Lords Of Dogtown tells the true story of Jay Adams, Stacy Peralta, and Tony Alta, skateboarders who revolutionized their sport and inspired generations of teens with the tricks they invented. Without their considerable contributions to the sport by making it exciting and daring through acrobatic flips, turns, spins, gymnastics, being suspended in air, and death defying stunts, skateboarding might have died out. Before these three arrived on the scene, skateboarding was considered only as a recreational activity. It was neither cool nor mainstream.   

For teenagers like Jay, Stacy and Tony, living in Venice, California in 1975 was not an easy task, especially without adults motivating them to earn an education. Back then everyone was looking for a way out of Venice. The city was known for its poverty, abundance of drugs, addicts, people down on their luck, and those who made their living creating bizarre shops or selling food from carts.

Venice was extremely depressing. It was a place where your mentors were either your chronically stoned parents or those who teetered between being stoned and/or being sober long enough to impart something worthwhile. Known as the "ghetto by the beach" Venice was not the popular destination that is now overflowing with beach front condos.

Our heroes had little in the way of marketable skills or talent beyond surfing and skateboarding, for there was nothing for young people to do except surf the waves that crashed against the rocks all day. The beach was crowded with surfers, so one might as well learn the culture and how to surf like Tony, Stacy and Jay did. When waves ceased to materialize during the day, these wannabe surfers took to the local pier -- which had been closed down since 1967 -- to skateboard.

They routinely tried and practiced new moves on the abandoned grounds, never really finding revolutionary, difficult, or challenging aspects from the pier. For now it was their place; it belonged to them as the only escape from reality. This was their early playground where they learned and socialized and progressed as people and skateboarders. Who knew what they had learned and shared together would actually be useful and change their lives and the world?

When the three were not skating, they hung out with their friends and brothers in a local skateboard and surf shop. The owner, Skip Engblom, was almost always a wreck with an alcoholic beverage or joint in hand. He came up with the idea to make skateboard wheels out of polyurethane. 

Nobody else had thought of Skip's invention, which gave boards enough grip to hang on to any surface. Skip wanted this new idea to make him famous, but he had to turn to youngsters like Jay, Stacy and Tony to test his boards. He encouraged them to develop new skills and amazing stunts  to win enough competitions that would bring him fame, never mind making the kids well-known for doing the actual dirty work. Expecting to put his shop on the map and to become wealthy, Skip organized the Zypher skateboard team. Known as the Z-Boys, the team members took to surfing huge drainage pipes. Becaise of a drought in Venice that entire summer, the Z-Boys were also able to use unfilled swimming pools where they learned stunts that defy gravity.

This movie, directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen), seems pointless in the wake of an acclaimed documentary, Dogtown & Z-Boys, released in 2002. Peralta directed that film to critical praise. His documentary features footage of how the Z-Boys stunts were originated and actually done. That's something lacking in this production, which barely goes beyond the surface in developing the characters or showing how they crafted their moves, whether they failed with some of them, or why nobody ever dies or gets critically injured performing or attempting risky routines.

The Dogtown and Z-Boys documentary is clearly and by far the better film as it holds nothing back and shows yards and yards of footage by the actual gang from that key summer of '75.  While Lords of Dogtown features excellent skateboarders, they simply cannot accomplish what the real group filmed or achieved. 

In Lords of Dogtown, it looks like Stacy (John Robinson), Tony (Victor Rasuk) and Jay (Emile Hirsch) have become international stars overnight. They are on magazine covers and face the temptation of drugs, girls and poor decision making. Tony, especially, has a lot to learn after being thrust into an adult world of entertainment and glamour. He's egotistical and out of control. Stacy is responsible, guarded and wants to make it on his own merit even if this means going into competitions as an independent. With corporate big shots looking to make money off him, Jay exhibits strength and courage by shutting the door to unsavory characters and realizing his primary duty is to support his mother. 

Lords of Dogtown is released in three different DVD editions. The first is a theatrical cut with the standard DVD features. The second is an extended version and "unrated" cut of the film. Four minutes worth of scrapped material is added to the ending in the extended cut version. Vulgar language and use of drugs are also more prevalent in this DVD. 

Lords Of Dogtown presents real-life characters only as they would appear on the surface. The acrobatics and stunts in this film do not make up for an undeveloped screenplay by Peralta, who fails to lay it on the line with a warts-and-all Z-Boys biography. His Dogtown & Z-Boys documentary is much more compelling and enjoyable.

(Released by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and rated "PG-13" for drug and alcohol content, sexuality, violence, language and reckless behavior -- all involving teens.)