User Reviews

As Episode 1 of "Surf Girls Hawai'i" (2023 release; 4 episodes ranging from 43 to 47 minutes each) opens, we are introduced to a group of Hawaiian young ladies ranging in age from 17 to 26, all trying to land a spot in the highest level of professional surfing. The odds are stacked against them... At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from Executive Producer Reese Witherspoon's production company. Here they get unfettered access to these women's efforts to make it to the top level of surfing. Episode 1 is set entirely in Hawai'i. To give you an idea: the top price of that surfing competition was $2,500. Equally if not more important apparently is the quest to land a major sponsor like Billabong, Vans, Volcom, etc. The photography is eye candy from start to finish. We also get a generous look at each of these ladies' local background and upbringing. Episode 2 is set at a competition event in Jacksonville, FL, just as that region had to deal with Hurricane Nicole (in November of 2022). PLEASE NOTE: after watching all 4 episodes, I did some research into this documentary mini-series and that is when I stumbled upon a scathing review by a woman in the surfing community. She bemoaned that this 2023 mini-series was nowhere near as good as the original 2022 mini-series starring mostly the same ladies called "Surfer Girls Kaikaina", which the reviewer felt was truly authentic, whereas the 2023 mini-series was not at all. To be clear: I have not seen the original 2022 mini-series, and my review goes strictly by what I watched in these 4 episodes, and I enjoyed this mini-series, nothing more, nothing less.

"Surfer Girls Hawai'i" started streaming on Amazon Prime just this Labor Day weekend. I binge-watched all 4 episodes in a single setting. If you have any interest, be it professional or just casual (like I do), in surfing, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your won conclusion.

It's so cool to see the behind the scenes action of what goes on in their lives and what it takes to be a profesional surfer. I am Native-Hawaiian and it made me so proud to see these girls represent Hawai'i in such a powerful way, especially Pua and Ewe carrying on the Hawaiian language. I've talked with Moana and Pua on my podcast before this came out and I thought I learned a lot about surfing and competition through that, but realized that I really did not understand the lifestyle and struggles they have to endure to compete at the highest level until finishing this series. It was really eye opening. Mahalo for making this! Highly recommend watching this 🤙🏽

I love hearing the Olelo Hawai'i language, their traditions, the love of surfing and their soul connection with the ocean. The explanation of all surfing entails and its great getting that education from woman. The waves in Hawaii and the water is breath taking. The brands in this series are iconic: Billabong, Quicksilver, Volcom, and Roxy. The surfing culture is fascinating. I love when woman are featured its always the men and woman are fierce. That Quicksilver house view of the Pipdline is breath taking and jaw dropping. This series is very well done. Seeing a female put school first and still achevie greatness in her sport is inspiring. I love all the family aspect to the series and hope to see more of that.

I'be watched the series twice and will definitely be watching again. Each woman they feature is unique in how she approaches the sport and what struggles they face. Ewe, the underdog, is so graceful, Moana is humble and nice for being so accomplished, and Brianna is just so cool. This mini-series is a sports competition, nature show, athlete showcase and adventure drama all in one. I was rooting for all of them, each surfer is so likable. I highly recommend even if you're completely unfamiliar with surfing, it's a fun watch. The surfers and the ocean are both equally beautiful and exciting. HBO did a great thing to showcase the talent coming out of Hawai'i.

This is a great companion piece to the 2020 documentary "Girls Can't Surf", which profiles the efforts of many pioneering female surfers worldwide starting in the 1980s to gain respect and equal treatment. As a sign they are not there yet, the final event shown in this film has 40 men and 20 women in the competition.

This four-part miniseries available streaming on Prime runs roughly three hours total. I found every minute of every episode totally interesting. While there are a number of friends, family, and surfing community members in the film it focuses on five of them, all good friends who support each other and often compete against each other. We see much of the non-surfing time, training or being with family. We also witness the injuries and heartbreak.

The five are all intelligent young ladies, two of them are teenagers about to finish high school. One of them is dealing with the pressure of having a father who was a world champion, wondering if she can measure up. At the other end of the spectrum one got into Stanford to study Aerospace Engineering and has been accepted into a PhD program.

I am not a surfer, but I really enjoyed "Girls Can't Surf" and I really enjoyed this one. The photography and editing are first-class, the whole series has a great look and sound to it.

As an aside of sorts, as of my writing these comments, 9% of the votes on IMDb are "1". That is hard to understand, this is a great documentary, why the world would anyone rate it "1"??