Step Up 2 the Streets

I don't remember 2006's Step Up being a huge hit, but according to reports around the web, the movie was a sleeper and managed to make money. So, here's a name-only sequel called Step Up 2 the Streets. Well, the "name only" part is not entirely true, as the movie does make one vague attempt to connect this film with the first when the original film's star, Channing Tatum, pops up in a cameo at one point. Other than that, this is yet another urban dance drama with a bunch of gorgeous 20-somethings with wash board abs posing as teens at a dance school. Even if there wasn't a movie just like this released only weeks ago (How She Move), Step Up 2 the Streets would still be pretty pointless.

Our troubled hero this time around is Andie (Briana Evigan). She's been hanging out with a dangerous gang of street dancers, and the woman she's been living with since Andie's mom died is at the end of her rope, threatening to send her to live with family in Texas if she doesn't straighten up and fly right. Andie's last chance is to take classes at the Maryland School of the Arts. The head of the street gang Andie used to hang out with (Black Thomas) feels betrayed, and her former friends dump her right before a big street dancing competition is about to come up. Fortunately, there's a lot of misfits and outcasts at the school just like Andie who happen to love street dancing. The local cute guy, Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman), introduces Andie to some kids that the school doesn't know what to do with, and with his help, the two start a new group to participate in the big street dancing competition. Of course, first they'll have to win the respect of Andie's former friends, and make Chase's snobby brother, Blake (Will Kemp), realize that street dancing can be just as beautiful as professional ballet.

To say that Step Up 2 the Streets' plotline is not exactly gripping would be an understatement. It's not just that we've seen it all before, it's that the characters are so feeble in their construction, it's impossible to really get involved. As is to be expected, the dance sequences are really the only moments where the movie comes to life. Just like in the recent How She Move, head choreographer Hi-Hat knows how to kick the energy level up a couple notches by displaying some wildly inventive and exciting routines for the performers. The film's opening dance sequence on a subway train is particularly exciting. The actors were obviously cast for their beautiful bodies and abilities on the dance floor, and it's during the musical sequences that the cast truly comes alive. When they're stuck reciting the awful dialogue given them by writers Toni Ann Johnson and Karen Barna, they sometimes look nervous or like deers trapped in headlights. Both Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman make for attractive leads, but their best efforts can't breathe any real life into their characters that are as flat as the actors' stomachs. The same goes for the rest of the heroes, who are introduced in a montage sequence, then pretty much stay in the background for the rest of the movie, only taking center stage during the dance numbers.

There's really not a whole lot to say about Step Up 2 the Streets. The cast has talent on the dance floor, but that's not enough to make watching a 100 minute long movie about them enjoyable. This is an ideal movie for DVD, where you can skip ahead to the film's best moments and completely cut through all the stuff in between. Maybe I'm burned out on urban dance dramas that tell the exact same stories and feature the exact same characters over and over again. All I know is that Step Up 2 the Streets left me feeling rather uninspired for the most part, despite the energy on display.

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