It's light! It's pretty! It's unoriginal but spunky! (It's a lot like your average cheerleader!)
"Bring It On", starring Kirsten Dunst ("Dick"), Eliza Dushku (Faith on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), and the girls of the R&B trio Blaque, is light summer fare for: (a) young girls whose ultimate goal is to be the good-hearted captain of a cheerleading squad, and (b) adolescent boys who want to date cheerleaders.
It has all the elements of a typical teen movie: a pretty, popular, good-hearted lead (Kirsten), a misfit with a heart of gold (Eliza), a bit of slapstick comedy, and a PG romance (between Kirsten and Jesse Bradford who played Cliff Pantone).
The simple plot begins as Torrance Shipman becomes the new captain of her cheerleading squad, the Toros. Her team is the five-time national champion and a shoo-in for the title again this year -- until the squad's newest member, Missy Pantone (Eliza), brings her to an "urban" school.
There, Torrance discovers to her horror, that the Toros' former squad leader had been stealing their cheers from the Clovers, who are pissed. But this year, the Clovers (starring the members of the hit group Blaque) are determined to make it to the nationals, which means Kirsten will have to come up with brand-new cheers for the Toros.
The rest of the movie unfolds as you'd expect: much hilarity ensues as Torrance hires a bad choreographer to make up new cheers; a side-line romance between Torrance and Missy's brother Cliff develops; and the final showdown between the two squads ends the movie with a perky toss of a ponytail, a high-kick, and a back flip.
"Bring It On" is a good-natured film comprised of comedy montages, a few dirty jokes, and lots of pretty girls in skimpy clothing. It eventually comes together thanks to some entertaining choreography and admirable acting from Eliza, Jesse and especially Gabrielle Union, who plays Isis, the Clovers' captain.
But what really saves this movie from teen-film oblivion is a stellar cheer-off at the end. The flips, dance moves and general enthusiasm that each "squad" exudes will wow teens everywhere.
If you've ever taken a dance class and dreamed of becoming a ballerina, or played varsity sports and wished your team could win the big trophy, you'll be sucked into the final show-down. You'll be able to forget the zest-free plot, the gratuitous boob shots, and the clunky dialogue, and just sit back and enjoy.
Ultimately, watching "Bring It On" is kind of like eating a movie-theatre sized bag of M&Ms: You get no real value from it, you feel a tad sick afterwards, but you still enjoy the experience.
(This film is rated PG)
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