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There's a fairytale quality to the current crop of dance movies, and Step Up 2 the Streets is no exception.
Each of the competitive dance stories involves romance in the midst of social and economic disparity.
Dance steps are the great equalizer. For men, the story runs along the lines of Jack The Giant Killer. For women, the model is Cinderella.
At any rate, the stories are mostly mediocre, but the dance sequences are exhilarating.
Step Up 2 the Streets is a sequel to the 2006 film Step Up and is likewise set in Baltimore. The story centres on Andie (Briana Evigan), a young woman who is struggling to keep her life together since her mother's death. Andie dances with the 410 dance crew but seems otherwise unable to commit to much, and her guardian is just about to pack her off to an aunt in Texas.
Then Channing Tatum, hero of the first movie, turns up long enough to push Andie toward the Maryland School of the Arts. That's where the rich ballet kids go to school.
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If Andie gets in, she will have structure and discipline and serious dance instruction, but there aren't many kids like Andie at the school. She gets in (otherwise, it would have been a much shorter movie) but Andie -- with her deft street moves and bravado -- is a floppy fish out of water.
Things improve at school when she makes a friend in the nerdy Moose (dancer and film newcomer Adam Sevani, who appears to be made of rubber.)
Then she meets Chase (Robert Hoffman), the school hottie and best dancer.
Sparks fly, but he's a golden boy and she's from the wrong side of those proverbial tracks.
Meanwhile Chase's older brother (Will Kemp), the snotty school instructor, looks down on Andie and her ilk. Anyway, you won't care. The point is that Andie is soon caught between two worlds, fitting neither with her old crew nor with her newfound friends at school.
Eventually, she and Chase gather a pack of school misfits together and create their own crew, and prepare for Baltimore's underground dance competition, The Streets. So many life lessons to learn! Let the moves begin.
The performances in Step Up 2 the Street will look just about right to anyone who thinks of film as television, only bigger. Comparative newcomer Evigan is easy and unaffected in front of the camera, and she holds the film together with her dance moves.
Step Up 2 the Streets is a bit dull, except for the dance numbers, but it's easy to look at and good enough to view as something a titch better than another cash-grab sequel.
Meanwhile, if you've seen Step Up, How She Move or Stomp the Yard, wouldn't it be great to see this sort of dancing outside of the movies? Without actually having to go to Baltimore? Just a thought.
(This film is rated PG)