Step Up 2 the Streets (2008)

Motivation? If you don't need motivation, you don't need plot. It's about dance!
The fellow below me is, in all aspects, correct. If what you look for in a dance movie is to be highly distracted by a shabby plot. Me, I loved Step Up 2 for this very reason...

Most dance movies aim too high: they want killer dance scenes -with- an excellent plot. What do most wind up with? Trite, familiar plots they still try to execute even though we've seen them before (so we know well enough to follow along) while still delivering a sliver or two of dance sequences... but nowhere near the amount the usual viewer wants to see.

Now, Step Up 2 says a big "yeah right" to that entire idea.

There is next to NO plot. Yeah, it's there, barely. Enough to pretend that it's not one long music video. But, it really IS like one long music video--and that's wicked awesome. The dance scenes are long and intricate, the music is great, and it delivers on everything I want to see in a dance movie: less talking and more dancing.

So if you're into these sorts of movies for the chick flick value, it might be a skip or a rent. But if you're into it for, well, the dancing--I give it 5 stars.

What's my motivation? Motivation? You don't need no stinkin' motivation!! Dance hott puppets, dance!
...and dance they do! And they do it very, very well.

4.5 stars for the jaw dropping moves these kids are able to do but a mere 2 stars for everything else, so let's round that to 3 stars shall we.

Though it's been said over and over again about other movies of this ilk, there has to be more to a movie than the dancing and as far as Step Up 2 the Streets goes, they other stuff just doesn't really cut it.

The film chronicles - did I say chronicles? - sorry, no, this movie doesn't chronicle anything, it's about a young street dancer named Andie (Briana Evigan). She's beautiful, out of this world talented and certainly doesn't want to be shipped off to Texas which is where she's headed if she doesn't stop getting into trouble.

Andie gets accepted into the elite Maryland School of the Arts (MSA) where she attempts to widen her dancing scope to more classical styles. Her street dancing crew the 4-1-0 - all but one of whom does not know Andie is now enrolled in the school - become sick and tired of the excuses she gives as to why she isn't able to attend practice with them and they eventually kick her out of the crew.

This is where I find the character flaws in the movie to be really apparent...these kids are obviously in their late teens and 20s, however they spend all day dancing in the streets, Have they no jobs?? No responsibilities?? How do they pay for the cost of living? Don't they even take a break to make some deals or turn some tricks?? It's not just that they are sooo devoted to dancing and preparing for a dance battle called "The Streets", the writers make it seem like they genuinely solely exist to practice their dancing 24-7. No one has to go home because their baby-mama is always nagging, no one has goals or dreams, their only purpose in the film is to dance...and still with all that practice they still don't have what it takes.

Fortunately, all these annoyances are seasoned with superbly choreographed and exceptionally performed dance numbers that make the knot in my forehead relax until the plot gets back underway.

Andie decides to put together her own crew made up of static, cliché outcast kids that go to MSA. There's the Asian girl who thinks she's "down" but you can't understand a word she says, the tall-loner girl no one hangs out with, a guy who's supposed to be the nerdy guy, but this isn't really developed, a few others not worth mentioning and the other main character, Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman).

When we first hear of Chase, we are immediately led to believe that he is MSA royalty but living in the shadow of his older, more talented MSA faculty brother and also that his dancing skills have given him a sense of entitlement making him something of a playa with the ladies. This would be all well and good, for Chase would be a well-developed character and even have opportunities for growth as he tries to redeem himself from his philandering ways and woo our heroine Andie. However, as soon as we get to know Chase, he's not like this at all, in fact none of the earlier descriptions of him are mentioned again or developed at all - he's just a regular boring guy with nothing extraordinarily good or bad about him. But, like everyone else in the film, he's great looking...and man, can he dance!

Alright, so the "plot" eventually brings us to the ultimate street battle called, no less, "The Streets" between the new crew and the old crew in a rain-soaked climax I won't ruin it for you (really, if you have to ask who wins you just don't get how formulaic this film is). This dance-off is well worth the wait as the choreography is spot-on. The scene could not have been shot with more skill, you can see how fluid the dancing is, nothing is chopped up which leaves the viewer in awe at how many laws of physics are shattered by the moves these kids are able to do!

Another thing worth mentioning is the supposed-nerdy kid named Moose (newcomer Adam G. Sevani) who befriends Andie at MSA, he's a kid who we see is stuck in the wrong major once we see his entertaining freestyle moves. He makes the most of the character given him and probably saves the story that falls flat in between dance numbers. Maybe, just maybe, one day he'll be the Jason Biggs of a new generation.

In summary, don't get me wrong, when I left the theater I was smiling and wishing I had those mad skills. You just have to know what to expect before you see the movie or you may wind up being too disappointed to really appreciate how superb the dancing is. Thus, if dancing is your thing, do lower your expectations as regards plot and characterization and run to your local Cineplex and you too will be wowed and blown away by the dancing as these kids Step up 2 The Streets.