Great At What It Does

Rating: 6/10 (11 March 2017)

As one of the few people on this earth who has never laid eyes upon the original 1984 "Footloose", I came into this version with no preconceived notions or expectations. As such, I was pleasantly surprised, although not outright blown away.
For a basic plot summary, "Footloose 2011" is a typical "teens vs. adults" flick. When a car crash (after a night of partying) kills five high school seniors, their community pastor (played by Dennis Quaid) restricts future teenage rebellious behavior by controlling the town with strict laws/curfews. That is, of course, until his daughter (Julianne Hough) meets the new kid in town from Boston (Kenny Wormald) and the town gets stirred up once again.
The prevailing factor in this film experience is that the movie is good at what it does. It provides everything that one expects to see, such as: incredible dancing, popular music, attractive men/women, and teen-centered plots. All those things are accomplished with aplomb.
An "added bonus" is the quality of acting from both the youngsters and adults (especially Quaid) in the film. Though inherently a bit hokey, this movie could have diverged into pure cheeseball without such strong performances.
Thus, while I can't give it an enormous star rating because it isn't an outright classic, it is very good at what it does (and if you like that kind of thing, your rating will be much higher). Three and a half stars would probably be a more exact ranking. Simply put, I had a good time watching this flick.