Dogtown and Z-Boys

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

An improbably bountiful subject -- kids on skateboards turning themselves into virtuoso artist-athletes -- has been brought to life in a wonderful, unpretentious documentary.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A dazzlingly crafted documentary about the teenage surf punks of lower Los Angeles who singlehandedly transformed skateboarding into the extreme sport it has become.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

This collision of skate punk and pop-culture archaeology is the most entertaining slice of cultural history I've seen in years.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

So much fun that its considerable worth as history and sociology seems almost incidental.

Chicago Reader Meredith Brody

Propulsive and highly satisfying documentary.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Do yourself a favor. Just go see it.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Enormously enjoyable, high-adrenaline documentary.

Washington Post Curt Fields

Using home movies, photos, a brilliant soundtrack and candid, articulate interviews, director Stacy Peralta (one of the original Z-boys) details the birth of a pop culture phenomenon.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

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.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Raucous look at an equally raucous phenomenon.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

There's great action moviemaking here: You learn what it means to "carve" a pool, as you learn what it means to "close off" the boxing ring in Ali.

Boston Globe Jonathan Perry

Does a terrific job of evoking the electric magic of an extraordinary era.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The overall effect is awe and affection -- and a strange urge to get on a board and, uh, shred, dude.

USA Today Mike Clark

The film is, however, almost inevitably wistful for the past, and many of its emotional touches come from juxtaposed then-and-now footage of the participants.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Exhilarating, breathless, must-see chronicle of the skateboarder revolution and evolution.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Here is an entire movie about looking cool while not wiping out. Call it a metaphor for life.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Highly entertaining.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Few sports films catch their time, place and sport so well. For skateboard fans, this is a must. But it's also a great ride if you know nothing about the sport or what it meant. At the end of this movie, you will.

Salon.com Jeff Stark

This movie is a sun-dappled documentary about skateboarding, about the thrill of speed, the joy of reckless youth. Turning it into an academic example of the problems of history -- of who tells it and how it gets told -- is a lot less fun.

New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo

We expect some depth and perspective from filmmakers, but even in talking about the movie Peralta sounds like an ex-high school quarterback who never got over the Big Game, or an old campus revolutionary who's never glimpsed the folly that went along with the fervor.

TV Guide Ken Fox

If the sign of good documentary is its ability to enthrall you regardless of your prior interest in the subject, then Stacy Peralta's hugely entertaining film earns high marks.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

As this taut, viscerally propulsive insider's history of the sport in its early years skids and leaps forward with a jaunty visual panache, it is impossible not to be seduced by its hard-edged vision of an endless teenage summer.

Variety Dennis Harvey

A fascinating story, albeit with some missed opportunities in the telling.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

Makes for unexpectedly giddy viewing.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Exhilarating but blatantly biased.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

A thumping soundtrack, including David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" and Pink Floyd's "Us and Them," fuels this high-energy look at a pack of underdogs who sowed the seeds for today's extreme sports craze.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A more impartial filmmaker might have understood the need for other voices to balance against all that attitude, might have understood how hungry the film makes us for even a single non-adulatory moment.