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A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

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What: Wheels: An Inline Story (direct to home video)

Price: $14.95

Extreme sports like skateboarding, snowboarding and inline skating have become more popular in recent years all over the world, and with that, the tricks involved have become more aggressive and intense.

“Wheels” is a movie about a young skater who dreams of becoming a pro, but is sidelined by an accident. From start to finish, all you see are skaters sliding down rails and flipping over halfpipes, and well, it just doesn’t appeal to the average movie watcher who expects a little more from a film.

The focus of the movie is the tricks and not any sort of plot. Of course it is centered around the skating and the main character, who is dreaming about all of these tricks from his hospital bed. But you still never get to know much more about the kid named Spencer than the fact that he likes to skate, he got hurt doing it and his mother makes him go to the store with her.

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Also, the only person who gets injured in the movie is Spencer. Although some of the tricks in his dreams result in spills, you never see what happens after they get up off the pavement. Unfortunately, this is the mind-set of many inexperienced skaters, who don’t realize how easy it is to get injured, especially without wearing a helmet and protective padding.

Spencer does talk about how his accident has changed him, but it is overshadowed by his desire to skate again and the flashy tricks. His perseverance is admirable, but this movie only glorifies the tricks and plays down the risk. In the case of Spencer and so many other young people, this is a potentially dangerous combination.

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