General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Malibu Rescue

Malibu Rescue is an American live-action comedy franchise about a group of teenage junior lifeguards from Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley who compete against the wealthy local kids for a tower at Malibu Beach. It consists of the 2019 feature film Malibu Rescue, the 2019 eight-episode series Malibu Rescue: The Series, and the 2020 film Malibu Rescue: The Next Wave, all produced for Netflix by Pacific Bay Entertainment.¹

Key fact	Detail
First release	Malibu Rescue (film), streamed on Netflix May 13, 2019; 69 minutes, rated TV-G²
Series	Malibu Rescue: The Series, 8 episodes, launched June 3, 2019 on Netflix³
Second film	Malibu Rescue: The Next Wave, released August 4, 2020⁴
Main cast	Ricardo Hurtado as Tyler, Breanna Yde as Gina, Alkoya Brunson as Eric, Abby Donnelly as Lizzie, Jackie R. Jacobson as Dylan⁵
Creators	Savage Steve Holland and Scott McAboy; writers Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas³
Production	Shot in Los Angeles, California, September to November 2018⁶
Audience ratings	Film 5.2/10 on IMDb (1.9K votes); series 5.7/10 (1.5K votes)⁷^•⁸

Spoilers

Premise

The story follows Tyler, a trouble-prone teenager whose stepfather sends him to spend the summer in the Junior Rescue Program at Malibu Beach, the same program that had turned his own life around as a teen. Tyler joins a group of Valley kids, Gina, a competitive swimmer; Eric, eager to succeed; and Lizzie, who wants medical emergencies to handle, under team leader Dylan. Together they form The Flounders, the name given to the underrated team, and compete against the established Malibu Beach teens for the best lifeguard station on the beach.⁹

The film serves as the pilot or prequel to the series: it introduces the characters and their journey into the Junior Rescue Program, and the series then follows the novice junior lifeguards after they have staked their claim on Malibu Beach.⁹^•³ In the series, the Flounders take over Tower 2 while the rival Malibu crew refuses to give up its spot without a fight.⁵

Production

The series was produced by Pacific Bay Entertainment for Netflix, with Scott McAboy and Amy Sydorick as producers and Savage Steve Holland directing. Principal photography ran in Los Angeles, California, from September 2018 to November 2018.⁶ Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas, whose credits include Raven's Home and R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour, served as writers and executive producers on both the movie and the series, with McAboy executive producing alongside Holland, who also directed.³

Netflix announced the project on April 16, 2019, casting Ricardo Hurtado (School of Rock) as Tyler, described as a handsome know-it-all with a fierce competitive streak, and Breanna Yde (School of Rock, The Haunted Hathaways) as Gina, a tough and self-assured athlete. Alkoya Brunson, Abby Donnelly, Jackie R. Jacobson, JT Neal, Bryana Salaz, and Jeremy Howard joined the cast of both the movie and the series.³ Ian Ziering plays Garvin Cross, the Junior Rescue Program leader.¹⁰

Releases

The film launched on Netflix on May 13, 2019, and the eight-episode series followed on June 3, 2019, with all episodes released that day.³^•¹¹ Episode titles include "Fresh Off the Bus", "Escape From Party Beach", "The Splash and the Furious", "Sand and Deliver", "Stranger Flings", "With a Little Kelp From My Friends", "Pier Pressure", and "Every Rose Has Its Thornton".¹²

A second film, Malibu Rescue: The Next Wave, arrived on Netflix on August 4, 2020. In it, the Flounders are back at Tower 2 when the International Junior Rescue Championships come to Southern California; after Team USA falls victim to food poisoning, Tyler, Dylan, Eric, Lizzie, and Gina represent their country in the competition.⁴

The series was canceled after one season and a total of eight episodes.¹¹

Reception

Audience scores were middling. The film holds 5.2/10 on IMDb from about 1,900 votes, and the series 5.7/10 from about 1,500 votes.⁷^•⁸ On Rotten Tomatoes the film's Tomatometer stood at 56% from two critic reviews; Common Sense Media gave the film 2/5, calling it an unexceptional teen beach movie with potty humor, while Decider's Joel Keller wrote that it had enough kid laughs to hook a preteen.² For the series, Common Sense Media's Emily Ashby rated it 2/5, writing that teen snarkiness overwhelms the beach-set underdog story, and Decider's John Serba advised skipping it.¹³

Both the film and the series are rated for viewers aged 9 and up by Common Sense Media, which notes mild peril in rescue scenarios, potty humor and mild insults, and no sex, drinking, or drug content.⁹^•¹⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › American sitcoms and comedy series › 2010s cable and streaming comedies

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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