Pretty Sweet - A REVIEW.

Pretty Sweet (2012) - Girl Skateboard Films / Chocolate Cinema

Four stars

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE

It's that time of the year again. The decorations go up, the first snow falls in Aberdeen and disgraced former Liberty X members show up to turn on your town's Christmas lights.

However, for the global skateboarding fraternity, the advent of Advent takes on even greater significance. Thrasher's Skater of the Year award looms on the horizon and the trickle of web videos becomes a full-blown deluge of full parts, tour compilations and clips of Theotis Beasley discussing his favourite heaphone brand.

Even that rarest of modern commodities, the feature-length DVD-release skateboarding film, arrives in time for Santa to order it directly from iTunes, depriving the North Pole's skater-owned shop of vital revenue. And with all due respect to the anarchic excellence on display in Baker's 'Bake and Destroy', the most eagerly anticipated full-length skate flick of 2012 has been Girl and Chocolate's collaborative effort, the confidently-titled 'Pretty Sweet'. Indeed, nothing less than another game-changer is expected, considering a combined back catalogue that reads: Mouse - The Chocolate Tour - Yeah Right! - The Hot Chocolate Tour - Fully Flared.

The film itself at first seems to play out like a typical Girl/Chocolate production, with another mind-blowing introductory sequence bearing the bombastic hallmarks of Hollywood's own Spike Jonze. Camera angles are skillfully selected and the resulting footage is edited by the redoubtable Ty Evans, who further vindicates his reputation as skateboard cinema's master craftsman. The special-effects flourishes which illuminated 2007's Fully Flared also return, although they are handled with rather less guile the second time around.

The first part is given to Chocolate's Vincent Alvarez, who doesn't so much kick off proceedings as drag them writhing out of a Range Rover before dousing them in petroleum and striking a match. Alvarez's raw speed and board control, combined with a startling array of switch tricks, have made him an internet hero even before his first full part and the hype is entirely justified. Spots ranging from marble manny pads to ancient Kona concrete - via myriad handrails - are attacked with equal gusto as NWA and Suicidal Tendencies make for a fittingly raucous soundtrack.

Next up is Cory Kennedy, who seems to attract a lot of criticism for a ledge-centric repertoire and, err, wearing Nike Stefan Janoskis. His part should silence all the critics, with Girl's newest pro adding some surprising handrail assaults to his trademark mix of fleet-footed tech miracles and languid lines. His trick selection suggests a growing maturity, too, with hurricane grinds and inward heels adding welcome variety. It's all soundtracked by some wonderfully unsexy American country-rock which you will be spotifying for the rest of the week.

While Kennedy uses the video to transcend his reputation as the Great White Tech Robot Hope, Mike Mo Capaldi is rather more comfortable playing to type. An already-been-done song, YouTube-approved tech flips and an enduring avoidance of rails mean that Mike Mo fails to build upon his stunning debut part in Fully Flared.

As for the older guys, a lot of senior skateboarders' pro paychecks will be called into question as the likes of Gino Iannuci, Chris Roberts, Brian Anderson and Rick McCrank fail to muster full parts. Justin Eldridge's cameo is brief but diverting, as he does just enough to prove that nobody else skates rails quite like him. Mike Carroll, on the other hand, plays it safe with his trademark feebles and smiths - although he has probably earned the right to take it easy by now. Chico Brenes, 86, reveals life and creativity in his creaking bones in a delightfully latin-intoned part with Spain's Jesus Fernandez. Jeron Wilson, sharing space with the inimitable Brandon Biebel, also deserves credit for somehow managing to showcase his precocious talent while skating to Rick Ross and Meek Mill.

Most startlingly, Eric Koston only appears for a brief cameo in Guy Mariano's epic closing section, although his rather underwhelming footage (perhaps he's saving for the next Nike video) does at least allow viewers to catch their breath. Mariano fucking kills it. Not many people can get away with skating to a Kid Cudi cover, but Guy is certainly one of them, as skateboarding's comeback kid throws down one tech hammer after another. Some of the ledge NBDs are actually very ugly (front smith laser flip out, anybody?) but there is always another mind-blower just around the corner, including some memorable wallride combos. And as for the ender, well, just brace yourself.

Oh and then there's always Marc Johnson - who is, along with Geoff Rowley, probably the most consistently innovative and stylish skateboarder on the planet. After his three-song slog in Fully Flared, his new section is a masterpiece of skillful restraint, except for a few charming instances of Mullenesque street-freestyle. It's Marc Johnson skating to Bowie - it's never really going to be bad, is it?  

So, despite a number of Girl and Chocolate's big guns remaining holstered for the duration of the film (Rick McCrank - we demand closure), 'Pretty Sweet' is worthy of it's place next to 'Yeah Right' on your DVD shelf. The new guys are a breath of fresh air, and Mariano completes a comeback Lazarus would be proud of. The soundtrack is excellent and the editing, unsurprisingly, sets a new standard in the genre. For Girl/Chocolate films, however, the real acid test is whether it can mark a new epoch in the sport. It's too early to say, but I for one will be doing my level best to learn street 540s.