Dogtown and Z-Boys
User Score
9.2 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 21
  3. Negative: 1 out of 21

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  1. BenH.
    May 3, 2004
    10
    Made by easily the best skateboarding film director. Stacy Peralta. its only knock is that it doesn't have the wheeled around in a wheelchair to get smoothshots greatness of animal chin.
  2. MaddenM.
    Jun 9, 2002
    10
    Great film, makes you want to pick up a surfboard and skateboard afterwards and become a Z-boy yourself. Peralta and Stecyk's old footage was amazing. The interviews and soundtrack were money!
  3. JessicaG.
    Sep 10, 2003
    10
    How else could they put it?!!!!
  4. JohnL.
    Oct 14, 2005
    10
    I really enjoyed this documentary and thats saying a lot because I usually find them pretty boring.
  5. nick
    Jun 1, 2005
    10
    Amazing.The z boys revolutionized the term skating to include their way of expressing themselves. They revolutionized surfing on land. Thats all she wrote.
  6. [Anonymous]
    May 14, 2002
    10
    The best documentary since Endless Summer.
  7. mIKEw.
    Apr 21, 2003
    10
    My name is mike and this movie is totaly cool.
  8. MarilouDupré-P.
    Jan 19, 2004
    10
    It's the best skateboard's documentary i ever seen tchow.
  9. nikki
    Jun 23, 2005
    10
    The movie was the best movie iv seen all summer. and me being a girlwatching the movie inspired me to go out on my skate board and do somthing.
  10. BlancoA.
    Apr 29, 2002
    10
    It's pretty amazing to think that skateboarding as we know it never really existed before the 70s... I still have my Alva deck which kicks ass after all of these years. Great film.
  11. ChadS.
    Jul 7, 2002
    9
    Get over the notion that skateboarding is a slight subject for a high-minded documentary and see this, sometimes terrific film. For the indoctrinated like myself, it's a real eye-opener to learn that vertical skating and going airborn were bona fide innovations that had the same sort of far-reaching impact like any other sport or art. "Dogtown and Z-Boys" isn't told chronologically, so when the story brings us back to the Z-Boys pre-fame days, the film loses some of its shape and momentum. But that minor glitch doesn't put a damper on the great testimonials from the people who were there, photographs and home movies. Even if you loathe skateboarding, see it because you love movies, for this is the most interesting documentary film not made by Errol Morris in recent memory.… Expand
  12. MarkS.
    Sep 17, 2002
    9
    Can't give anything a perfect 10, but this movie is as close as you can get. Awesome old footage, sweet soundtrack, great insight. This movie gives context to a culture that has until now always been orphaned.
  13. AMS
    Oct 20, 2002
    5
    This documentary had a lot of promise, but was just PAINFULLY self-congratulatory. Yes, the Z-boys were amazing. Yes, they revolutionized skating. But the fact that one of them made this flick, and that they're all still defensive and full of machismo about their accomplishments, makes it awkwardly self-absorbed flick. Not nearly as good as it could have been.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    75
    In keeping with the unrefined spirit of the '70s, the movie is deliberately haphazard and proudly retains all its mistakes, including narrator Sean Penn going up on his lines.
  2. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    88
    Raucous look at an equally raucous phenomenon.
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  3. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    89
    That they were just hormonally blitzkrieged kids at the time, unaware of their role in history, only makes Peralta's superior doc that much more winning.
    Read full review
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