Marred by a self-importance and heavy-handed assertion of mythic status that some may well find misplaced or just downright ridiculous.
Comment
08/01/08
Dogtown and Z-Boys (2002)
91
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:92
Fresh:84
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
Genre: Sports/Recreation
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... [More]
Reviews for Dogtown and Z-Boys
Top CriticInfectiously exuberant.
01/26/06
Top CriticQuite possibly the best documentary about youth and sport since Hoop Dreams.
12/23/02
Top CriticIt's impossible not to admire his joie de vivre -- and this movie's joie de vivre, as well.
07/11/02
Top CriticSuitably energetic but thoroughly egotistical.
07/09/02
Top CriticAlthough 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 CriticIf you think a documentary about the birth of modern skateboarding sounds like something worth missing, think again.
03/18/02
You want to know more about their private lives than you get. But most viewers may be too stoked by the sheer adrenaline rush of the subject to care.
11/01/07
Package is lively, if loosely structured.
04/02/07
Top CriticThis 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
An enthusiastic ode to a few of the pioneers of extreme sports.
11/06/02
An affectionate look back at those heady days.
10/21/02
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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