Infectiously exuberant.
Comment
01/26/06
Dogtown and Z-Boys (2002)
91 %
Reviews Counted: 89 Fresh: 81 Rotten:8 Average Rating: 7.5/10
Consensus:
Dogtown and Z-Boys is a colorful, exhilarating look at the skateboarding subculture.
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Synopsis: In the late 1960s, a group of burnt out teenagers from broken homes ambled together and began to surf along Venice, California's Pacific Ocean Park pier, a ghostly shell of a former amusement park nicknamed "Dogtown." United by their attention to style and willingness to take risks, this... [More]
Genre: Sports/Recreation
Starring: Jay Adams, Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins
Reviews
Top Critic
Quite possibly the best documentary about youth and sport since Hoop Dreams.
12/23/02
Top Critic
It's impossible not to admire his joie de vivre -- and this movie's joie de vivre, as well.
07/11/02
Top Critic Top Critic
Although devoid of objectivity and full of nostalgic comments from the now middle-aged participants, Dogtown and Z-Boys has a compelling story to tell.
06/24/02
Top Critic
If you think a documentary about the birth of modern skateboarding sounds like something worth missing, think again.
03/18/02
Click to read the article
11/01/07
Top Critic
This propulsive, highly satisfying 2002 documentary concerns a group of daredevil skateboarders from an economically depressed and dangerous area of Santa Monica known as Dogtown who reinvented the sport in the 70s.
04/02/07
I know exactly nothing about skateboarding, but this wild, exuberant documentary puts it all in perspective, outlining a crew of 12 surfers-turned-skaters who pioneered the sport -- and, some say, the art form.
05/26/06
Using the Zephyr team's creation, its sudden fame, and death by defection, Dogtown documents genuine 20th century tribalism.
06/13/04
The straight cuts illustrate how the Zephyr team's revolutionary, riffing style was both an extension of surfing and aesthetically beautiful.
05/20/03
There is something I find deeply disturbing about a documentary made about one's own life that never acknowledges its first person status.
01/07/03
The film fearlessly gets under the skin of the people involved ... This makes it not only a detailed historical document, but an engaging and moving portrait of a subculture.
12/08/02
It's an entertaining study for anyone, as it makes you believe that skateboarding is the ultimate guerilla sport -- taking something that exists and is shrugged off and turning it into something amazing.
12/08/02
Despite its lack of perspective on history or the evolution of the sport, Dogtown and Z-Boys does what documentaries do best: It makes even viewers who have never touched a skateboard feel a part of the action.
10/15/02
It also paints a vivid portrait of a place, time and tribal gathering where environment, attitude, innovation, athleticism and emphasis on style spawned an accidental revolution of sorts.
10/10/02
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