OxfordPress.com

Filmmaker Dana Brown's dad is Bruce Brown, whose 1966 paean to riding the wild waves, "The Endless Summer," made armchair surfer dudes out of an entire generation. Brown senior went back to the beach in 1994 for a sequel and Brown junior came along, helping to write the narrative.

Now he's testing the cinematic waters on his own, with a movie that sounds like "The Endless Summer 3," but isn't . . . quite.

"Step Into Liquid" takes a similar around-the-world-in-80,000-waves approach, globe-trotting from such legendary point breaks as Hawaii and Easter Island to the Gulf of Mexico, where daredevil Texans ride the wild wakes of supertankers, and Sheboygan, Wis., where guys with "Fargo" accents and cheesehead bellies hang 10 on two-footers.

But a lot has changed since the '60s. The sport has gone high-tech. Designer boards make the "Gidget" version look as primitive as a cave drawing. More controversial are the ever-increasing numbers of "tow in" fans, who hire Jet Skis or even helicopters to tow them out to killer waves mere paddle-power could never access. Still, the participants' rhapsodic, adrenaline-rush grins and the towering blue-crush beauty of 60-foot waves remain the same.

"Step Into Liquid" isn't especially interested in emulating the mystic-waters mystique that framed "The Endless Summer." Some of the anecdotal segments have a slight cast of PC do-gooding. A 54-year-old Vietnam vet revisits the former war zone where he first fell in love with surfing more than 30 years ago. Surfer girls like Keala Kennelly and Rochelle Ballard are presented as icons of female empowerment in a traditionally male-centric sport. The pudgy, pasty-faced Sheboyganites are poster boys for the average Joe who doesn't fit the sun-bronzed Adonis mold.

In a segment that's almost "After School Special"-ish in its well-meaning message, three surf-crazed brothers travel to Ireland. There, on the bleak northwest coast, they gather some Catholic and Protestant kids who briefly renounce centuries-old grudges and join in a communal love-fest while catching waves.

These are all worthy stories, but at times they have the faux-inspirational glow of those back-story vignettes that litter coverage of the Olympics.

That said, the movie's infectious high spirits are the dominant tone. And the immense, awe-inspiring waves are things of ineffable beauty and incalculable danger. An hour and change at "Step Into Liquid" is truly like a day at the beach.