One of the most engagingly crappy titles of any Hollywood sequel - only matched by Gidget Goes to Rome - this was actually even more popular than the original (it made $2.2 million against Gidget's $1.5 million). Deborah Walley is terrific replacement as the new Gidget (Universal wouldn't let Sandra Dee return as they had her earmarked for Tammy), she's bright and perky - did being so easily replaced send Sandra Dee into a bulimic spiral?
The plot has her running around Hawaii torn between Michael Callan (a likeable talent who never quite made it - possibly because he rarely got the chance to dance and he was a top dancer) and James Darren. The main plot has a bitchy girl (Vicky Trickett) spreading a rumour about Gidget being easy – everyone gets their knickers in a twist over it. And there’s a really, really long sequence where they can’t find Gidget. This threatens to take down what until then had been a bright, entertaining film.
Callan does an impressive dance number – and so does Walley, albeit in a fantasy sequence. Darren sings some tunes so this is almost like a musical. It has a real family feel – she goes on vacation with her parents, who get their own subplot with some other parents they meet. Walley's pregnancy meant she did not return for Gidget Goes to Rome.
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