Let’s talk about the timeless Disney Channel Original Movie Brink! The film is about a group of friends who skate for fun, refusing sponsorships, and they’re portrayed as the underdogs, antagonized by Team X-Bladz, a corporate-sponsored team. If you haven’t seen the movie or if you want to relive your childhood memories, you can apparently rent it on Amazon Prime for like $4.
While being a Soul Skater on Team Pup N’ Suds is heartwarming through the power of friendship, here’s why the movie is wrong in depicting Team X-Bladz as the bullies and losers:
1. Financial Success
The kids on Team X-Bladz are sponsored and make money for skating. These are high school kids getting paid a ton of money and being self-sustaining. How proud would their parents be that they’re already earning money and supporting themselves?
2. Superior Training Facilities
Just because you skate for money doesn’t mean you don’t love the sport. The movie doesn’t go in depth on why the X-Bladz members went corporate. What if they truly loved skating and wanted access to superior training facilities to be the best they could be? Maybe they had Olympic aspirations and knew the best way to get there through professional backing and resources. They were simply investing in their future.
It’s like in Rocky IV: who honestly believes that Rocky, who trained in the woods, could have realistically beaten Drago, who was using state-of-the-art equipment? Come on, man.
3. Living the Dream
Who wouldn’t want to get paid to do what they love? The movie portrays X-Bladz as sellouts, but they’re just living the dream of turning their passion into a career. While “skating for fun” sounds great, let’s be honest… most people would live a chance to make a living doing what they love.
Maybe it’s time for a Brink! series like Cobra Kai, where we get to see the story from the perspective of the “bad guys.” Not every corporate-backed competitor is the villain and for some reason Disney made them evil.
Disclaimer: I get a commission if you rent or buy the movie using the links provided in this article.