Brink [VHS]
If you're an inline skating buff, you're in good company with Disney's made-for-television movieBrink. The story takes a backseat to some radical skating scenes that provide enough airs, grinds, and spins to satisfy the most bodacious bladers. The film's namesake is a Southern California high school teen, a.k.a. Andy Brinker (Erik von Detten ofLeave It to BeaverandEscape to Witch Mountain), who lives for the love of skating. Hanging out at beachfront skate parks, Brink and his "soul skater" buddies are riding the perfect wave of summer until they collide with a group of hot wheelers led by smart-mouthed Val (Sam Horrigan). Nationally ranked champion Val and his cohorts are X-Bladz-sponsored skaters with paychecks and egos riding higher than their 540 flips. Animosity and adolescent cheap shots run deep between these rival groups until an accident lands one of the X-Bladz skaters on the sidelines. Now it's Brink's turn to try out for the open spot on the sponsored team. Yet when he joins the X-Bladz, his betrayed friends accuse him of selling out. Eventually, Brink learns the price of winning at any cost. Horrigan plays a deliciously wicked Val, and von Detten delivers a solid performance as the good son/good friend, Andy. Families will appreciate the earnest script, void of profanity and sexual innuendo. The deeper questions of loyalty and friendship are handled by way of some well-meaning platitudes, but what we've really come to see won't disappoint--impressive, edge-of-your-seat skating.--Lynn Gibson