Disney Tackles In-Line Skating
Brink! is a 1998 Disney Channel Original Movie. It stars Erik von Detten as Andy "Brink" Brinker, the leader of a rag-tag group of skaters who skate for fun. Their main antagonists are the X Bladz, a group led by Val (Sam Horrigan) who are sponsored and skate for money. The big showdown at the end is of course a skate tournament to prove which group is the better group.
Also stars Christina Vidal as Gabriella.
This telefilm contains examples of:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Dad hopes that Andy would be a little less happy all the time; he regrets his wish when he sees Brink depressed and exhausted. Mom calls him out on it, causing him to reply that he'd like there to be a happy medium.
- Cheerful Child: Andy is very much a teenager version of this, bordering on a male Genki variation. His father notes he shouldn't be that happy all the time.
- Crippling the Competition: Val does this to Gabriella despite Andy trying to warn her beforehand. The injury thankfully isn't that serious (it looks a lot nastier than it seems), but nevertheless leaves her recovering for some time.
- Evil Is Petty: Val's deal with Andy includes a bit about the latter having to show the former respect in public. He, naturally, proceeds to exploit this in humiliating ways by making Brink publicly praise him, undermine the Soul Skaters' criticisms of him and generally serve as a toady. He also makes a dig at Gabriella's background for no reason but to be a jerk.
- Extreme Sports Plot: Another staple of 90's movies, but the movie does a good job giving enough of a background to the characters that it doesn't come off as cheesy or a surprise.
- Heroic Fatigue: Brink starts to suffer from this in trying to support his friends while also supporting his Dad and family financially.
- Hollywood Economics: A plot point because of Andy's decision to skate for money as his father loses his job and the family needs a source of income. Despite that, the home is pretty impressive for what's perceived as a possibly lower middle class income family.
- Only in It for the Money: The XBladz team and for a brief period, Andy opts for this attitude in regards to skating.
- Parents as People: Dad is frustrated with Brink's skating antics clashing with school - leading to a day's suspension. This frustration is not helped by the angst of worrying about supporting the family and not knowing whether he'll get his job back. With that said, he clearly loves his kids and pulls through for Brink, especially in the climax.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: It's not a core part of his character, but during an argument towards the end of the film, Val makes a dig at Gabriella's background by telling her to go back to Mexico; after being understandably stunned furious, she replies by telling him to get the country right. This is one of the last straws for Andy staying in the Team.
- Precision F-Strike: A very mild one, but Dad throws a quick "hell" into the Rousing Speech to emphasise his own sense of loss of identity after his accident.
- Product Placement: A staple in extreme sports and is utilized when the good guys get sponsored by a local dog grooming place for the big tournament at the end.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Brink doesn't enjoy going behind the team's backs when he plays for XBladz, and tries to balance both teams as equally as possible.
- Regretful Traitor: Andy wasn't exactly enthused about joining the XBladz to begin with. He gets even less enthused when his friends find out he's joined the XBladz but it comes full force after Gabriella gets injured.
- Role-Ending Misdemeanor: In-Universe, Val loses his role in Team XBladz after he is caught cheating.
- Rollerblade Good: It's clear that both groups tend to use this method when going to school in the morning.
- Rousing Speech:
- Not quite a rousing speech but Andy goes to his family in the stands and gets inspiration from his sister Katie to, "Skate better."
- A much straighter example from dad, telling Andy that, whatever he chooses to be, he is still Andy Brinker.
- Slimeball: The manager of the XBladz is intended as this.
- The '90s: And boy does it revel in a lot of classic 90s era cliches and tropes.
- Token Good Teammate: Aside from Brink, Boomer is the only member of the XBladz to show any shred of genuine human decency. He's grateful when Brink helps him despite them being on opposite teams, and is appalled at some of Val's less sportsmanlike conduct.
- Tomboy: Gabriella has this in spades including a scene where she's forced to wear a dress for the first day of school.
- Unconfessed Unemployment: Averted when Andy's father loses his job, tells Andy, and Andy decides to start skating for money to help the family out.
- Villain Has a Point: While Val and his group are jerks, their ability to skate for money and accept sponsorship is treated as a bad thing in the film whereas it's a necessity in professional in-line skating.
- Welcome Back, Traitor: Andy's friends are pretty quick to accept him back into the circle by the end of the movie. The fact that he was genuinely regretful, and had some understandably motives, probably helped.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Andy's Dad expresses this towards Andy at one point telling Katie that, "You're the future of this family."
