable typhoon of personal problems. Zack falls instantly in love with Andrea (Rena Sofer before she lost 80 pounds), a girl who has an overbearing boyfriend. Kelly falls for Grandpa’s lawyer Brian Hanson, who has a dark secret. Jessie and Slater can’t seem to stop arguing and so they make a bet with Lisa that they go the entire trip without it. Finally those star-crossed friends Lisa and Screech just want to hang out, but they’re in trouble when the two get kidnapped because those oh so wacky native islanders think Screech is their chief and only he can save their land from the same company that is trying to force Grandpa out of business. Oh, the hijinx!

I’ll give the writers credit because they know the cast and the pic plays like a bigger budget SBB episode, like the episodes where the kids worked at the Malibu Sands with Leah Remini. It’s cheesy and schmaltzy, but it also deals with the most adult issue than had ever been aired before: luring someone (Andrea) into cheating and the aftermath of teen pregnancy (also Andrea). Something I quickly realized is that, just like the first time I watched it, the wacky moments are what pull me out of the movie. Surprisingly, drama was really the strong point of the show over its life and it continues here. The whole subplot with Screech-as-chief was completely useless, other than to give Screech and Lisa their own plot point to justify their pay. If you want beach-centered episodes, find the aforementioned Leah Remini season.

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