Dance movie proves to be step down

by Beka Rutledge, entertainment editor

The moves are hot, but the plot is not.

“Step Up 2: The Streets” is really just a remake of the first movie with a few changes. This time it’s a girl with the street moves who gets in trouble and is forced to enter the Maryland School of Arts. Also, the movie focuses more on street dancing, which is probably the one thing that saves the film from being a total flop.

Newcomer Briana Evigan plays Andie, a young, motherless girl who is part of an elite dance crew called the 4-1-0. The crew is made up of a bunch of other young people who have grown up in the same neighborhood as Andie and Tyler Gage, played by Channing Tatum, from the first “Step Up.”

When Andie is threatened by her mother’s best friend, who is in charge of her, with getting sent to Texas to live with her aunt, her only option to stay in Baltimore is to get into the respectable Maryland School of Arts.

At first, she panics, gets all her things together and bolts. Then Gage makes a short appearance and challenges her to a dance duel. The deal is that if she won, he would say nothing about seeing her. But if he won, she would go audition for the school.

It’s obvious who wins, and Andie gets into the school as a sort of charity case. She catches the eye of the cute, most popular guy, Chase, played by Robert Hoffman, who appeared in “She’s the Man.”

Andie and Chase get together with the some of the outcasts of the school who have real talent yet get overlooked by the school’s uptight staff. One of these outcasts is a terrific character by the name of Moose, played by another newcomer, Adam Sevani, who is just a scrawny boy with a very quirky personality and capable of some incredible dance moves. They create their own dance crew when the 4-1-0 kicks Andie out for attending the school.

They fight to be recognized as one of the best on the streets but are humiliated during their first performance. Even though they go on to redeem themselves, they are still not considered part of the streets.

The finale of the movie is an amazing, stunt-filled dance routine that makes you want to get up and try to imitate the outstanding moves. However, even though the moves and music are excellent, the plot just doesn’t live up to expectations.

At least the first “Step Up” presented a perspective that there was some other things going on in the character’s lives other than trying to accomplish something with dancing. The sequel does not do that at all. It centers around a viewpoint where all origin of happiness and distress stems from the act of dancing and little else.

If you want to see a movie with some great moves and have an opportunity for a cat nap through the slow parts, “The Streets” would be a good movie to go see. I give this movie three stars out of five stars.