Step Up 2 the Streets

  • 2008-03-12
  • By Tim Oscher

STEP DOWN: Robert Hoffman takes Briana Evigan through the motions in this superiod teen flick.

Director: John Chu
 
After finding out that an elderly couple I know hadn't been to the cinema for more than 10 years, I took them to Forums Cinemas to experience the joys of the multiplex. Unfortunately, the only movie we could get tickets for was "Step Up 2 the Streets."

I warned them it was a silly film for teenagers but they were perfectly up for it. I fretted throughout the movie that they would hate it and would never set foot near a cinema again but, to my amazement, they thoroughly enjoyed it. I sneaked the odd look at them during the film and was touched to see how captivated they were by the energetic dance scenes.

"Step Up 2 the Streets" is a virtual rerun of the original. Andie (Briana Evigan) is a poor young delinquent girl who loves hanging out with her crew and dancing. But her guardian, a good friend of her recently deceased mother, can't cope with her delinquent ways and threatens to ship her off to an aunt in Texas.
Step up the hero of "Step Up." He challenges Andie to a dance battle. If he wins, she has to audition for a fancy performing arts school. If she wins, she can do what she wants. Needless to say, he wins.
Andie struggles to cope between the demands of her fancy new school and practising with her crew for "The Streets," an all-important dance competition. What's more, she starts to fall for fellow student Chase (Robert Hoffman), a middle-class white kid who wears a baseball cap back-to-front but who has some impressive dance moves.

Andie's crew kick her out after she misses one rehearsal too many, so she forms her own crew with her school mates with the aim of performing at "The Streets" competition, much to the derision of her old friends.
The story manages to incorporate every cliche from every teenage dance film ever made, from "Beat Street" to "Fame" to "Dirty Dancing." But the dance scenes are so spectacular, you really don't care. I didn't even know the human body could do some of the things that are shown in this movie.
Having missed the press screening for "Step Up 2," I had to go see it during a regular performance. The theatre was thronged with kids, who all spontaneously burst into applause at the end. It just goes to show that old and young alike love to shake their booty.


Now showing in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

 

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