Thursday, January 6, 2011

Step Up 3

     The third in the Step Up franchise, this promised to be the biggest and baddest of all. Slicker moves, more foot stomping beats, and the added innovation of being shown in 3D. After having seen it (admittedly, only on DVD), I must say in some ways it delivered, in some ways it didn't.

     For those of you not familiar with the preceding Step Up movies, it's basically all about a young guy passionate about dancing who gets drawn into the world of dance battles. Not having actually witnessed one myself, I'm not so sure if such dance battles do exist in real life. Said young man pursues his passion for dancing while trying to balance the other things going on in his life such as school, a job, disapproving parents. Of course there is the romance angle that no movie seems to ever be without. And there is also the baddie, a rival dancer with his own crew who wants to out dance our hero and keep him from realizing his dreams and getting the girl. Of course, this being a dance movie, a whole lot of dancing goes on in between scenes where there are dramatic moments or romantic highlights. In the end, all's well that ends well and our hero gets to dance into the sunset with the girl.


     This latest incarnation of Step Up is no exception to the formula, and there are no surprises as you watch the progression of the story. If you were hoping for a great story line that would really hook you in and keep you glued to your seats, forget about it. But if you watch this expecting to be wowed by some of the sickest dance moves ever, then sit back and relax. This movie delivers on its promise when it comes to that.
Granted that stunt doubles were used in some of the routines (like the parkour and capoeira sequences), most of the dancing here was done by the actual actors/dancers themselves. That in itself just amazes me. I don't know much about dancing and I usually have two left feet. But I do love to watch others bust a move and boy did these people do it and how. The choreographers for this sequel put together routines that incorporated a lot of different elements, a lot of different styles. So you don't get to see just the usual hiphop and breakdancing moves. Some of the things they did here makes you wonder, how on earth did they do that? It kinda made me understand why they would show this movie in 3D.


     There were some characters and sequences in the movie that I particularly loved. One of these is Vladd (Chadd Smith), the robot master. What he does is not your usual run of the mill robot moves like they did in the 60s. To say that he moves like he's a real robot would be a gross understatement. You just have to see him to understand. I also found it so very cute that they had a few kids in this movie who also showed the grown ups a thing or two about dancing. Talk about future talent, we got a preview right there. And lastly, although it was kinda cheesy, I found the Moose (Adam G. Sevani) and Camille (Alyson Stoner) dance sequence cute. I can't say that it fit really well in the movie, but that particular sequence reminded me so much of all those old musicals starring the likes of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Not that the Moose and Camille sequence can hold a candle to anything by these legends. But it captured the spirit of those classic musicals, for which I give a kudos to the writers or directors or whoever it was responsible for including it in the movie.

     All in all I would say this movie lives up to its genre and makes for an entertaining movie. Whether you love to dance, can actually dance or just love seeing other people get their groove on, this is one movie you might want to see.


© Margj Castillo, In Review, 2010 - Present.

3 comments:

  1. I saw the last two sequels of this. I'm quite biased because bad or good, i always fall for teen movies. Did I ever mention that I looove Ten Things I Hate About You?, i also love Not Another Teen Movie. And the one that starred Freddie Prinze with theme song There She Goes by Sixpence None the Richer??? I forgot the movie title. And the last two Step Up movies suit me. Love hate and then they'll end together in the end. Another feel good movie that I saw recently at HBO was The Confession of a Shophalic. Can you feature it?

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  2. i mean The Confession of a Shopaholic

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  3. both you and dio loved that movie 'ten things i hate about you'. i haven't seen 'not another teen movie', i think i kind of passed over that when we were looking for movies to rent. i do remember that freddie prinze movie, 'she's all that' with rachel leigh cook. i did see 'confessions', the one with amy adams right? i'll have to see it again before i do a review of it though, just so i get it right. =) tnx for the suggestion!

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