When the Millers arrive, they meet attorney Bo Kauihou, who informs them that Sydney will inherit the plantation if she stays there for two weeks.

The next day, Sydney finds a surfboard with the word "Naniloa" inscribed on it in a nearby abandoned barn, then befriends a girl named Gia, who enjoys surfing.

They also tell Sydney that everything is negotiable after she expresses disappointment at the company's plan to make the nearby beach available to hotel guests only.

Gia's friends ignore Sydney after a newspaper article states that the plantation and beach will be sold to the company, even though she has not yet made a decision.

[2] Mike Hughes of Gannett News Service considered Rip Girls a "first-rate film using unknown actors," writing, "Many of the Disney Channel movies tend to be brightly empty.

[2] In June 2011, Stephan Lee of Entertainment Weekly wrote "it's a lot simpler than I remembered, and the performances are charmingly unpolished, but it's still one of my favorites.

"[3] In 2012, Tara Aquino of Complex ranked the film at number 12 on the magazine's list of the 25 best Disney Channel Original Movies.

[4] In December 2015, Jonathon Dornbush of Entertainment Weekly ranked Rip Girls at number 29 on a list of the top 30 Disney Channel Original Movies, writing that it feels like a "lesser combination" of earlier DCOMs Brink!

and Johnny Tsunami: "The movie has its moments, with a young Camilla Belle at the center, but it ends up as a forgettable though still enjoyable mishmash of the DCOM sports genre without staking a claim for itself.

Page ranked Rip Girls at number 54 and wrote, "This one is certainly less than the sum of its parts, but it has a pretty solid teeny-bopper beach playlist that still holds up today.