"Lords of Dogtown" may sound vaguely familiar. And it should.

Jaimie Trueblood, Columbia/Tristar Pictures Heath Ledger plays a shop owner who puts together a team of skateboarders in "Lords of Dogtown." Click photo for larger image. "Lords of Dogtown" Rating: PG-13 for drug and alcohol content, sexuality, violence, language and reckless behavior, all involving teens. Starring: Emile Hirsch, Heath Ledger, John Robinson, Victor Rasuk. Director: Catherine Hardwicke. "Lords of Dogtown" Web site Family Film Guide review of 'Lords of Dogtown' Rated: PG-13. Suitable for: Teens and up. What you should know: This is a fictional version of the documentary "Dogtown and Z-Boys," about the teen surfers in the 1970s who revolutionized the sport. Language: A very liberal sprinkling of objectionable words are used throughout. Sexual situations/nudity: At a party, a girl opens her blouse and makes it clear she's available for the asking. A joke about oral sex is made, and couples are shown kissing, casually or as a prelude to something more serious. Violence/scary situations: Skateboarders engage in ill-advised behavior, such as jumping off roofs, hanging onto the back of a bus and turning empty pools into their playgrounds. Punches are thrown, kids wrangle with cops, and one of the main characters lands in the hospital after being hit in the eye. Someone is diagnosed with brain cancer. Drug and alcohol use: Beer and harder stuff flow freely, and marijuana is smoked, for medicinal and other purposes. More Family Film Guide reviews

It's a fictionalized version of a 2002 documentary called "Dogtown and Z-Boys," which picked up honors from the Sundance and AFI film festivals and Independent Spirit Awards. Sean Penn narrated the story about the pioneers of modern skateboarding who faced down the concrete without benefit of pads, helmets or common sense. They had guts and found glory.

That story has been turned into a Hollywood movie, complete with wide opening, soundtrack and names (Heath Ledger, Rebecca De Mornay and Johnny Knoxville).

Despite some exhilarating moments, when the skateboarders appear to be flying and curling up and around the curves of an empty blue swimming pool, the movie mainly made me want to track down the documentary.

There is a lot of cross-pollination between the two: Stacy Peralta, one of the real Z-Boys, co-wrote and directed the documentary and wrote this screenplay. He is played by John Robinson ("Elephant"), who looks like a well-scrubbed surfer boy and has a sweetness his pals lack.

Stacy is one of the Z-Boys who emerge from Dogtown, a tough section of Venice, Calif., in the 1970s. He, Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch) and Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk) start off watching from the shore as the older surfers lay claim to the waves: "If you wanna surf the cove, you gotta earn it."

But they leave the cove behind when they discover skateboards with urethane wheels, which grip the concrete and allow the boys to do hard turns and ride walls. They become the standouts of a team assembled by Skip Englbom (Ledger), hippie co-owner of the Zephyr Shop, and at their first competition execute moves that the judges cannot even describe.

"Lords of Dogtown" tracks the three as they ride those wheels into extreme sports, fame, stretch limos, trips around the world, businesses or -- for one Z-Boy -- an unwillingness to trade skill for the sweet smell of success.

A fictionalized story should have more wiggle room to explore what motivated the skaters and their hangers-on, but "Lords of Dogtown" seems to omit some key chapters, fails to pepper the action with insight and assumes a familiarity with minor players, such as the flashy businessmen who try to woo the boys.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke ("Thirteen"), the movie excels in early scenes when the skaters realize all those empty pools -- there's a drought on and people are conserving water -- are their perfect playgrounds. There's an anarchic, old-school style to those moments, as the girls loll at pool side, the boys clatter to the ground until they nail the rhythm of the ride, and parents and cops arrive and chase everyone away.

Ledger wears his dissoluteness well. Of the young leads, it's Hirsch ("Imaginary Heroes") who steals the show. You can't take your eyes off him, whether he's sailing into the ocean, dancing like a madman or knifing a surfboard.

With or without urethane wheels, he soars.