by Al Shield

Created on: March 27, 2008

The critic who would undoubtedly give a favorable review for this large chunk of Hollywood fluff would ideally be 14 years old, female and the possessor of a repertoire of more than two dance moves in total. This highlights three problems for me, namely being that I'm twice that age, male and don't break out into dance unless intoxicated or seriously provoked. And in my unabashedly male take on this filler of a movie, I think it's not worth watching unless you have the sudden hankering to be 14 again and of the opposite sex.

The lead protagonist of Step Up 2: The streets (Not Step up to the streets - this film gets an F for it's English before it even starts) is Andie, 16 and a 50/50 mix of Hollywood looks and teen rebel attitude - which of course leaves zero percent charisma or character interest. Andie likes to dance, cause ruckuses around town with the notorious 4-0-1 dance crew and drive her step mother up the wall. The latter two pushes our far-from-anything-relating-to-a-hero into an ultimatum: either she attends the prestigious Maryland school of the arts to turn her life around, or well meaning step mum will send her to Texas to live with another one of her suffering relations.

Predictably Andie turns up to the school and even more predictably, her previous hell raising life continues to pop it's head up in an otherwise plot empty Hollywood path. Because she can't get out of school on time, the 401's dump her like Paris Hilton's grandfather dumps grandchildren and instead of letting go and rejoicing in the fact that she can now concentrate solely on a possible future, she assembles a new dance crew to 'Take it 2 the streets' and compete in a dance off with the evil protagonists, the 4-0-1's.
Will her new crew beat the 401's? Will she become the dancer she always wanted to be? Where are the exits?

There's also some kind of quasi-love story type of tangent throw in there too for an attempt at a story of some description but it's as successful as a pyramid money making scheme.

The characters are....well they turned up I spose. They learned to dance so that probably helped, being a dance movie and all - but I had the feeling from the opening credits that any acting ability was shunted to the back of the list during casting which explains why their footwork is first rate...and that's the only rate you get to see.
Credit where credit is due, the dancing in Take it 2 the Streets is very good. Obviously a lot of work went into the choreography and it shows. So if you like dancing, you might enjoy Step up 2 for the first five minutes.
And....well that's about it.
You certainly wouldn't go for anything else, like some kind of a decent plot perhaps or memorable characters, or a satisfying conclusion that's both realistic and enjoyable. Yeah, pretty much all it has is the dancing. And cliche Hollywood moments that'll make a 28 year old guy cringe occasionally.

Therefore I wouldn't recommend it - even as a date movie to impress your latest of objection of affection you'll be seriously testing the boundaries of credibility and endurance. I had free tickets to this and I still wanted my money back at the end.

However if you are 14 years old, female and love to dance, go right ahead, you'll have a ball.

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